On Friday, December 9, ATZUM honored newly-identified “Righteous Among the Nations” Klavdia Likholetova, for her heroism and selflessness in saving Jewish lives during the Holocaust, at a special ceremony at the Eylon School in Holon.
Likholetova, who passed away in 2003 in Bat Yam, was represented by her husband, Iliya Leiberman, at the student-run ceremony arranged by ATZUM and the Eylon school staff. Likholetova was recently recognized by Yad Vashem as a Righteous Among the Nations. Leiberman accepted the certificate and medal on her behalf.
“It is vitally important that we honor the memory of each of these courageous rescuers, exceptional individuals who provided light in an era of unparalleled darkness and a moral compass to a lost generation,” said Rabbi Levi Lauer, Founding Executive Director of ATZUM.
“We believe it is only fitting to celebrate Klavdia’s life with the children of Holon, the third generation of Jews she has a hand in saving and those she chose to make her neighbors later in life.”
In November 1941, Klavdia and her parents, Olga and Ivan, took in Maria Dawes, and her daughter Yekaterina, two Jews who were left homeless and penniless after a failed offensive by the Russian Red Army. Though the Likholetova family home in the Ukrainian port city of Feodosiya was small and cramped, and they were in mortal danger for harboring Jews, they willingly hid and cared for Maria and Yekaterina for over two months.
Like more than 130 other rescuers, Klavdia chose to deepen her solidarity with the Jewish people following World War II and took up residence in Israel in 1998. Her story remained a well-kept secret until recently.
At the ceremony, opening remarks were made by Ronit Haimov, principal of the Eylon School; Miri Moshkowitz, the teacher who worked with ATZUM to organize the ceremony; and Yael Rosen, coordinator of ATZUM’s Righteous Among The Nations Project. The students then told the story of the Likholetova family, screened a presentation that they prepared with pictures of the family, read Haim Heffer’s poem on Righteous Among the Nations and sang a musical tribute to rescuers.
It was not clear until the last moment if Mr. Leiberman, who is in very poor health, would be able to attend the ceremony. In the end, he not only attended but pooled his strength in order to stand and sing Hatikvah at the end of the ceremony with the students. Following the ceremony, Russian speaking students approached Mr. Leiberman to thank him for coming and express how much Klavdia’s sacrifice meant to them.
