Zarubina, Arina
Korneeva, Ekaterina
Korneeva, Marpha
Arina Zarubina from Smolensk was a neighbor to the Russian father Alexei Korneev, Jewish mother Anna Bogorad and their five-year-old daughter Alla. Alexei was drafted into the Red Army and later fell in battle. Prior to the transfer of Smolensk’s Jews into a ghetto in late July 1941, Anna changed her father’s Jewish name in her ID from Izrail to a Russian one. Thus, she was able to stay in her own apartment. But in 1942 she was denounced, arrested and murdered. When the police burst into the apartment, their daughter Alla happened to be in Arina’s home. The latter did not let the girl out. Instead, Arina took her to the village of Stanichki in Smolensk District where a friend of hers, Marpha Korneeva, lived. Although having the same last name, Marpha was not relative of Alexei Korneev. She lived there with her two daughters, one of them was Ekaterina Korneeva. The family warmly cared for Alla. Inside the house, she could move about freely, and usually did not go outside. In order to be on the safe side as there were German troops in the village, Marpha’s family spread a rumor that Alla was in fact Arina Zarubina’s granddaughter. The girl was cared for until the area was liberated by the Soviets in September 1943. Thereupon, Alla continued to live in Smolensk and maintained warm relations with her rescuers. Alla was the only one of her family to survive the war.
On May 22, 2000, Yad Vashem recognized Arina Zarubina, Ekaterina Korneeva and Marpha Korneeva as Righteous Among the Nations.