Havelskyi Yosyp and Hanna

Yosyp Havelskyi and his wife Hanna lived in the village of Slobidka-Hirchychnianska, Khmelnytskyi region. Yosyp worked as a foreman in the collective farm in the nearby town of Dunaivtsi and was friends with the local blacksmith, Shika Kuperman.

With the beginning of the occupation of the region by Nazi Germany, Shika and his wife found themselves in the Dunaivtsi ghetto, where the Germans had gathered all the local Jews and their relatives from the settlements of Smotrych, Shatava, Balyn, and others.

Most of the ghetto's residents were annihilated during the night of May 2, 1942. They were told that they would be resettled, but instead, a column of Jews was led in the direction of the forest, where near the village of Demiankivtsi, they were thrown into a phosphate mine and detonated.

However, the Kupermans were fortunate to escape and hide in the thick of the forest. Shika remembered his friend Yosyp and, together with his wife, started making their way to the village of Slobidka-Hirchychnianska. The Havelskyis hid the Jews in their attic. However, Yosyp understood that this was an unreliable hiding place, so he began digging a hole in the barn. At night, Shika would come down from the attic to assist him. The Kupermans remained hidden on the Havelskyis' property until the Nazis were expelled from the town of Dunaivtsi.

After the war, Shika and Aniuta Kuperman emigrated to the United States. Throughout their lives, they kept in touch with their rescuers.

In 1998, Yad Vashem recognized Yosyp and Hanna Havelskyi as Righteous Among the Nations.