Eli and Eitan had each known many Holocaust survivors, but never had they met a survivor of the Eastern European gun-killing squads. They were both struck by how rare it was to speak with someone who had survived the killing fields at Babi Yar. While both were riveted and shaken by Vera’s story, they were still focused on their objective. They needed a concrete connection between Boyko and Lany Kovalenko, Ukraine’s current first lady.
Eli was the first to speak when Vera completed her account of that horrific day.
“You know there are rumors that the first lady of Ukraine today is a relative of Boyko?” Eli added.
“Gentlemen,” Vera said, glancing back and forth at the two men before her. “If that is what you are looking for, you came to the right place.”
“What do you mean?” Eli asked.
“Are you ready to hear chapter two of my story?” Vera asked.
“Of course,” both men said in unison.
“Well then, you need to ask me where I went after the war.”
“You didn’t stay with Mr. Volarsky?” Eli asked.
“We did for a while. He was well connected with the local Christian clergy. There was a convent a few towns over where the nuns cared for mentally ill adults. Turns out, Mr. Volarsky was using the convent as a safe house for several other groups of Jewish children. Did you know he has a tree at Yad Vashem with his name on it? He convinced the convent to let us stay and help take care of the mentally ill residents for the next few years. They saved our lives, and the lives of many other Jewish children.”
“So you stayed there even after the war?” Eli asked.
“A few years after the war ended, the Red Cross began to put out information on Jewish relatives, the few that were left. Rivka discovered through the Red Cross reports that she had an uncle in Paris. Somehow she was able to make contact with him, and since neither she nor I had any other family left, we decided to go together to live with him. The Red Cross helped arrange our travel. That’s how I got to France. And that’s where part two of my story begins.”