Elena Osipovna Malakhovshaya collection

Elena Osipovna Malakhovshaya was born on July 3, 1934 in Odessa. Her birth name was Rosalia Osipovna Laikhter. She lived through the German bombing of Odessa’s port, which resulted in a widespread fire. Members of her family, along with other Jewish residents, then sought shelter within the catacombs underneath Odessa. In 1941, during the Nazi occupation of Odessa, Elena Osipovna was forced into the “Slobodka” Ghetto. After the War, Elena went to art school in Odessa, and later became a ceramic artist. She changed her name from Rosalia to Elena and later immigrated to Israel. She did not publish her story until 1997.

Forms part of the Claims Conference International Holocaust Documentation Archive at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. This archive consists of documentation whose reproduction and/or acquisition was made possible with funding from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.

Source of acquisition is the Archives of the Instytut i︠u︡daïky (Judaica Institute), Kyiv, Ukraine. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives received the collection from the Judaica Institute via the United States Holocaust Museum International Archives Project in June, 2009.