Lisovskaya Lidia ; Mother: Demchinskaya Anna

Lisovskaya, Lidia Demchinskaya, Anna In November 1941, thousands of Jews from the district city of Rowne later, Rivne) were led to their deaths. Many locals stood alongside the road and watched their march, some of them sneering, others feeling pity for the doomed. All of a sudden a woman with a baby in her arms broke away from the column and rushed inside one of the buildings. The guard’s reaction was quick: he pulled the trigger and shot the woman on the spot. With the next shot he murdered a man who came running after the woman. Their bloodstained bodies remained lying by the side of the road. When the column of people disappeared from sight, two strangers approached the dead: a supposedly German officer and an elegantly dressed young woman; they thought that the baby might still be alive and were right. Taking the baby from its mother’s arms, the two left the place. The woman’s name was Lidia Lisovskaya, and her comrade and partner was Nikolay Kuznetsov, a legendary Soviet spy who was operating in Rowne under the name of Paul Wilhelm Ziebert, a Wehrmacht officer. They brought the foundling to Lidia’s apartment. It was a girl, about eight months old. Lidia decided to keep and raise her, and Nikolay named her Anita. The main burden of childcare fell on Anna Demchinskaya’s shoulders, Lidia’s mother. Anita was frail, often sick and her development was slow; she did not walk or talk for a long time. Lidia Lisovskaya’s underground comrades knew about the girl’s condition and helped the rescuers with medicine and fresh food. Her underground activities did not leave Lidia with much time to spend with the baby. At the end of 1943, she had to leave Rowne for another location. Anita was left with Anna Demchinskaya and Lidia’s younger sister Yelena. Anita survived until the liberation, on February 2, 1944. Kuznetsov had fallen in battle during a partisan mission. In October 1944 Lidia was accused by the Soviets of treason and executed without a trial. Anitacontinued living with Anna whom she considered to be her grandmother. During her childhood she heard the neighbors hint about her Jewish origin, but only after the grandmother’s death did former underground fighters told her the whole truth. In the 1990s, the court in Rivne (Rowne) determined that Anita had been born to a Jewish mother and father, relying on witnesses’ statements. Unfortunately, in spite of all her efforts, the survivor could not discover their names. On March 1, 2006 Yad Vashem recognized Lidia Lisovskaya and her mother Anna Demchinskaya as Righteous Among the Nations.