Holocaust

14 May - the Day of Remembrance of Ukrainians Who Saved Jews During World War II

On the occasion of the Day of Remembrance of Ukrainians who rescued Jews during World War II, the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War traditionally hosted the All-Ukrainian event Ukrainian Rescuers. Marathon of Stories.

This is an annual meeting of the project team members. It was launched in 2018 to systematise and promote the study of Holocaust history in Ukraine. As you know, our country ranks fourth in terms of the number of people who have been awarded the title of Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem, i.e. those who saved Jews during the biggest genocide.

However, many stories still remain unexplored, untold, and unheard. Researchers are collecting and confirming facts, getting to know the heroes and their families.

Our current experience of living in the middle of a new war imposes a different lens on the study of the history of the Second World War. This was noted by Anatolii Podolskyi, director of the Ukrainian Center for Holocaust Studies, and Daniil Sytnyk, a graduate student at the Doctoral School of the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.

But the main characters during the marathon were the Rescuers. Both those who were awarded the high title of Righteous Among the Nations and those who were not recognised by anyone. In Soviet times, the Holocaust was denied as a tragedy of the Jewish community, and the rescue of one person was perceived as something not worthy of attention. Nadiia Lazniuk, daughter of the Righteous Among the Nations Vasyl and Mariia Andrievsky, recalled how her father was often told: ‘No one asked you to do anything.’ The daughter of Rescuer Nina Sokhatska, Tetiana Ohir, and the daughter of Rescuers Mefodii and Yevheniia Humeniuk, Tamara Khrushch, described how dramatic it was to search for and preserve family stories in the wilds of censorship and oblivion.

And Svitlana, the granddaughter of the Righteous Among the Nations, Natalia Kravchenko, proved that salvation is a choice that everyone can make. Faced with the enemy in 2014 near her native town of Bakhmut, she volunteered, became the heart of the Bakhmut Ukrainian public movement, and is waiting for our country's soonest victory to return to her home.

Photo gallery

Marathon video recording