Maya was born in 1940 in Kiev, Ukraine, and was only a year old when the Holocaust began. Her father was a doctor for soldiers so he worked in war hospitals, while her mother stayed home and cared for her. When the war broke out, Maya and her mother fled to Siberia while her father continued to care for sick soldiers. They were in Siberia for 4 years until the war ended. After the war, her parents met up in St. Petersburg and her father went on to pursue a career in academics. Though Maya was safe with her parents in St. Petersburg, they lost their entire family in the Second World War. In her adulthood, Maya worked for many years as a physics and math teacher in Russia before making Aliyah and working with children with special needs in Israel. She currently works in the ceramic workshop at Yad LaKashish which provides support services for elderly around Jerusalem, many of whom are Holocaust survivors. In her free time, Maya enjoys painting, creating ceramics, and practicing her English language skills.
