One of the small streets in Cherkassy has been recently named after Aleksandra Shulezhko. This is one more step on the great path of the project of the Jewish Confederation of Ukraine “The Righteous People of My City.” I am happy that the geography of the project keeps on expanding.
Aleksandra Shulezhko managed to save dozens of Jewish children from the massacre, and even let the Nazis help her doing this.
Her husband, an Orthodox priest, was repressed in 1937 and exiled to Siberia. Left alone with two minor daughters, Aleksandra could not find a job for a long time: no one wanted to deal with “the wife of the enemy of the people.” Only shortly before the war, she got a job as a kindergarten teacher.
During the German occupation, the kindergarten was disbanded, but Aleksandra organized an orphanage for homeless children of all ages in its premises. In total, about 70 children found home in the orphanage; 25 of them were Jews.
Aleksandra Shulezhko welcomed all Jewish children, without exception, registering them as Ukrainians, Greeks or Tatars - depending on the color of skin, hair and eyes.
Although all the children were registered under non-Jewish names, the police often visited the orphanage and brought Shulezhko and her staff in for interrogation. Aleksandra Shulezhko was fluent in German and managed to persuade the investigators that the suspicions of the local police chief about her orphanage were groundless. The occupation authorities not only believed her, but even provided financial assistance to the orphans.
At the end of 1943, when the Soviet army was already approaching the city, the local Gebietskommissar organized the evacuation of the orphanage westwards. He even issued documents about their German origin (Volksdeutsche) for them. On their way, in Vinnitsa (Vinnytsia) region, Aleksandra Shulezhko managed to fool the German escorts and escape with all the children.
Until the liberation in April 1944, they were all hiding in the village of Sobolevka (Sobolivka). They starved, they were cold, but they have survived.
On June 11, 1996 Yad Vashem awarded Aleksandra Shulezhko an honorary title “Righteous Among the Nations.”