Metreveli Sergey

Metreveli, Sergey Sergey Metreveli and Ivan Gugeshashvili were wine producers in Kislovodsk, a town in the northern Caucasus. At the end of August 1942, as the German forces were approaching the town, the two men evacuated Jews and other people known as Communists, in order to save them from the Germans. Emil Zigel and Arkadi Rabinovich were among the endangered Jews. In August 1941, when Emil was 16 he had gone with his parents, from Dnepropetrovsk in the Ukraine to Kislovodsk. Emil was the youngest of the five Zigel children. His elder brothers Moisei, Naum, and Samuil had been conscripted into the Red Army when Germany invaded the USSR and all three died in combat during 1941-1942. The only sister, Vera, was studying medicine in Voroshilovsk (currently Stavropol). For 16 days during the autumn of 1942 the sad line of fleeing refugees, led by Sergey Metreveli, moved through the Caucasian mountains. After marching some 500 km. they came to Sergey's home village of Utsera (Oni County) on the Georgian side of the Caucasian range that had not been conquered by the Germans. Sergey's parents and family lived there. Arakdi Rabinovich and other members of the group continued on their way to the main Georgian cities, but Emil, who had contracted malaria, was forced to stay behind in the village. The Metreveli family cared for him over several weeks, until he recovered. Thus, with their help, and especially that of Sergey Metreveli, Emil survived the fate of his parents who had remained in Kislovodosk. On September 1942, the Germans removed all the Jews of the city, among them Ekaterina and Enoch (Heinrich) Zigel, to the nearby town of Mineralnye Vody and murdered them there. In mid-September 1942, Emil came to the Ural region and several months later enlisted in the Red Army. He became an officer and in 1946 visited his rescuers in their village and continued to keep in contact with them. On June 24, 2004, Yad Vashem recognized Sergey Metreveli as Righteous Amongthe Nations.