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
By Rudy Malcom March 21, 2022
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.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
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 the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
