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Biography
Fedor Fedorovich Mikhailichenko (Russian: Фёдор Фёдорович Михайличенко; 1907—1993) was a Russian Righteous Among the Nations. Being a prisoner in the concentration camp of Buchenwald, he saved the life of a small Jewish boy Yurchik (born in 1937), who later became the Chief Ashkenazi rabbi of Israel, Israel Meir Lau.
In a concentration camp
In 1942, Fedor Mikhailichenko, at the age of 14 years, when the Nazis occupied the city of Rostov-on-Don, was hijacked to Germany, where he was forced to work at a military plant. Later, for the distribution of anti-fascist leaflets, he was sent to the concentration camp Buchenwald in the 8th children's block, where 300 children aged 10 to 17 years were. In the fall of 1944, a 7-year-old Polish Jew, Yurchik (Lyolik), got into his unit, despite the fact that he was so small that he had the status of a political prisoner. Fedor Mikhailichenko helped Yurchik to survive in a concentration camp: he stole potatoes from Germans to feed him. Then Fedor was only 18 years old. After the liberation of Buchenwald (April 11, 1945), the American administration did not allow Fedor to adopt Yurchik.
After the war
After returning to his homeland, Fedor Mikhailichenko entered the Rostov-on-Don physical culture technical school, and then at the Geological and Geographical Department of Rostov State University (RSU, now SFedU). He became a leading researcher at VNIGRIUGOL and defended his thesis.
The title of the righteous man of the world was awarded to him on January 25, 2009. In August 2009 in Jerusalem (Israel) in the memorial complex Yad Vashem the name of Feodor Mikhailichenko was added to the honorable list of Righteous Among the Nations — people of different nationalities who saved Jews during the Second World War. Mikhailichenko became the 164th righteous man from Russia.