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Ukrainian Woman Who Survived Nazi Occupation In Mariupol Dies Hiding From Russian Bombs


The funeral of a Mariupol resident killed during the Russian occupation is held beside a street on April 19.
The funeral of a Mariupol resident killed during the Russian occupation is held beside a street on April 19.

A Ukrainian woman who survived the Nazi occupation of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol has died while hiding in a basement during Russia's siege of the port.

Chabad.org said 91-year-old Vanda Obyedkova, an active member of Mariupol's Jewish community and a Holocaust survivor, died in a basement "freezing and pleading for water" in early April after being trapped in the city for weeks during intense shelling by Russian forces.

"At 10 years old, Vanda survived the Germans by hiding in a basement in Mariupol. 81 years later, she died in a basement in the same city as a victim of the horrific war hiding from the Russians," the Auschwitz Memorial group tweeted on April 19.

Obyedkova was born in Mariupol in 1930 and survived the Nazi roundups hiding in Mariupol's basements. Her mother and several members of the family perished during the Nazi occupation.

Last month, another Holocaust survivor, 96-year-old Borys Romanchenko, was killed by a Russian bomb that hit his apartment in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.

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