First housing project for elderly righteous launches in Belarus
British-Israeli activist Jonny Daniels helps raise tens-of-thousands to help 90-year-old Lyubov Arkhiptsova-Volchek, who saved a Jewish girl, 11, in Belarus during the Shoah
In 1998, the now 90-year-old Lyubov Arkhiptsova-Volchek was recognised as a Righteous Among the Nations – Israel’s title for non-Jews it recognised for risking their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust – for helping hide her 11-year-old Jewish friend from the Nazis.
Today Arkhiptsova-Volchek lives in abject poverty in Belarus.
“There’s no indoor toilet. The place is falling apart,” Jonny Daniels, a British-Israeli activist and head of the Warsaw-based From the Depths organisation, said about her home. “She wears coats indoors in winter because the place drops below freezing temperatures. She needs to find blocks of wood for heating. It’s a disgrace.”
So From the Depths — a group that raises Holocaust awareness and has created other programs for survivors and their rescuers — arranged for an upgrade for Arkhiptsova-Volchek. As a part of the world’s first housing project for Righteous Among the Nations, she will move into a newly renovated apartment in a building across the street from the synagogue in Babruysk with the help of $50,000 that Daniels has raised for the initiative. Most of the donations came from an online fundraising campaign that features a video of Arkhiptsova-Volchek at her home.
Arkhiptsova-Volchek is one of only two Righteous to move into the building at first, but the goal is to house more of the rescuers who have fallen into poverty since the war.
The city’s rabbi, Shaul Hababo, a Chabad-Lubavitch emissary, confirmed that he is part of the project.
“The plan is to have them live in greater comfort, but also involve them in community life so they don’t feel lonely,” Hababo said of the soon-to-be residents, who are scheduled to move in this summer following some renovations to the building that include making it more accessible to very elderly people.
Babruysk was once one of the world’s largest shtetls, but its Jewish population was nearly annihilated in the Holocaust.
In 1941, Arkhiptsova-Volchek and her late mother rescued Olga Shulman, an 11-year-old Jewish girl who went to school with Arkhiptsova-Volchek in the Babruysk suburb of Hlusk. Shulman escaped the firing squads that murdered her family that year and came for shelter to Arkhiptsova-Volchek’s home, where Arkhiptsova-Volchek was living in poverty with her parents and three siblings.
They hid Shulman in a shed in their yard. When Nazi raids became more frequent, they sent Shulman to other relatives before again hiding her in their home. Shulman survived the Holocaust thanks to her saviours’ efforts, according to Yad Vashem.
Babruysk has several hundred Jews — a relatively sizable number for a city outside the Minsk region, where most of Belarus’ approximately 8,500 Jews are concentrated.
The apartments will remain at the disposal of Babruysk’s Jewish Community after they are no longer used by the rescuers and “will be used to help people in need from the community,” Hababo said.
“It’s late,” he added, “but it’s not too late to show gratitude.”
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
