Oleksandr and Maria Petrashovs

The Petrashovs lived on Mykhaylivskyi Lane. Maria worked as a teacher of foreign languages. Oleksandr got an engineer’s degree, but by the beginning of the war, he was a pensioner due to his serious disease. Before the war, they also performed in amateur theater and acted in silent movies.

They met Raisa Shteinberg in the fall of 1941. By that time, the mass massacre in Babyn Yar was over. During just two days, Nazi occupants shot dead more than 33 thousand Jews. Now they were just looking for those who managed to avoid the mass massacre.

Once, while walking on the Velyka Zhytomyrska Avenue, the Petrashovs noticed the German soldier escorting to Babyn Yar a young woman and a little girl. The woman tried to draw the passers-by's attention. She begged to spare at least her little daughter.

Eventually, Petrashovs decided to take a risk. They persuaded the German soldier to release a girl in exchange for Oleksandr’s golden watch. Raisa Shteinberg remembered later, that the soldier released her right behind the Lukianivskyi cemetery gates, where the way to the place of mass murder was starting.

At first, Oleksandr and Maria did not dare to take the girl to their home. She remained on the street and some passers-by led her to the orphanage. In the orphanage, the girl said that she is Raisa Shteinberg, her mother`s name was Sarah, and her father`s name was Mykola. The Petrashovs visited her in the orphanage frequently. Finally, they decided to adopt her. In the spring of 1942, they took her to their home. In addition, the girl got a new certificate with the name of Maryna Petrashova.

Maryna remained in the Petrashovs` apartment up to the Red Army offensive in the autumn of 1943. When the German Supreme Command figured out that there were no chances to hold Kyiv, it ordered to evacuate local dwellers. In such a way Oleksandr, Maria, and Maryna got to the camp. This camp was bombed frequently. Moreover, the family met a teacher from the orphanage, who knew, that the Petrashovs had adopted the Jewish girl. That is why Oleksandr obtained permission to be relocated to another camp in Bludentz city. The living conditions there were difficult. In order to survive, Maria and Oleksandr had to perform menial labor. Oleksandr had to dig trenches and anti-tank ditches. By the end of the war, both Oleksandr and Maria had symptoms of scurvy. Nevertheless there they met the Second World War`s end. The family decided not to return to USSR, as they were afraid for their lives. In 1949, they immigrated to Argentina. There Petrashovs have had difficult times. Despite his engineer`s degree and serious disease Oleksandr only managed to get a job as a construction worker. In 1952, he died in the Buenos-Aires’ city hospital. Maria and Maryna had to make their living by cleaning floors in the churches, washing and sewing the clothes.

Maria and Maryna came back to Kyiv in 1962 thanks to Maria's relatives' invitation. Maryna Petrashova had got her degree and become a foreign language teacher just like Maria Petrashova.

Maria Petrashova died in 1990 at the age of 98. Her adopted daughter had buried her in the Baikove cemetery near her husband`s ashes.

In 1995, Petrashova Maria and Petrashov Oleksandr were awarded with a high title of the Righteous of Babyn Yar.