Raisa Andriychenko

Raisa Andriychenko was born in 1943 in Martinovka, Kuban. According to her mother’s stories, little Raisa was born on the road on a cold winter day. That was wartime when her family was fleeing from the Germans. 

Raisa Ivanovna also recalls the story of her mother’s relatives who moved to Berezi, near Chenihiv. Her grandparents, uncle, and his family joined partisans there, helping them with supplies. Unfortunately, they were betrayed by collaborators and killed together with other Romani and Jewish people.

At the same time, Raisa’s family got to the front line and witnessed the horrors of the war. After the war, they settled in Gomel, Belarus. Like many other Romani women survivors, Raisa didn’t attend school because she cared for her siblings.

One of her brightest memories from childhood is a visit to a theatre. She loved the play “Gypsy Aza”. Later, Raisa Ivanovna got a job at a confectionary plant, met her husband, and gave birth to her own children.

 Illustration by Sergei Asmar