Avdeenko Sergei & Tatiana ; Son: Valentin ; Son: Igor

Avdeyenko, Sergey Avdeyenko, Tatyana Avdeyenko, Valentin Avdeyenko, Igor Sergey Avdeyenko lived in Odessa (today Odesa) with his wife Tatyana and their sons, Valentin and Igor. Sergey worked as a building engineer and through his work he had become acquainted with Minna Yarmolinskaya. When the Germans and Romanians conquered Odessa on October 16, 1941, Sergey handed Yarmolinskaya the identity papers of his deceased friend and offered her shelter in his apartment should it ever become necessary. Sergey also concerned himself at this time with finding a hiding place for Yarmolinskaya’s husband’s family, and, thanks to him, the Yarmolinskiy family was able to remain in Odessa. In August 1942, after being betrayed to the authorities, the Yarmolinskiy family was deported to the Domanevka labor camp. Sergey’s sons frequently managed to smuggle food for the Yarmolinskiys into the camp. In the meantime, Sergey assisted his neighbors, Tsilya Ashkenazi and her daughter Anastasiya, by renting a room for them in an area where no one knew them. Sergey also provided them with the birth certificates of his sisters, both of whom had died before the war. The Jewish identity of Ashkenazi and her daughter was soon discovered though, and they were arrested. For the three months that they were in prison, and then afterward when they were in the Slivino forced-labor camp, Sergey, his wife, and his sons supplied them with food and warm clothes. Later, for a few weeks until the liberation of Odessa on April 10, 1944, the Avdeyenkos hid the Ashkenazis in their home after the local rule changed from Romanian to German hands – a development that severely endangered the lives of any Jews still remaining in the area. Sergey’s health was severely damaged due to his brutal treatment at the hands of the Romanians and he died in 1945, at the age of 51. Valentin later moved to Israel. Minna Yarmolinskaya immigrated to the United States. On March 24, 1996, Yad Vashem recognized Sergey andTatyana Avdeyenko and their sons, Valentin and Igor Avdeyenko, as Righteous Among the Nation