Wanda Medushevskaya

MEDUSHEVSKAYA, Wanda (1927 – 2016)

During the war, Wanda lived with her mother, Anna, in Budki, a village on the train route between Odessa and Moscow. Wanda’s father, Vasili was a tailor, killed in one of Stalin’s purges. He had been very friendly with the Margolis family, who were Jewish. They asked Wanda’s mother if she would help them. The Medushevskayas hid 5 members of the family, 3 children and 2 adults, for three years. The Jews hid in the cellar during the winter and in the attic during the summer. After the war the two families remained close friends, to the extent that a distant cousin married one of the Margolis children.

Wanda’s son married a Jewish woman and came to Israel in 1992. Wanda joined them in 1997.