Semchenko Tetiana

Tetiana Semchenko lived in Uman in Cherkasy region and worked as a nanny for the Jewish family of Heiman, taking care of the little boy Liusyk. With the beginning of the war, his father Yakov went to the front.

Attacks on Jews and their killings in the city began immediately after the entry of German troops there on August 1, 1941. The Nazis carried out the first mass liquidation action at the end of September, the second one – in October 1941.

According to Oleksandr Kruhlov, a history researcher of the Holocaust in Ukraine, about 6 thousand people were killed in the Sukhyi Yar tract in the fall, including 600 Jews from Soviet prisoners of war.

Among those who were lucky to survive was Sophia Heiman with her son Liusyk, who was nine years old at the time. They, together with other Jews, were resettled into the ghetto, and it was strictly prohibited to leave its boundaries, although it was not fenced. At that time, Tetiana managed to contact Sonia. The women has developed a plan for managing the release of Lyusik. The plan was implemented at the end of November 1941. At first, the rescuer hid the boy in her apartment, but it was too risky: neighbors could recognize and extradited the child. So, Tetiana moved with her ward to Vinnytsia, to the city of Bershad, which was controlled by the Romanians. There she placed him in an orphanage under the name of Leonid Semchenko. Tetiana constantly visited the boy, and after the expulsion of the Nazis, she took him and returned to the city of Uman. At that time, she was already married and brought up a little daughter. Having learned that Sonia Heiman had perished, Tetiana hoped for Yakov's return from the front. In the summer of 1944, her husband also went to the front. Both he and the father of the saved boy perished. Later, the woman's financial situation deteriorated significantly, and she was again forced to give Liusyk to an orphanage. His uncle found him there and took him to his family.

Liusyk (Leonid) Heiman maintained a relationship with his savior until her death in the 1970s. Subsequently, Leonid and his family emigrated to Germany.

In 2004, Yad Vashem recognized Tetiana Semchenko as Righteous Among the Nations.