They Survived the Holocaust. Now, They Are Fleeing to Germany.

Their earliest memories are of fleeing bombs or hearing whispers about massacres of other Jews, including their relatives. Sheltered by the Soviet Union, they survived.

Now elderly and fragile, Ukraine’s Holocaust survivors are escaping war once more, on a remarkable journey that turns the world they knew on its head: They are seeking safety in Germany.

“They told me Germany was my best option. I told them, ‘I hope you’re right,’” said Galina Ploschenko, 90.

Ms. Ploschenko is the beneficiary of a rescue mission organized by Jewish groups, trying to get Holocaust survivors out of the war wrought by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Bringing these nonagenarians out of a war zone by ambulance is dangerous work, infused with a historical irony: Not only are the Holocaust survivors being brought to Germany, the attack is now coming from Russia — a country they saw as their liberators from the Nazis. Read more

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