Haisynska (Koval) Motrona

The young widow Motrona Koval lived in Uman. With the beginning of the Nazi occupation of the city and the persecution of Jews, she visited her acquaintances in the ghetto and later began bringing food to its residents. This is how Motrona met Hryhorii Haisynskyi and his son Borys. Hryhorii told her that his wife Tsypa and their younger son Myshko were shot in October 1941 in the Suhyy Yar ravine. Motrona offered her help and promised to hide Borys after his escape from the ghetto. The plan was successfully implemented, and in early 1942, Hryhorii also joined his son. Later, Motrona and Hryhorii began to live as a family, and in 1943, their son Dmytro was born. Motrona's pregnancy and the birth of the child caused a lot of talk among the neighbors, with some insinuating that she had connections with Jews. To save themselves, Hryhorii and Motrona fled to Vinnytsia region, to the village of Luhove, where the distant relatives lived. They remained in hiding there until the Red Army expelled the German Wehrmacht units from the region.

After the war, Hryhorii married his savior, and two more sons were born in the family. Unfortunately, Hryhorii and Borys soon passed away from tuberculosis. Motrona did not remarry and raised her children on her own. She continued to help Jews who had survived the Holocaust, remembering her kindness to the ghetto's residents.

In 2001, Yad Vashem recognized Motrona Haisynska (Koval) as Righteous Among the Nations.

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