Kobets Kateryna, Savenko (Kobets) Olga

Olga Savenko – Righteous of Babyn Yar, the daughter of the Righteous Among the Nations Kateryna Kobets. She was born in 1934. During the German occupation, the Kobets family saved Ilya Mitelman.

The Jewish family of Naum and Maria Mitelman settled in Svyatoshyn (district of Kyiv) in 1935. Now the Kobets' house is near the metro station. In the 1930s, Svyatoshyn, with its forests and water bodies, was a quiet suburban area. The Mitelmans' neighbors were Kateryna Kobets with her daughters Olga and Tetiana, and a Czech couple: Joseph and Jozefa Gozak with their son Vitold.

With the start of the war, the older Mitelman children – Lev, David, and Nehama – went to the front. The parents and the younger children – Borys and Ilya – stayed in Kyiv, which was occupied by the Germans on September 19, 1941. On September 25, Borys, who was deaf and mute, fell into a roundup and was shot dead. On September 29, the rest of the family headed to a gathering point near Babyn Yar. At that time, no one knew that it would end in the execution of tens of thousands of people.

Maria, being Jewish only through her mother, had "Ukrainian" listed as her nationality in her passport. She herself had a Slavic appearance and wore a crucifix. Trying to find out if the order for the mandatory relocation of mixed families applied to them, she approached a German officer with this question.

The German advised Maria and her seven-year-old Ilya to return home for further consideration. In the crowd, they lost Ilya's father and never saw him again. Maria and her son returned to their residence and lived there until May 1942. The apartment owner, Lyudmyla Shchogoleva, did not inform anyone about the Jewish boy, and thanks to the entry in her passport, Maria Mitelman lived legally.

Then the police learned about Ilya and raided their home. He happened to be away at that time. Maria assured them that she had sent her son to the village to relatives long ago, and there was no information about him.

But since then, Ilya no longer lived at home: he hid for weeks with the Kobets and the Gozaks. Unlike Olga and Vitold, his playmates, he never went outside and sometimes, when the city was restless, stayed in hiding for several days.

Olga Kobets, along with Vitold, despite their young age, was very cautious and, along with their parents, saved the life of the Jewish boy.

Olga said that their neighbor Ivan Pyliak, a collaborator and Nazi sympathizer, knew about Ilya. Ivan was involved in the extermination of Jews and, according to Olga, often brought home valuables that belonged to the murdered. However, knowing the Mitelman family personally, he decided not to expose the boy – only blackmailing Kateryna Kobets with him: "I will tell everyone that you are hiding a Jewish kid".

After the war, the sister of the saved one, Nehama, returned from the front. Brothers Lev and David died in battle. Ilya Mitelman's family preserved feelings of gratitude to the rescuers for their sensitivity and courage for many years.

On June 13, 2004, Yad Vashem awarded Olga Savenko's mother, Kateryna Kobets, the title of Righteous Among the Nations.

The house where Ilya lived and the shed where he hid still exist.