100-year-old Holocaust survivor rescued from Kiev

A 100-year-old Holocaust survivor, Doba Huberhryz, has been saved from the war-torn Ukrainian capital of Kiev by the Israeli emergency response organisation ZAKA, a spokesperson for the group confirmed on Thursday.

Doba Huberhryz is currently in Moldova and is to be brought to Israel by air ambulance.

Nachman Dickstein of ZAKA Ukraine described the mission in an interview with Israeli radio channel 103FM.

He had received a call from Israel during the night, saying “Nachman, you have to get her out of there.’’

ZAKA then organised an ambulance along with other helpers to transport people from Kiev to Moldova.

Dickstein, who greeted Huberhryz at the border, said that “she packed 100 years of her life into a single suitcase in just two hours.’’

Huberhryz was born on Oct. 3, 1921 in Orikhiv in the Zaporizhzhia area of Ukraine.

During World War II she had fled to Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and returned to Kiev with her family afterwards.

The fact that another war was now raging in her country was unbearable to her, Dickstein said.

She reportedly had tears of relief in her eyes when Dickstein told her upon arrival in Moldova that she could now sleep without the sound of air raid sirens.

A return to Ukraine is unlikely. Dickstein said that “she now wants to reach Israel.’’