Ukrainian holocaust survivor (1926–2022)
Borys Romanchenko |
|---|
|
 |
| Born | Borys Tymofiyovych Romanchenko
(1926-01-20)20 January 1926
|
|---|
| Died | 18 March 2022(2022-03-18) (aged 96)
|
|---|
| Known for | Holocaust survivor |
|---|
Borys Tymofiyovych Romanchenko (Ukrainian: Борис Тимофійович Романченко; 20 January 1926 – 18 March 2022) was a Ukrainian public figure, activist and non-Jewish[1] Holocaust survivor who survived the Buchenwald, Dora and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps. He was killed by Russian airstrikes during the Battle of Kharkiv during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[2][1][3][4]
Biography
Romanchenko was born on 20 January 1926 in Sumy Oblast, Ukrainian SSR.[1]
At age 16, Romanchenko was captured and deported to Dortmund in Nazi Germany, where he had to perform forced labour in a coal mine. After a failed attempt to escape, he was interned at Buchenwald concentration camp. Later, he was forced to work in the production of V-2 rockets at Peenemünde Army Research Center. He was transferred to Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp and finally liberated at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. After returning home, he studied in Kharkiv.[2]
After surviving three Nazi concentration camps, Romanchenko actively shared his memories of those events and was involved in preserving the memory of tragedies caused by Nazis. He was vice-president (from Ukraine) of the International Committee of Former Prisoners of Buchenwald-Dora.[5]
On 12 April 2015, he spoke at the site of the former Buchenwald concentration camp, citing from the Buchenwald Oath in Russian: "Наш идеал — построить новый мир мира и свободы" ("Our ideal is building a new world of peace and freedom").[5]
Death
He was living in the Saltivka area of Kharkiv at the time of his death on 18 March 2022.[1]
His granddaughter Yulia Romanchenko said that there was shelling in the area and when she went to his house it was completely burned down.[1]
The Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba commented on Twitter: "Unspeakable crime. Survived Hitler, murdered by Putin."[1]
Commemoration
The City Council of Leipzig in Germany decided on 9 November 2022 to rename the street "Turmgutstraße" in the area Gohlis in Leipzig, where also the Consulate General of the Russian Federation resides, in honor to Romanchenko to "Boris-Romantschenko-Straße".[6]
