Wednesday, April 20, 2022

91-Year-Old Holocaust Survivor Perishes in Mariupol, Ukraine, Basement

 


As she lay dying in a Mariupol basement, freezing and pleading for water, Holocaust survivor Vanda Semyonovna Obiedkova wanted to know only one thing: “Why is this happening?”

Ill and emaciated during the last two weeks of her life, the 91-year-old could not even stand up. She died on April 4, not peacefully of old age in her own bed, but as a victim of the horrific 21st-century war that has engulfed her hometown.

“Mama didn’t deserve such a death,” says Obiedkova’s daughter, Larissa, through tears, just hours after arriving with her family in a safe location.

She had watched helplessly as her mother’s life ebbed away, remaining at her side until the last moment. After her mother passed away, Larissa and her husband risked their lives to bury Obiedkova, amid non-stop shelling, in a public park less than a kilometer from the Azov Sea.

“The whole Mariupol has turned into a cemetery,” says Rabbi Mendel Cohen, director of Chabad-Lubavitch of Mariupol and the Ukrainian port city’s lone rabbi. Obiedkova and her family had long been active members of Mariupol’s Jewish community, the matriarch regularly receiving medical aid from Cohen’s synagogue.

“Vanda Semyonovna lived through unimaginable horrors,” the rabbi says. “She was a kind, joyous woman, a special person who will forever remain in our hearts.”


Full story here

16 comments:

  1. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10739749/Russian-state-TV-hosts-giggle-discuss-NUKING-New-York-Putins-hypersonic-missile.html Russian state TV hosts giggle uncontrollably as they discuss NUKING New York

    ReplyDelete
  2. 'White but not quite' https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/white-but-not-quite I have not read the book.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Germany and France watch Ukrainian defence war https://twitter.com/WolnaRadio/status/1518274396657434624/photo/1

    ReplyDelete
  4. https://twitter.com/babaikit/status/1517440864800448513/photo/1 Ukrainian dog scared by explosions.

    ReplyDelete
  5. https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-705144?_ga=2.236450056.823201846.1650793771-1229034299.1617710680&utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Antisemitic+incidents+spike+by+34+%2C+break+US+records+in+2021+-+ADL&utm_campaign=April+26%2C+2022 Antisemitism in th USA.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Russian hate speach in Sweden, subtitled. https://twitter.com/sumlenny/status/1518994159146868738

    ReplyDelete
  7. https://english.elpais.com/culture/2022-04-26/oliver-stone-the-putin-i-knew-was-rational-calm-always-acting-in-the-best-interest-of-the-russian-people.html?ssm=TW_CM_EN&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1650990022 Oliver Stone shows himself to be as bad that we thought he was.(
    Anders Åslund)

    ReplyDelete
  8. https://twitter.com/AVindman/status/1519030026330595329 Sen. Rand Paul (Kentucky) supports Putin.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Jerzy!

    About "White but not quite":

    I know the concept, if not necessarily the book [and it is probably used a lot in academia and especially in Diaspora Studies]. A long-standing friend of mine referred to it in their dissertation about the Australian-Irish diaspora especially where families were involved. [2008]

    It really is a catchy phrase.

    Adelaide Dupont

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. https://www.transformingsociety.co.uk/2022/04/20/white-but-not-quite-race-and-illiberralism-in-central-europe/ I do not see 'racism' in Poland as a problem. Several countries in the region have problems with Gypsies, but the split is cultural and criminal, not only racist. There are immigrant MPs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Godson

      Delete
  10. AJC loves Poland https://twitter.com/AJCGlobal/status/1518919773664563207

    ReplyDelete
  11. https://twitter.com/RabbiPoupko/status/1519399525663784963 Rabbi Poupko "I'm looking at you Austria, Poland" - Austria was Nazi, Poland was anti-Nazi and lost between 2 and 3 million ethnic Poles.

    ReplyDelete
  12. https://www.israelhayom.co.il/opinions/article/10338238 Constructive opinion

    ReplyDelete
  13. Please comment the "Maus" article https://www.durangoherald.com/opinion/

    ReplyDelete
  14. Rabbi Poupko comes from Belarus. https://twitter.com/RabbiPoupko/status/1519473295434919938 Radun was near the pre-war Polish-Soviet border, the 'local collaborators' were Belarus.

    ReplyDelete

Bieganski the Blog exists to further explore the themes of the book Bieganski the Brute Polak Stereotype, Its Role in Polish-Jewish Relations and American Popular Culture.
These themes include the false and damaging stereotype of Poles as brutes who are uniquely hateful and responsible for atrocity, and this stereotype's use in distorting WW II history and all accounts of atrocity.
This blog welcomes comments from readers that address those themes. Off-topic and anti-Semitic posts are likely to be deleted.
Your comment is more likely to be posted if:
Your comment includes a real first and last name.
Your comment uses Standard English spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
Your comment uses I-statements rather than You-statements.
Your comment states a position based on facts, rather than on ad hominem material.
Your comment includes readily verifiable factual material, rather than speculation that veers wildly away from established facts.
T'he full meaning of your comment is clear to the comment moderator the first time he or she glances over it.
You comment is less likely to be posted if:
You do not include a first and last name.
Your comment is not in Standard English, with enough errors in spelling, punctuation and grammar to make the comment's meaning difficult to discern.
Your comment includes ad hominem statements, or You-statements.
You have previously posted, or attempted to post, in an inappropriate manner.
You keep repeating the same things over and over and over again.