Lentsman Polina

Lentsman, Polina Polina Lentsman was born to an Estonian family in 1907, in the village of Dzurchi in the Crimean peninsula. The inhabitants of this village were of German origin (Volksdeutsche), and Polina learned German from them. After her marriage, she moved to Beregovoye (Bakhchisarai county), which was inhabited by Estonians. There she gave birth to three children. In the winter of 1940, Dina Kruglikova, a young 18-year-old teacher, from a Crimean Jewish family, came to the village to teach in the elementary school. At first, Dina lived in the school building and after some time moved into the home of the Estonian Torbek family, neighbors of the Lentsmans whom Dina came to know quite well. During this period before the German occupation, Dina had a romantic attachment to Viktor, one of the Torbeks’ five sons. After the German invasion of the Soviet Union, the men of the village were mobilized into the Red Army. Among them were Polina Lentsman’s husband and Viktor Torbek. When Beregovoye was occupied on October 30, 1941, the Germans demanded that the head of the village provide lists of members of the Communist Party, the Communist Youth League and of the Jews. The head of the village, Meremes Villi, claimed there were no such people in his village. At the end of November, apparently after some one informed to the authorities, two German soldiers came to the Torbek home to arrest Dina Kruglikova. Dina, who vehemently denied she was Jewish, cried and pleaded with the soldiers. Her neighbor Polina Lentsman heard her sobs and came to her aid, speaking fluent German, which surprised the soldiers. She claimed she had known Dina since 1940 and knew for certain that she was Russian. She stated that as the mother of three small children she would not dare to endanger them if she was not certain of this. The soldiers left Dina but demanded that she report to their offices the next day with papers confirming that she is Russian. Fortunately for Dina and herrescuers, the soldiers left the village the next day for Sevastopol, where a fierce battle was raging. Although Dina had been saved, it was necessary now to hide her. Polina offered to take her in, where she hid for three weeks from the end of November to mid-December 1941. Early in December 1941, a Jewish shoemaker and his three children, inhabitants of Beregovoye, were caught and murdered. This happened near their home in the middle of the village. Many inhabitants witnessed the murder of these Jews and were shocked by the brutality of the Nazis. About that time, Dina’s lover, Viktor Torbek, returned to the village. He had heard what had happened and told her that his own family would also help to hide her. He prepared a hiding place for her in his home and another one in Polina’s basement. Dina went back to hide in the Torbeks’ home and also moved between temporary hideouts in the surrounding villages with Viktor’s friends. Polina obtained a Russian identity card for her with the help of the village head. In August 1942, Dina gave birth to a son, Genadii, and Polina hid the two of them in her home. On January 8, 1944, Viktor was arrested and sent as a forced laborer to Germany. After the area was liberated, in April 1944, Polina Lentsman was arrested by the NKVD on suspicion of collaboration with the Germans. She was released after many in the village testified in her favor and spoke about her activity during the occupation. When Viktor returned home in 1946, he and Dina were married. Dina continued to live in Beregovoye and to teach in the village school. On July 6, 2003, Yad Vashem recognized Polina Lentsman as Righteous Among the Nations.