Kononova Yelizaveta

Kononova, Yelizaveta Filip Tenenbaum grew up in the town of Chorostkow, Tarnopol District, Ukraine. He turned 13 on the eve of the German invasion. Prior to the occupation of their town, he and his parents, Tsipa and Mark Tenenbaum, had started their flight to the east. After a long and exhausting journey, they found themselves in Kiyevka hamlet, Stavropol Krai District, where Mark Tenenbaum became a schoolteacher. The Tenenbaums were accommodated in a house for two families, one part of which was already occupied by a math teacher, Aleksander Kononov, his wife Yelizaveta and their 16-year-old daughter Lyudmila. The Kononovs had been evicted from Sevastopol, Crimea, at the very beginning of the war, since Yelizaveta was of German origin and apparently was considered “unreliable”. The two families became friends. At the beginning of 1942, Mark Tenenbaum was suddenly arrested by the NKVD and accused of espionage. Two years later, his wife and son received notification that he had been exiled to Siberia. On August 4, 1942, following the German offensive, the Kononovs and the Tenenbaums decided to flee together to the mountain area, but were not fast enough: German troops overran them in Levakumovka village, Stavropol Krai. Yelizaveta advised Tsipa to destroy her documents. She then asked for an appointment with a German commandant. Yelizaveta was ethnic German, as well as a person expelled by the Soviets; the commandant received her warmly and fulfilled her wish – he gave Yelizaveta a document, stating that she and her family were heading for Kislovodsk, a known spa town in North Caucasus, and that they were under the protection of the German authorities. From that day on Tsipa “became” Yelizaveta’s oldest daughter, her name changed to Zina. Filip, however, had to be kept out of sight because of his Jewish appearance. In fact, they had no intention of reaching Kislovodsk, and wandered the occupied territory, traveling by ox-pulled cart, exchanging personalbelongings for food and staying at night in deserted areas. When they crossed populated areas, Filip was always hidden inside the cart. In October, they reached Nezlobnaya hamlet, where Yelizaveta was offered the job of translator at a local hospital. She agreed since winter was approaching and getting food was becoming problematic. The German head of the hospital provided her and her family with a house and a stable for the ox. Filip stayed mostly in the stable because his existence was not mentioned in Yelizaveta’s documents. In December, he fell seriously ill and needed to be examined by a doctor. Having no other choice, Yelizaveta invited home one of the hospital’s doctors, a German named Richter, introducing Filip as her nephew. Richter understood that Filip was Jewish but did not denounce the Kononovs and cured the boy. In January 1943, when the Red Army was approaching the area, the hospital was evacuated to the west. The Kononovs left with the Germans, since they were afraid of being imprisoned by the Soviets. Tsipa and Filip remained in the hamlet until the arrival of the Red Army and then for one more year. In 1946 they reestablished contact with the father and moved to Abakan, Siberia. They never found out what became of the Kononovs. On January 16, 2008, Yad Vashem recognized Yelizaveta Kononova as Righteous Among the Nations