Semashko Kirill & Anastasia ; Daughter: Raisa

Semashko, Kirill Semashko, Anastasiya Semashko, Raisa In 1941, Kirill and Anastasiya Semashko lived in Minsk with their 11-year-old daughter Raisa. Raisa’s best friends were the 11-year-old Jewish girls Nina Tseitlina and Ida Borshcheva and when a ghetto was established in Minsk and these two girls were put in the children’s home there, the Semashkos came to their aid. Raisa regularly stole into the ghetto to bring her friends food and, during the Aktionen the Semashkos hid Tseitlina and Borshcheva in the cellar of their home. In 1943, when some soldiers were billeted in the Semashkos’ building and they could no longer shelter Tseitlina and Borshcheva there, they decided to move them permanently out of the ghetto. Despite the danger involved, Kirill Semashko enlisted his friend, a manager of children’s homes in the city, and together they moved Borshcheva to a Russian children’s home where, thanks to her Russian family name, she was received without any suspicion. Then, in September of that year, Semashko contacted the underground and its members helped him take Tseitlina to the partisan-controlled area. After the war, Raisa and her two Jewish friends were reunited and they remained close friends for many years thereafter. On June 11, 1996, Yad Vashem recognized Kirill and Anastasiya Semashko as Righteous Among the Nations. On June 11, 2001, Yad Vashem recognized Raisa Semashko as Righteous Among the Nations.