Kalynychenko Klavdiia

Klavdiia Kalynychenko lived in Kharkiv. In 1936, her sister Mariia moved in with her, whose husband, a Jew, Illia Harba, had previously been repressed and sent to Siberia. Both women maintained contact with his sister Miriam Shvarts, also the wife of a repressed person (her husband had been in exile since the same year). Miriam raised her sons Lev and Izia on her own. The boys often visited Aunt Klavdiia on vacation.

In October 1941, during the occupation of the regional center, Miriam got into a traffic accident and died from injuries. Since then, her children have been cared for by Klavdiia and Mariia. One winter, they went to nearby villages in the hope of selling some of their belongings and buying groceries. They took Lev, the eldest, with them, and left Izia at home. When they returned, the boy was not found. The neighbors said that there had been a roundup and he, along with other Jews, had been sent to the ghetto, located 12 km from the city, on the territory of a tractor factory.

Klavdiia managed to bribe the guard and take the boy from captivity. But it was dangerous for the brothers to stay in her house any longer. Most of the neighbors knew about their Jewish origin, and someone could have reported them. However, the woman managed to find false documents for Lev and Izia and find people in a remote village who were willing to take them in for a small fee.

After the war, the boys returned to Kharkiv. They considered Klavdiia their second mother.

In 2000, Yad Vashem recognized Klavdiia Kalynychenko as Righteous Among the Nations.