Maria Ogiyenko

BIOGRAPHY

Maria Ogiyenko was born in Krasnodar Krai, Russia (then Russian Empire), on 29 November 1914. She spent her childhood and youth in the village of Kanelovskaya. Her father passed away during the Russian Civil War (1917–1922), and shortly afterward, her mother also died. From a young age, she began working in agriculture.

By the time the Great Patriotic War began, she was already married and the mother of three daughters. When Maria’s husband was sent to the front, she was left alone to care for their children. She described this as an incredibly challenging period—her children were often hungry, and tragically, her youngest daughter died of starvation. To provide for her family, Maria worked tirelessly. During the war, their village fell under German occupation. Although the occupiers were not excessively brutal, they confiscated the best food supplies, leaving the residents to survive on whatever remained. Despite these hardships, the children continued their education. With only one pair of shoes between them, Maria’s two daughters found a way to attend school without missing a single class. Nina would hurry home after her shift at school to pass the boots to Tamara, who needed them for the second shift. Both daughters excelled academically, earning excellent grades and eventually receiving a strong education.

Her husband was presumed lost at the front during World War II. It was only a few years after the war ended, in 1953, that he returned, revealing that he had been captured, labeled a traitor, and imprisoned in Yakutia. In 1955, the family relocated to Vorkuta in the Komi Republic to be near him and continued to live there even after his rehabilitation. During their time in Vorkuta, she worked in a mine. In 1965, they moved to Khabarovsk to be closer to their daughter Tamara, who had enrolled in a railway technical school. The family settled there permanently.

On her 110th birthday, she was honored on behalf of the city mayor by representatives from the Central District Management Committee.