Nelli Gordon visited her grandfather and aunt in Dnepropetrovsk (today Dnipro) in September 1941. Shortly after her arrival, the Wehrmacht occupied the city and Nelli could not return to her family in Gorlovka, some distance away. On October 13 and 14, 1941, over 10,000 Jews were marched out of Dnepropetrovsk and shot dead in a pit. Nine-year-old Nelli survived buried under corpses, because her grandfather had shielded her with his own body.
Now alone in the world, Nelli Gordon fled back to her grandfather’s apartment, but it was locked. In her desperation, she turned to a neighbor, who took her in. Nelli Gordon could not stay with her permanently, and the neighbor took her to the Subkov family, who had no children of their own. They did not know Nelli Gordon was Jewish. Two months later, she was denounced and arrested. The Subkovs forged a baptism certificate to prove she was a relative. Nelli Gordon was then released and adopted by the Subkovs. Nelli Gordon’s parents survived the war and took their daughter back into the family.