Bank of Portraits / Antoniuk Fedir and Hryhorii, Stasiuk Hnat and Oleksandra

Antoniuk Fedir and Hryhorii, Stasiuk Hnat and Oleksandra

Hnat and Oleksandra Stasiuk lived with their children in the village of Slobidka-Chernelivska in the Khmelnytskyi region. When the region was occupied by the Nazis, Hnat promptly offered help to his Jewish friends, the Katz family. Not suspecting danger and not wanting to leave the rest of his relatives, Hedal Katz, his wife, and two children moved to the ghetto in the village of Krasyliv (now the town of Krasyliv) in the spring of 1942 by order of the occupation authorities. In the fall, exhausted by starvation and wounded, he appeared on the doorstep of the Stasiuks. His wife and children were shot in the ghetto.

Within a month, Oleksandra treated the Jew with herbs and healed his wounds. Once he was stronger, Hedal decided to move to another place not to endanger his rescuers and their children.

In December 1942, the man reached the village of Zasluchne, where he was immediately hosted by his old friend Fedir Antoniuk. The escapee was hiding in a Ukrainian family until March 1944. Fedir's teenage son Hryhorii took care of the Jew's safety. The boy learned the news in the village, found out information about upcoming raids, and kept a lookout when Hedal went outside to get some air.

Fedir Antoniuk recalled that despite the great risk, he never doubted for a moment that his decision was right. In fact, during the Holodomor in 1933, Hedal Katz saved the Antoniuk family from death by helping them with food.

After the war, Fedir and Hedal maintained friendly relations. In 1995, Yad Vashem recognized Oleksandra and Hnat Stasiuk, as well as Fedir Antoniuk and his son Hryhorii, as Righteous Among the Nations.

Svitlana Demchenko

Kyiv

The National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War

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