Slabko Olga (Belitskaya)

Arkhiptsova, Nadezhda Volchek (Arkhiptsova), Lyubov Slabko (Belitskaya), Olga Nadezhda Arkhiptsova lived with her ill husband and their four children in the town of Glussk, Minsk District. On June 27, 1941, the Germans conquered Glussk and on December 12, all the local Jews were ordered to gather in the town square and were led to the death pits. Two days later, 11-year-old Olga Shulman knocked on the Arkhiptsovs’ door after having crawled out from under the dead body of her mother and then hiding in the fields. Despite the risk and financial difficulties, Arkhiptsova hid the child in a shed in her yard. Lyubov, Arkhiptsova’s eldest daughter and Olga’s school friend, looked after her and even slept in the hiding place to keep her company. When the Germans conducted house searches for Jews in the area, Olga was forced to hide in a mud hut in the forest and Arkhiptsova and her daughter continued to take care of all her needs. In the summer of 1943, when the Germans’ searches became even more intense, Arkhiptsova decided to send Olga to her sister’s family, who lived in an area where the partisans were active. Within a week, however, Olga again fled to the forest where she met Olga Belitskaya, a young woman she did not know, resident of one of the villages near Glussk. She hid Olga in her home for about two months, until the searches in Glussk subsided and the danger diminished. Olga returned to Arkhiptsova’s house and stayed with her family until the liberation of Glussk on July 27, 1944. Throughout this time, Belitskaya regularly visited the Arkhiptsovs and brought the family food. After the liberation, Olga found her uncle, who came and took her to Minsk. While living there she maintained a warm relationship with her rescuers and visited them every year. In the 1990s, Olga Shulman immigrated to the United States. On January 29, 1998, Yad Vashem recognized Nadezhda Archiptsova, her daughter, Lyubov Volchek, and Olga Slabko (née Belitskaya), as RighteousAmong the Nations.