Holocaust survivor, 91, dies in Ukraine. She was sheltering from Russian strikes on Mariupol

Vanda Obiedkova died hiding in a basement during the siege of Mariupol (Image: MFA_Ukraine/Twitter)

A 91-year-old Holocaust survivor has died in the siege of Mariupol. Vanda Semyonovna Obiedkova died while sheltering against Russian strikes in her basement, her confinement a grim reminder of the time she spent hiding from the Nazis in a cellar when she was 10.

“Mama didn’t deserve such a death,” Obiedkova’s daughter, Larissa, told Chabad.org.

"There was no water, no electricity, no heat - and it was unbearably cold," said Larissa, who stayed by her mother’s side until she died on April 4. "There was nothing we could do for her. We were living like animals."

After her mother’s death, Larissa risked non-stop Russian shelling to bury her mother in a park.

At 10 years old, Vanda Obiedkova survived the German occupation of Mariupol. Vanda was 91 when #Russian army invaded her city. 81 years after Nazi regime, she died. Dying in a basement, freezing, pleading for water, Holocaust survivor asked: “Why is this happening?”#SaveMariupol pic.twitter.com/yO9Gn18bJZ— MFA of Ukraine (@MFA_Ukraine) April 20, 2022

Born in 1930, Vanda Obiedkova was 10-years-old when Nazis occupied the Ukrainian port city in 1941. She escaped by hiding in a basement when German officers came to round up Jewish people.

During her last days, she compared her time sheltering from Russian strikes to the time she spent hiding from the Nazis. “Every time a bomb fell, the entire building shook. My mother kept saying she didn’t remember anything like this during the Great Patriotic War [World War II],” Larissa said.