The late Mrs. Valentina Varavina of Ukraine was posthumously honored this afternoon at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum as a Righteous Among the Nations for endangering herself in the process of saving the life of a young Jewish boy - Yafim Shtraim. Her story, in brief, was as follows:
In July 1941, Valentina Varavina met young mother Bluma Shtraim on a train fleeing her hometown of Zhitomir with her two sons - Ilya, 9, and Yafim, 3. The boys’ father, a junior officer in the Red Army, had been drafted to the front a month earlier. In central Ukraine the train was bombed and Bluma was killed. Valentina vowed to save the boys and grabbed them from the wreckage. In the chaos, however, Ilya was lost, and Valentina returned with Yafim to Zhitomir. She introduced him as her nephew to conceal his Jewish identity, and hid him in her house until the Soviet Army liberated the area in 1943. Shortly afterwards, Ilya turned up, and in 1946, their father returned to reclaim his two sons. In the 1990\'s, Yafim moved to Israel, and gave his testimony to Yad Vashem requesting that Valentina be posthumously honored as a Righteous Among the Nations. In July of this year, Valentina\'s adopted daughter Svetlana appeared on Russian television pleading for information on her mother’s other “child,” and miraculously the plea was seen by Yafim in Israel. Svetlana and Yafim met for the first time as adults today at the Yad Vashem ceremony, when Svetlana received the certificate and medal on behalf of her stepmother.
Two other similar ceremonies were also held today in honor of Ukrainians Tamara Bromberg and her late mother Valentina Maximenok, and the late Michal, Maria and Michail Raduchiwski.
In July 1941, Valentina Varavina met young mother Bluma Shtraim on a train fleeing her hometown of Zhitomir with her two sons - Ilya, 9, and Yafim, 3. The boys’ father, a junior officer in the Red Army, had been drafted to the front a month earlier. In central Ukraine the train was bombed and Bluma was killed. Valentina vowed to save the boys and grabbed them from the wreckage. In the chaos, however, Ilya was lost, and Valentina returned with Yafim to Zhitomir. She introduced him as her nephew to conceal his Jewish identity, and hid him in her house until the Soviet Army liberated the area in 1943. Shortly afterwards, Ilya turned up, and in 1946, their father returned to reclaim his two sons. In the 1990\'s, Yafim moved to Israel, and gave his testimony to Yad Vashem requesting that Valentina be posthumously honored as a Righteous Among the Nations. In July of this year, Valentina\'s adopted daughter Svetlana appeared on Russian television pleading for information on her mother’s other “child,” and miraculously the plea was seen by Yafim in Israel. Svetlana and Yafim met for the first time as adults today at the Yad Vashem ceremony, when Svetlana received the certificate and medal on behalf of her stepmother.
Two other similar ceremonies were also held today in honor of Ukrainians Tamara Bromberg and her late mother Valentina Maximenok, and the late Michal, Maria and Michail Raduchiwski.