Meschaninov Aleksandr

Marinets, Yevdokim Meshchaninov, Aleksandr Ryshkova, Nina Ryshkov, Pyotr Ryshkova, Anisiya Yevdokim Marinets, in his 50s, lived in a workers’ settlement in the vicinity of Kharkov (today Kharkiv) and worked on a construction site supervised by the engineer Israel Punkin. The Germans entered Kharkov on October 23, 1941, the work was halted and the workers dispersed. One night in late December of that year, Punkin knocked on Marinets’s door and asked him to afford shelter to him, his wife, Tamara Lyubarskaya, and their two sons, Vladimir and Iosef. The Jewish family had escaped from the local ghetto at the start of the murder of its inhabitants. Marinets, a man of faith belonging to the Baptist community, welcomed the four Jews into his home, where they hid for two weeks. During this time, they did not leave the house and did not even approach the windows. When visitors came to the house, the Jews clambered into the basement through the back of the clothes closet. When it became clear that this hideaway could easily be discovered if the house was searched properly, Punkin decided to turn to his good friend Aleksandr Meshchaninov, a medical doctor, for assistance. On Punkin’s behalf, Dr. Meshchaninov then asked his friends, the Ryshkov family, to hide the Jewish family in their home, and they agreed to do so. In mid-January 1942, the Punkins left Marinets’s home. Tamara and the children headed straight for the home of Nina Ryshkova and her parents, Pyotr and Anisiya, and Punkin himself, who was unwell, was taken in as a patient in the hospital where Meshchaninov worked. The Ryshkovs gave their wards one of the three bedrooms in their home, which had its own separate entrance. The Punkin children never left the house but Tamara did occasionally visit friends in the evenings. After two months, when Punkin had recovered, he joined his family in hiding. Meshchaninov provided financially for the Punkins while they were hidden with the Ryshkovs, who were poor andoften suffered from hunger themselves. In order to further alleviate their financial struggle, Punkin sometimes went out to retrieve and sell some of his possessions that were in safekeeping with a friend in order to contribute towards his family’s upkeep. On one of Punkin’s trips, he met an old acquaintance who promised to help him. They arranged to meet again on May 13, 1942, and when Punkin arrived at the rendezvous place, he was arrested. Within two days, Meshchaninov found out that the Gestapo was holding Punkin and he immediately acquired false identity papers for Tamara and the children and sent them away from the city. They wandered around the occupied area until the liberation. Punkin was executed. Years later, Tamara and Vladimir moved to the United States and Iosif went to Germany. On June 11, 1996, Yad Vashem recognized Yevdokim Marinets, Aleksandr Meshchaninov, Nina Ryshkova and her parents, Pyotr Ryshkov and Anisiya Ryshkova, as Righteous Among the Nations.