Yelena Warshawskaya

Eli Brandstein
Ma'ariv, July 5, 2007


64 years ago, Yelena Warshawskaya, a Jewish warrior, died defending Estonia's capital. Her grave was located two and a half months ago. Yesterday she became the first Red Army combatant to be laid to rest on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, with full military honors.

What were the chances of Yelena Warshawskaya, a Jewish girl who died fighting the Nazis in Tallinn 64 years ago, to be buried in Jerusalem? What were her chances to become the first Red Army soldier to be given a full military funeral in Israel? Slim. But that's exactly what happened yesterday. Israel Meir Lau, Chief Rabbi of Tel-Aviv recited Kaddish over her grave. Next to him stood one of the Chief Rabbis of Russia, Berl Lazar, the President's Military Secretary, Col. Shimon Hefetz, who laid a wreath on behalf of the IDF, and the Russian ambassador to Israel, Piotr Stegniy. Israeli soldiers carried her coffin covered by a Shield of David. When the coffin was lowered into the grave, the Army Chief Rabbi recited "El Male Rahamim" (Most Merciful God) in her honor.
Yelena was sixteen and a half years old in 1941 when the Nazis invaded the USSR. A talented musician, she had been born in the Ukrainian town of Poltava, but moved to Moscow together with her parents, in order to study at the prestigious Gensin Institute. Althoug a painter, her father joined the Red Army. Eventually, Yelena and her family, along with millions of other Soviet citizens, were evacuated to Central Asia, away from the front line. But idealistic Yelena had other plans, so she jumped off the train and reported to the nearest enlistment station, where she persuaded the recruiting officer that she was old enough to join the army as a nurse.
She was assigned to an artillery regiment where she fought with great courage. She received several citations and decorations, including "The Red Star", for saving the lives of hundreds of Soviet soldiers and officers. She even captured two German officers during the battle of Oriol in 1943. Yelena was killed during the battle for Tallinn, between the Soviet and German armies, either from a stray bullet or a shell, while tending to the wounded in the field hospital.
Yelena's mother returned to Moscow towards the end of WWII, and found her husband recovering from combat wounds. Their soldier son had been killed in battle and declared MIA. Grieving over the unbearable loss of her own two children, Yelena's mother adopted two orphaned nephews.
Nobody had known where Yelena's grave was until two months ago, when the government of independent Estonia decided to dismantle the monuments of "Mother Russia's glorious Red Army troops", mainly to remove the monument raised by the Soviet authorities in memory of the liberating Red Army, including the mass grave of 12 soviet soldiers, among them Yelena, and relocate them to the military cemetery in Tallinn.
The Russian minority residing in the city took to the streets in violent demonstration that killed a person and wounded several others. Russia threatened economic sanctions against the rebellious Baltic state, but the Estonians didn't flinch. They wanted rid of the monument that reminded them of the Soviet occupation. So they exhumed the remains of the fallen soldiers and invited the families to give them proper burials elsewhere. Berl Lazar, Chief Rabbi of Russia, called on Yelena's parents and suggested they give her a Jewish burial.
Vladimir Parnas is an Israeli citizen dividing his time between Israel and Russia. After some research, he discovered that Yelena was a long lost cousin. He contacted Rabbi Lazar, who suggested that Yelena be buried in Israel. The Rabbi also wrote to the Ministry of Defense, and asked that Yelena be laid to rest on Mount of Olives and even promised to fund the entire operation. Yelena was laid to rest in the civil section of the cemetery.
Zecher Tzadika Livracha.