96-year-old survivor of four Nazi death camps killed in Ukraine
Boris Romanchenko, who had been detained at the Buchenwald, Peenemunde, Dora and Bergen-Belsen camps, was killed in a Russian attack on Kharkiv on Friday
Lee Harpin is the Jewish News's political editor
A 96-year-old who survived imprisonment in four Nazi concentration camps has been killed during the Russian attack on the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.
Boris Romantschenko, who had been detained at the Buchenwald, Peenemunde, Dora and Bergen-Belsen camps, was killed on Friday in the block of flats where he lived.
His death was revealed by the Twitter account of Germany’s Buchenwald concentration camp memorial, who said they had been told the news of the death by Romantschenko’s granddaughter.
On the same day as Romantschenko’s death, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a rally in Moscow where he once again claimed Russia was fighting a war against “Neo-Nazis” in Ukraine.
Boris Romantschenko survived the concentration camps #Buchenwald, #Peenemünde, #Dora and #BergenBelsen. Now he has been killed by a bullet that hit his house in #Charkiv, #Ukraine. He was 96 years old. We are stunned. pic.twitter.com/ZZIK2OdbAu
— Stift. Gedenkstätten Buchenwald und Mittelbau-Dora (@Buchenwald_Dora) March 21, 2022
The German camp’s Twitter account stated: “Boris Romantschenko survived the concentration camps Buchenwald, Peenemünde, Dora and BergenBelsen.
“He was killed last Friday in a blast at his home in Charkiv, Ukraine. He was 96 years old. We are stunned.
“According to his granddaughter, he lived in a multi-story building, hit by a shell.
“Boris Romantschenko worked intensively on the memory of Nazi crimes and was vice-president of the Buchenwald-Dora International Committee.”
The Auschwitz Memorial Twitter page said on Monday the 96 year-old was killed by a bullet that hit his house.
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