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(JTA) — The 91-year-old Holocaust survivor Vanda Semyonovna Obiedkova died close to her house in Mariupol, Ukraine, April 4, whereas the town was below a devastating Russian assault. Her household believed that her survivor testimony died along with her.
Obiedkova died, reportedly chilly and emaciated, whereas sheltering within the basement of a retailer close to her house; her daughter and son-in-law fled the town after burying her. The home they shared burned throughout the assaults, and the VHS tape containing the video testimony Obiedkova had recorded of her Holocaust expertise for the USC Shoah Basis in 1998 was destroyed together with the household’s different possessions, her household informed Chabad.org.
However on Tuesday, the Shoah Basis posted Obiedkova’s 94-minute testimony in full to its YouTube web page, honoring her by preserving her story within the digital realm.
The testimony is solely in Russian, and there are at the moment no subtitles. However Chabad gives extra particulars on her life as shared by her household: A lifelong Mariupol resident, Obiedkova was 10 years outdated when the Nazis entered the port metropolis in 1941. She hid in a basement whereas her mom was taken away, and was moved right into a hospital by her non-Jewish father to evade additional detection, posing as a Greek woman till the town was liberated by Soviet forces in 1943.
She spent the remainder of her life in Mariupol and was an lively member of the town’s Jewish neighborhood, in accordance with Mendel Cohen, the Chabad rabbi who serves the realm.
Within the remaining days of her life, Obiedkova in contrast the Russian assault on her hometown to the Nazi occupation in 1941. After her loss of life, her household buried her with the assistance of Rabbi Cohen earlier than fleeing the town. The household had evacuated as soon as earlier than, throughout the 2014 battle with Russia, however this time, Obiedkova’s daughter Larissa informed Chabad, they might not be returning to Mariupol.
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