Korchak (Shmaliy) Hanna, Shmaliy Arsentiy and Yevdokia

The Shmaliy family saved the life of the Jewish girl Hanna Stolovytska. Gave her shelter and provided her with everything she needed.

Anna Shmaliy (married - Korchak) and her parents Arsentiy and Yevdokia lived in the village of Bahrynivtsi of Vinnytsia region. At the beginning of the summer of 1942, 17-year-old Hanna Shmaliy heard that a new nurse had appeared at the local hospital, who said that she had escaped from captivity. Hoping to learn at least something about the fate of her brother, who served in the army, she decided to meet a new girl. The nurse, as it turned out, was also called Hanna (Khana). The girl was thin, pale. She slept on the hospital floor.

"I, Stolovytska Hanna Pylypivna, for the purpose of self-protection during my stay in German captivity, and later in the occupied territory, changed my patronymic from Faytelivna to Pylypivna. I was born on October 11, 1921 in the town of Poltava. Here I graduated from medical school and as a conscript was sent in October 1940 for military service to the 194th mining and rifle regiment of the 12th army. The regiment was stationed in the city of Chernivtsi. On June 16, 1941, the regiment left for summer training in the border area of the town of Herts, Chernivtsi region. Here, on June 22, 1941, around 4 o'clock in the morning, we were fired upon by the Germans. Until July 2, 1941, we restrained the attacks of the German troops, and then we received an order to systematically withdraw from the occupied positions in order to avoid encirclement. They left the territories of Chernivtsi, Vinnytsia, and Kyiv regions with battles and terrible human losses. In the area of the village of Pidvyske, Kirovohrad region, the encirclement, exhausted, hungry, without ammunition, found ourselves in a double ring. On August 8, 1941, in a state of unconsciousness, being severely contused, with a brain injury, as a result of which I still cannot speak well, I was captured by the Germans. If I had been conscious, I would have chosen death by my own weapon rather than being captured by those who barbarically destroyed my fellow tribesmen. At first, I was held captive on the territory of the former airfield in Vinnytsia in the open air, under the scorching sun, cold rain and frost. At the end of December 1941, I was transferred as a wounded person to the hospital for prisoners of war, which was located on the territory of the Vinnytsia mental hospital in barrack No. 25. Here I almost became a victim of the denunciation of the doctor of the mental hospital. My fellow soldiers, who were also in this hospital, saved me. They convinced the Germans that I was not Jewish. In the spring of 1942, I was again transferred to the hospital for officers, which was located in the building of a former kindergarten near the railway station in Vinnytsia.

On May 24, 1942, together with a group of female prisoners of war, I was released from captivity. I received the corresponding document - Ausweiss. I was sent to work as a nurse in the hospital of Lityn, Vinnytsia region. Soon the hospital premises were occupied by the Germans, and I was transferred to the hospital in the village of Bahrynivtsi." From the memoirs of Hanna Stolovytska

Hanna Shmaliy returned home and asked her parents - Arsentiy and Yevdokia - to shelter the new nurse. According to Hanna Stolovytska, at that time she was in a difficult condition, her clothes had holes and shoes without soles.

From the next day, Hanna Stolovytska began to live in the village of Bahrynivtsi at Shmaliy's place. She did not want to talk about her past, she said that she was Ukrainian from the town of Poltava. Everything was fine until the village started talking about the fact that the new resident was actually Jewish. The girl revealed the truth to the family and decided to leave in order not to put  them in danger. But the Shmaliy family did not let her go - they gave her shelter in a storeroom. Hanna hid there from June 1942 to December 1943.

Hanna Stolovytska remembers that the Shmaliy family saved her twice. The first time was when they took her home, a sick, hungry, ragged woman from the hospital. The second time - when Hanna Shmaliy and her parents, having learned about her nationality, deliberately began to expose themselves to danger.

At the end of 1943, Hanna Stolovytska met a group of partisans who entered the Shmaliy’s house, so she decided to leave her saviors and join the partisan unit. While there, she was captured again. Only after the war the Shmaliy family learnt that Hanna was sent to a camp in Germany, but later she was lucky to escape. Apparently, the Germans had no idea that Hanna Stolovytska was Jewish. Although the girl was in hard labor, she was not destroyed in a concentration camp or shot.

Returning to Ukraine in the spring of 1945, she resumed contact with the Shmaliy family.

On September 29, 1996, Yad Vashem awarded Hanna Korchak and her parents Arsentiy and Yevdokia Shmaliy with the honorary title "Righteous Among the Nations."

The Jewish Committee recognized Hanna Korchak (Shmaliy) as the Righteous One of Ukraine.