Boris Romanchenko, a 96-year-old Holocaust survivor, was reportedly killed in Kharkiv, Ukraine last Friday when Russian forces shelled the city Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. During World War II, Romanchenko survived the Buchenwald, Dora-Mittelbau, Peenemünde and Bergen-Belson concentration camps, the memorials for the Buchenwald and Dora-Mittelbau camps called Monday.
Romanechenko’s granddaughter told the memorials that he was killed when the high-rise building where he lived was hit by Russian shelling.
“We are deeply saddened,” the foundation said, while Ukraine’s defense ministry lamented that “Putin managed to ‘achieve’ what even Hitler failed to do.”
Romanchenko was born on January 20, 1926 in Bondari, Ukraine, the memorial said in a statement. He was deported to Dortmund in 1942 and forced to do forced labor underground, the statement said. In 1943, after attempting to escape, Romanechenko was sent to Buchenwald, where it is estimated that over 50,000 people were killed.
Those imprisoned in Buchenwald often had to do forced labor for the German military. Romanchenko was one of those sent to Peenemünde, where he was forced to work on the development of the V-2 rocket. Buchenwald, which according to the foundation had grown into the largest concentration camp in Germany by the end of the war, was liberated by Allied troops in 1945.
According to the memorials, Romanchenko had served as vice president of the Buchenwald-Dora International Committee and was dedicated to documenting and preserving the Nazi crimes he and millions of others suffered. In 2015, Romanchenko attended an event commemorating the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Buchenwald, the camp’s memorial foundation said, at which he read “The Oath of Buchenwald.”
У 2012 році Борис Романченко (другий праворуч на фото) зачитав клятву Бухенвальда “Створення нового світу, де панують мир і свобода” під час святкування річниці звільнення концтабору Бухенвальд. pic.twitter.com/EGbvI8tusz
-Pen. Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials (@Buchenwald_Dora) March 21, 2022
The oath, which was read out for the first time on April 19, 1945 at a memorial service for those murdered in the camp, ends with the promise to “destroy National Socialism to its roots” and “to build a new world of peace and freedom.”
Kharkiv, where Romanechenko was killed, is Ukraine’s second largest city. Like many other civilian population centers, it was shelled by Russian artillery during the invasion. In a recent conference call with Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said, “The strikes from heaven come every day and every hour. Bombings (on) peaceful residential buildings. Victims everywhere.”
The mayor of Merefa, a town southeast of Kharkiv, said at least 21 people were killed on Thursday when Russian strikes destroyed a school and community center in the town.
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