Lukshina Aleksandra

Lukshina, Aleksandra Aleksandra Lukshina lived in Odessa. In July 1941, when the city was bombed from the air, she moved with her son Igor and her elderly mother Anastasiya to another part of the city, where she had found a one-story house for two families. It turned out that their neighbors were Leika Gurvits and her son Boris. Soon, Leika’s sister, Zina Goldfedib, moved in with her, together with her sons Lev and Yakov. Being of the same age, Yakov Goldfedib and Igor Lukshin became good friends. On October 16, 1941, after a one-week siege, Odessa was occupied by the Romanians who had invaded the USSR together with the Germans. Thousands of civilians were murdered in the city starting with the first night of the occupation, many of them Jews. This was followed by mass deportations -- tens of thousands of Odessa’s Jews were driven out of the city on foot, while thousands of others were concentrated in a ghetto established in the Slobodka area of the city. The living conditions in the ghetto were extremely harsh, as hunger and bitter cold caused the death of hundreds. Under such circumstances Lukshina’s Jewish neighbors tried not to leave their home, afraid of being caught in a round-up, or humiliated and beaten by hooligans. In that period of time, Aleksandra Lukshina’s help to them was very valuable. She supplied them with food that she bought after selling her own and her neighbors’ personal belongings. Nine-year-old Igor Lukshin spent much of his time outside, in front of the house, warning the Jews about any appearance of Romanians or the local police force, thereby giving the neighbors time to descend into the cellar. When the house was searched, Aleksandra said that she was now occupying both its parts, since her neighbors had fled. On January 10, 1942, the city’s military commander issued a decree giving the Jews two days to move to the Slobodka ghetto under the threat of severe punishment if they didn’t. Leika and Zina with their sons did not daredisobey. Aleksandra escorted them to the ghetto, and gave them some food and money. At the beginning of February they were deported to the Domanevka camp, Odessa District (nowadays, Nikolayev) , where they survived until the liberation of the area in March 1944. Later that year, Boris Gurvits and Lev Goldfedib were conscripted into the Red Army and fell in battle. Their mothers and Lev’s younger brother, Yakov, returned to Odessa. On October 22, 2006, Yad Vashem recognized Aleksandra Lukshina asRighteous Among the Nations.