Varvara Tsvileneva was born in Moscow and worked as a biologist in Leningrad (Saint Petersburg). During the German siege of the city, she was evacuated to Kislovodsk with her mother Anna in April 1942.
In August 1942 Kislovodsk was occupied by the Wehrmacht, putting Jews at risk of deportation. Tsvileneva took in her Jewish colleague Vera Lvova’s children, Leonid and Inna Skoblo and their cousin Aleksandra Skoblo. Vera Lvova and her husband were taken out of the city and shot dead in September 1942.
Tsvileneva and her mother took care of the children. By bribing officials, she obtained birth certificates and disguised the children as relatives of hers. Had the Jewish children been discovered, they would all have been shot dead.
Kislovodsk was liberated by the Red Army in January 1943. Tsvileneva took the rescued children to their surviving relatives. They all remained in close contact for the rest of their lives. Tsvileneva returned to work as a biologist, had a son, and lived in Leningrad.
The Israeli Holocaust memorial center Yad Vashem honored Varvara Tsvileneva as Righteous Among the Nations in 1996.