Germany pays tribute to 96-year-old survivor of Nazi concentration camp in Ukraine

BERLIN – The German parliament on Tuesday paid tribute to Boris Romanchenko, who survived a number of Nazi concentration camps during World War II but was killed in an attack in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv last week. He was 96 years old.

Romanchenko, who survived Buchenwald as well as the Pinemuende, Dora and Bergen-Belsen camps, was killed Friday, the Buchenwald Concentration Camp Memorial said Monday. It states that, according to her granddaughter, the multi-storey building in which she lived was hit by a projectile.

Romanchenko was dedicated to preserving the memory of Nazi crime and was vice-chairman of the International Buchenwald-Dora Committee, the memorial said.

Deputy Speaker Catherine Goering-Eckard paid tribute to Romanchenko by opening a session of the German parliament on Tuesday.

He said Romanchenko was taken to Dortmund, Germany in 1942 as a forced laborer and sent to a concentration camp in 1943 after trying to escape. Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941.

“His death reminds us that Germany has a special historical responsibility toward Ukraine,” said Goering-Eckard. “Boris Romanchenko is one of thousands of dead in Ukraine. Every life that has been taken reminds us that we must do everything we can to stop this brutal war that violates international law and to help the people in Ukraine and beyond.

Lawmakers observed a moment of silence in memory of Romanchenko and other victims of the war.

Romanchenko “survived four concentration camps and is now dead in the war on Russia’s aggression on Ukraine,” said Finance Minister Christian Lindner. “His fate reflects both the criminal character of Russian policy and why Germany is showing solidarity with Ukraine, why we must show solidarity.”