Marija Brilijant

27.07.2011

 Marija Brilijant

On the first day of the war young Kiever Briliyant Marija became a warrior of Komsomol regiment, which took part in the defense of Kyiv. Sergeant Brilijant was captured under Darnitsa, during the retreat. She was not like a Jew, and it saved her. POWs were sent to the village Vetovtsy in Perejaslav-Khmelnitskij region. In the basement sitting commanders and soldiers with sewn on the tunics Stars of David, with the shaved on the middle of the head hair. Soon they were all shot.
On the 29th of September Mary with other people was released from the camp as inhabitants of the occupied territory. All they got document, which were stating that they were in captivity. The girl did not know that on the same day at Babyn Yar was killed her mother, Ljubov' Grigor'eva Berljand , sister - Polina Markovna Ermol'eva with her six year old daughter Tamara.
From the camp, she returned to Kyiv, on Dekabristyv street. She lived her before the war and get to know about the tragic fate of her family. Neighbors told her to leave the house immediately.
On the labour exchange, she was sent to the German Reich Commissariat as a cleaner, but she was fired from there by Hungarians. In the city raids on the Jews became frequent and friend persuaded Mary to go to Belarus with her.
In commandants office on Shevchenko boulevard girls got documents, those authorizing departure. They got to Gomel on different trains and parted there.
Mary met Anna Andreevna Panevchik , which got into the spirit of sympathy to Kiever at the station. She brought her to the district center Bragin, where she lived with her daughters Zina and Vera and an old grandmother. Anna’s neighbors suspected that Mary is Jewish. Woman was summoned to the gendarmerie, but the document about captivity rescued her. To stay in Bragin was dangerous, and Mary was driven to Gluhovichi village by Anna Andreevna . Mary started to work in a local farm, which continued to work even during the occupation.
"If I save you, my husband will back," – was guessing believer Anna Andreevna. And indeed, Ivan Mitrofanovich Panevchik soon returned from captivity.
On the 27th of June, in 1942 Marija Brilijant together with a group of young people went to the forest from the village Gluhovichi and became a fighter of detached unit (named after Kalinin) of guerrilla team in Loyev region"For the Motherland". When the detached unit joined up with the Red Army, Marija fought in 415th Battalion of airfield service. They victory in Berlin.
Marija Markovna Brilijant the Order of the Patriotic War was awarded and with 17 medals. She became the wife of a war veteran Grigorij Fridman. More than forty years she worked in the railway post office.
After the war, Marija’s family and the Panevchiks virtually intermarried. Anna Andreevna kept the house, raised daughters and grandchildren, waited until the birth of three great-grandchildren. After the death of her husband and two daughters, she moved to Minsk from Bragin.
In 1996, Anna Andreevna was conferred the title " Righteous Among the Nations “ and in 2003, on the 90th year of life, this kind woman died. Recently, Marija Markovna was visited by her granddaughter Alena Lemeshchenko and her great-grandson . The story of simple Belarusian woman, who saved a Jewish girl, whose family were killed at Babyn Yar does not end.