Holocaust survivor, 96, killed by Russian strike in Ukraine

A view of a building destroyed by recent shelling in Kharkiv. By SERGEY BOBOK/Getty Images
A 96-year-old who survived imprisonment in four concentration camps during the Holocaust was killed by a Russian strike on Kharkiv on Friday.
Borys Romanchenko’s death was confirmed by the Buchenwald concentration camp memorial institute, with which he was deeply involved.
In a series of Russian-language tweets, the institute said that Romanchenko survived the camps at Buchenwald, Peenemünde, Dora and Bergen-Belsen during World War II.
Как мы узнали от его близких, наш друг Борис Романченко, который пережил нацистские лагеря #Buchenwald, #Peenemünde, #Dora и #BergenBelsen, был убит в прошлую пятницу в результате взрыва бомбы в своем доме в #Харькове. Мы глубоко встревожены. pic.twitter.com/hgJeL6gkGT
— Stift. Gedenkstätten Buchenwald und Mittelbau-Dora (@Buchenwald_Dora) March 21, 2022
According to an English translation, the institute wrote that Romanchenko worked “intensively on the memory of Nazi crimes and was vice-president of the Buchenwald-Dora International Committee.”
In 2012, Romanchenko attended an event reflecting on the liberation of Bunchenwald, one of the largest Nazi concentration camps. There, he spoke of a commitment to “creating a new world where peace and freedom reign.”
Romanchenko’s death comes a month before the 77th anniversary of Bunchenwald’s liberation by U.S. forces on April 11, 1945. A Kharkiv newspaper reporting on his visit to the camp for the 73rd anniversary said he was one of the last surviving prisoners from Ukraine.
The apartment block where he was living in Kharkiv was hit with rockets and missiles, his granddaughter told the institute. The northeastern Ukrainian city has withstood heavy Russian attacks since war began in late February.
Writing about Romanchenko’s death on his Telegram account, Andriy Yermak, head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, pointed out the discrepancy between the killing of a Holocaust survivor and the justifications used by Russia in pursuing the war. “This is what they call the ‘operation of denazification,’” Yermak wrote, according to CNN.
Russian propaganda has depicted Ukrainian leaders as Nazi sympathizers despite the country’s democratically elected Jewish president and prime minister.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba described Romanchenko’s death as an “unspeakable crime.”
“Survived Hitler, murdered by Putin,” he tweeted.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 2
Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
- 3
Culture Did this Jewish literary titan have the right idea about Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling after all?
- 4
Opinion I first met Netanyahu in 1988. Here’s how he became the most destructive leader in Israel’s history.
In Case You Missed It
-
Opinion Gaza and Trump have left the Jewish community at war with itself — and me with a bad case of alienation
-
Fast Forward Trump administration restores student visas, but impact on pro-Palestinian protesters is unclear
-
Fast Forward Deborah Lipstadt says Trump’s campus antisemitism crackdown has ‘gone way too far’
-
Fast Forward 5 Jewish senators accuse Trump of using antisemitism as ‘guise’ to attack universities
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.