Havryliuk Hanna

Hanna Havryliuk lived with her children in the village of Telenytsi in Vinnytsia region. She worked as a teacher of history in a local school. Her colleague Yakiv Shamis, from the neighboring village of Stanislavchyk, got a job as a teacher in the fall of 1940 and, in order not to return home 12 km away every day, he rented a room in the Havryliuk family.

With the beginning of the German occupation, the school was closed and Yakiv returned to his native village. The Germans entered there on July 17, 1941. All Jews who reached the age of 11 were required to wear a white armband with a Star of David on their left arm. In total, about 200 Jews lived in the settlement. On September 8, the first roundup of Jewish homes was conducted. Everything was taken out of the houses, even food products. After the creation of the Transnistria Governorate the first columns of Jews from Bukovina and Bessarabia began to arrive to the village of Stanislavchyk They were placed among their local tribesmen. In the spring of 1942, a ghetto was created in the western part of the village. It was fenced off with barbed wire, with strict rules in place. Residents were taken to the town of Zhmerynka every day for work: to military warehouses, repair of railway tracks, dismantling of former Jewish houses that were not occupied.

Yakiv Shamis also ended up in the ghetto. Through Ukrainian acquaintances, he managed to inform Hanna about his situation. The woman came to the village of Stanislavchyk once a week and handed over a basket of food for his family. When the front began to approach Vinnytsia, Yakiv asked Hanna to take his 15-year-old sister Sonia, fearing that during the retreat, the Romanians would exterminate the Jews who would remain in the ghetto. Hanna managed to take the girl to her village, changing her clothes and wrapping her in a scarf.

At home, Hanna hid Sonia on the stove and ordered her not to go down without permission. Only at night, when it was safe, the child could stretch and breathe the air outside.

After the expulsion of the Nazis in March 1944, Hanna returned Sonia to her parents and brother, who survived the ghetto. For many years, the families maintained friendly relations. In 1997, Sonia Vynokur (Shamis) emigrated to Israel.

In February 2001, Yad Vashem recognized Hanna Havryliuk as the Righteous Among the Nations.