Isaak Libovych

Isaak Libovych was born on August 22, 1923, in Kyiv.
Family: Isaak lived at 142 Borys Zhadanivskyi Street (now Zhylianska) with his parents, Moisei
and Anna, his brother Naum, and his sister Sofia. At the end of the 1930s his father died, and
his mother raised the children alone. After finishing school, Isaak did not continue his studies
but went to work as a turner at the “Lenkuznia” factory.

During the German occupation of Kyiv, on September 29, 1941, Isaak followed the Nazi order
and went with his mother and younger brother to the assembly point for Jews at Babyn Yar.
They were accompanied by Isaak’s friend, sixteenyearold Tamara Krylova. On the route, before
reaching the Lukianivsky market, Isaak and Tamara managed to leave the column. She saved
him by hiding him at the apartment of an acquaintance at 51 Korolenka Street (now
Volodymyrska), bringing him food, and obtaining false personal documents.

Later, the Nazis arrested Isaak. One of the other detainees recognized him and revealed his
true last name. The Germans confirmed his Jewish origin, beat him, and gave him over him to
the Gestapo. A few days later, Isaak escaped together with other prisoners. Afterward, he hid in
Kyiv, and Tamara once again helped him obtain new documents and go into hiding under a
different name.

In the spring of 1942, during a raid, the Nazis arrested Isaak and Tamara and deported them to
Germany. They lived in a village near Magdeburg and worked for a German farmer. Tamara
helped Isaak conceal his Jewish origin. Whenever danger of exposure arose, he went into
hiding. In 1943, they had a daughter, Yevheniia, who lived only two years.

In the spring of 1945, American troops liberated the area where they were. Afterward, the Soviet
administration sent Isaak to the labor army and later to work in the mines of Donbas. After some
time, he returned to Kyiv but was arrested as an undocumented person. Eventually, the court
ordered his release.

From 1946 onwards, Isaak worked at the Kyiv sanitation trust. At first, he was a senior street-
cleaning foreman, later becoming head of the Leninsky district section (now part of
Shevchenkivsky district). Together with Tamara Krylova, he lived in a dormitory for trust
employees, and in 1964 the family received a personal apartment at 25 Vysokovoltnа Street
(now Mykoly Vasylenka Street).

In the 1970s, Isaak developed health problems resulting in several heart attacks and a stomach
surgery. Later, doctors diagnosed him with lung cancer.
Isaak Libovych died on March 29, 1988, in Kyiv. He was buried at Lisove Cemetery (plot 19, row
2, grave 17).