Ella Olshenko (86):
"I did not describe and did not believe that such a horror would return"
After 40 days in the bombed-out Krakow, 86-year-old Ella Olshenko was evacuated from the bombing along with her daughter, Natalia, and the two found themselves in Moldova.
Just before boarding the plane, in preparation for the new life in Israel, Olshenko tells Israel Today: "I did not think or imagine that such a thing would happen again. It is very strange for me, the bombing and the escape, I did not think it would happen again," she says.
Olshenko tells of the difficult period she went through - how she lost her father in the war, and her brother during the escapes from besieged Leningrad.
"Dad fell in battle for the first few months. Mom did not want to believe, and until the last minute she was looking for him among the hospitals. Unfortunately he died at sea. In September 1941 the siege of the city began. There were countless bombings, famine, the city was surrounded by Nazi soldiers. "Allocate to 250 grams for those who worked, and for the rest of the people 125 grams. I remember how my mother cried when she managed to bring home a few pieces of bread, and she felt helpless."
"My life has been very difficult, and here - at the end of my life I am once again on the run from war," said Olshenko.
She lost her brother in a rescue from the city through a frozen lake.
"He fell under the ice. They took him out and covered him with blankets, but he was very weak, and died ten days later. I was 5 then, and the scariest memory was that my mother left me alone and went to take care of my brother's burial. I was afraid they would take me too." .
After many travels, at the end of the war they found their pavilion in Kharkiv, and Olshenko changed her registration in the passport from a Jewish woman to a Ukrainian.
"The thing I was most afraid of was discrimination on the basis of origin - this is what Jews in the Soviet Union feared. But I did not forget my identity. I remember how my grandmother would bring matzah for Passover, and how I was afraid of candles lit on Shabbat. Even though I was small - I understood everything.
"My life was very difficult, and here - at the end of my life I am again on the run from war, again I have to flee to be saved from death. The 'kindness' people in the city took great care of us, their volunteers were with us until the last minute before evacuation," she recalls.
Olshenko says of the new life in Israel that "I'm not afraid to start a new chapter. The people care about us, they are so good and so caring, not only professional, but really friends. So I was a little girl, and today I start a new life at 86. It's a miracle. Real and I survived. "
Zinobi to battle (86):
"I was most afraid to experience the bombings again at a late age"
Zinobi to the battle (86) celebrated his birthday last month in the bombed-out Kharkiv, the city he left for the second time in his life.
He has already spent Passover at his granddaughters' house in Haifa, as an Israeli citizen.
"In my opinion the Russians are exactly the same Nazis, inflicting terror and fear. It was very difficult to hear the sirens during the shelling. When I ran away from the Nazis with my parents I already experienced bombings on our trains. It affected me greatly as a child. "I underwent treatments. The thing I was most afraid of was that it would come back to me now, at my advanced age. This is the second war in my life," he says.
"At the age of six, we were evacuated to Siberia. When we returned to the city in 1944, there was no longer a city - only destruction. The city was restored very quickly, and Kharkiv became an amazing city in its beauty, a flourishing and prosperous city."
According to him, the Russians made a mistake and did not expect the people of Ukraine to defend their home in this way.
"I personally could not do that, so I left," he says sadly.
"Most people my age end their lives - and I, on the other hand, begin a new chapter in my life," Zinobi to the battle,
The Friends of the Friendship Foundation helped and made sure to bring everything he needed to get closer.
At first he was not sure if he wanted to leave, until a missile fell 50 meters from his house.
"It was awful. They called me from the foundation and told me I had an hour to pick up my belongings. I took some clothes in a plastic bag, and so I went out. Most people my age end their lives - and I, on the other hand, start a new chapter in my life. It probably wasn't in plans, but Thanks to the people who helped me, I will enjoy the rest of my life in Israel. "
The battle concludes in an optimistic tone, as it has been all his life: "Israel received me very nicely in the form of my granddaughters. I am like a king, I am not allowed to do any chores, I am fed until I can not walk. In the meantime I enjoy the quiet. Now I am happy."
The director general of the Friendship Foundation, Ayelet Shilo Tamir, says that "since the beginning of the war, the Friendship Foundation, together with the Jewish Agency and Netiv, have been working night and day to help refugee immigrants from Ukraine reach Israel.
Among the thousands of immigrants who have already arrived in Israel, there are hundreds of elderly people - including Holocaust survivors.
The most painful thing they share is how the current situation reminded them of what they went through during the Holocaust.
Escape from missile bombings, loss of friends, destruction of home.
We have had the right to allow them to close the circle, and to live the rest of their lives in Israel. "
Jeanne Gondreb (85): "It was awful to leave everything again, my soul is torn"
"In World War II it was easier for me. I was a girl and my mother was by my side."
Says 85-year-old Jeanne Gonderev.
"It must have been difficult, and everyone knows what we went through. On long journeys we reached Kazakhstan, where we spent the war days until the victory."
She eventually came to the city of Tver in Russia, where she graduated in medicine, and since the 1960s she has lived in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine, where she has already moved with her husband, following his work.
Now, in the wake of the Russian invasion of the country, Gondreb was forced to leave her home again.
"We have a great home, which was very painful to leave. We left behind everything we achieved on our own, it was terrible," she says.
"My husband passed away. He did not get to see all the atrocities and what is happening now. It is very difficult to leave everything. Age is no longer the same, and it is difficult to look at everything optimistically. Obviously I want to see the grandchildren and everything will be fine. But it is still a country "Another, another language, you have to get used to it. I wish everything would go well."
"I remembered how we escaped from the Nazis from the beloved city, and now we are leaving the city again," Jeanne Gonderev,
Gonderev recalls the evacuation in '41, and does not believe the imagination of these days.
"The long road to Moldova flooded my childhood memories. I remembered how we escaped from the Nazis from the beloved city, and now we are leaving the city again - on the run from the Russians. My son stayed in the city. He was not yet 60, so he can not leave. We left all the memories, photos And also Dad's victory decorations from World War II, "she shares with great pain.
Gondar is not just mentioning her father.
She is a very strong woman who stands her ground - and much of it is thanks to him.
"I was told that I, as a Jew, could not be accepted to study medicine, and they offered me to change the registration. Dad always educated me to be strong, and never give up the principles. If I changed the registration I would lose my identity - so I refused."
Judaism has always been a part of her life, from the fish her mother would prepare for Rosh Hashanah and the matzah she would bring for Passover.
Also, her mother feared for her father because of his Judaism, but he, like the daughter, insisted and always made sure to remind the family that they were first and foremost - Jews.
"Now my soul is torn," says Gondreb, because her son is left behind, but one thing is certain: "God is watching over us. I have always believed in miracles. I will pray that my son will be saved. May God give health to all who helped us along the way, and keep the foundation of friendship."
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