Masing Uku & Eha (Tuulemaa)

Masing, Uku Masing, Eha On the eve of the German invasion of Estonia, Uku Masing (b. 1909) was a professor of Semitic languages at the University of Tartu and an avowed opponent of the Nazi ideology. In 1941, after the Germans occupied Tartu, Masing resigned from the university and refused invitations he received from German universities. Shocked by the atrocities committed by the Germans against the Jews of Estonia, Masing and his wife, Eha, decided to save Isidor Levin, a former student in the department of Jewish studies at Tartu University. The Masings obtained false papers for Levin and gave him shelter in their home throughout the period of the occupation, until September 1944. After the war, Professor Masing participated in commissions against war criminals, and was active in collecting documents relating to the murder of Jews in various parts of Estonia. On April 29, 1969, Yad Vashem recognized Uku Masing as Righteous Among the Nations. On December 29, 1996, Yad Vashem recognized Eha Masing as Righteous Among the Nations.