Ostashevskiy Genrikh

Ostashevskiy, Genrikh When the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, Genrikh Ostashevskiy from Odessa (today Odesa) was studying at drama school. In the first few days of the occupation, Ostashevskiy helped the Kornblit family in various ways. Then, when Odessa’s Jews were expelled from the city, Ostashevskiy hid Nella Kornblit, (with whom he had been studying), her aunt, Rozaliya Frenkel, and her son Oktav in his home. In December 1941, when the remaining Jews were ordered to move into the ghetto that was established in the Slobodka (Slobidka) suburb, Ostashevskiy found a cart and helped to move Ilya Kornblit, Nella’s father, who was ill. Thereafter, Ostashevskiy regularly supplied the Kornblit family with food, until they were sent to the Domanevka concentration and work camp in March 1942. After being in the camp for a month, Ostashevskiy found the Kornblits and he provided Nella with identity papers made out in a Russian name. With her mother’s blessing, after her father died, Nella escaped the camp and returned with Ostashevskiy to Odessa, where she hid in his home until May 1942. Although Nella had false papers, she preferred to remain out of the public eye. When Ostashevskiy rented a new, small basement apartment, Nella moved there with him and over time, their friendship turned into romance. In the summer of 1943, Ostashevskiy and Nella left Odessa and settled in the village of Derebchin, in the district of Vinnitsa (today Derebchyn, Vinnytsya). The woman that rented them an apartment knew that Nella was Jewish and to protect her, she told the locals that the two were her relatives. Ostashevskiy and Nella stayed in Derebchin until the liberation, in April 1944. Nella later immigrated to the United States. On May 25, 1997, Yad Vashem recognized Genrikh Ostashevskiy as Righteous Among the Nations.