14 August 2020, Friday, 09:57 529

A monument to the Holocaust victims has been unveiled in Melitopol – Boris Lozhkin

Editor: Микола Поліщук

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Implementation of the project of the Jewish Confederation of Ukraine “The Righteous People of My City” goes on in Ukraine, during which streets and mini-parks are named after the Righteous Among the Nations in cities and villages, and memorial signs are installed. Melitopol in the Zaporizhia region is one more city that has joined the project. A Memorial to the victims of the Holocaust and the Righteous Among the Nations has been unveiled here, according to the information on the website of the Jewish Confederation of Ukraine with reference to Facebook of the JCU President Boris Lozhkin.

The honorary title of the Righteous Among the Nations is awarded by the Israeli Yad Vashem memorial to non-Jews who saved Jews from persecution during the Holocaust, risking their own lives.

“Like most cities in Ukraine, Melitopol also has its own Righteous. Vera Zemtseva and her daughter Alla Zemtseva-Yesipenko gave shelter to the Jewish girl Zhanna Tsyparska during the Holocaust, despite the real threat to their own lives for harboring Jews. The Memorial is also dedicated to them,” the JCU website says.

In the center of the memorial composition is the sculpture “Lament for the Unborn” by sculptor Oleksandr Diachenko. The city authorities of Melitopol have allocated a place on Hetmanska Street for the Memorial. It was namely along this street that the peaceful residents of Melitopol were led to execution during the occupation. 12,000 of the 14,000 killed peaceful residents of Melitopol were Jews.

The Jewish Confederation of Ukraine notes that a born in Melitopol member of the Supervisory Board of the JCU Volodymyr Shpilfogel became the sponsor of the installation of the Memorial in Melitopol.

It has been earlier reported that the project of the Jewish Confederation of Ukraine “The Righteous People of My City” was initiated by Boris Lozhkin at the end of 2018. As part of the project, 22 streets, 1 mini-park have already been named after the Righteous in the cities and villages in which they lived; 5 memorial signs have been installed. Now the Memorial in Melitopol has been also added to this list.