During the Nazi occupation of Crimea she worked as a kindergarten director and managed to forge documents , switching the listing of Jewish children 's ethnicity to Crimean Tatar , teaching them to speak Crimean Tatar and adopt Crimean Tatar customs . She also managed to conceal children from Kerch orphanage , who were prepared to be sent to Germany for inhuman medical experiment . The Nazis suspected she was involved in their concealment and tortured her , but she did not reveal any information . Despite resisting the Nazis and becoming a victim of the Gestapo herself , she still was deported to Uzbek SSR during Sürgün , as the Crimean Tatars were considered collectively guilty of collaborationism . She did manage to convince the NKVD that the children were Jewish , not Crimean Tatar , and save them from exile . Only after Perestroika did she return to Crimea where she died in 2007
Sürgün
Deportation of the Crimean Tatars
Saide Arifova