Kuchmii Mykola and Olha

Mykola and Olha Kuchmi lived in the village of Teremkivtsi in Khmelnytskyi region. The man, working as a mail carrier, knew all the local people and residents of the surrounding villages, and made friends with many of them. He had good relations, in particular, with a Jew, the accountant of the village council, Shmerk Syrota from the neighboring village of Chemerivtsi (current – Chemerivtsi village, Kamianets-Podilskyi district). When the Nazis occupied the region in July 1941 and Jewish pogroms began, Shmerko, together with his acquaintance Rakhil Poliakova and her seven-year-old son, decided to look for a hiding place away from their native village. Therefore, he turned to Mykola Kuchmii with a request to shelter them, at least for a certain period. Mykola and his wife set up a small hiding place in the pantry with a disguised entrance through the attic. He was the salvation of the Jews for two and a half years. There, they survived several searches arranged by the occupiers in the Kuchmii settlement.

After the expulsion of the Nazis in the spring of 1944, the survivors returned to the village of Chemerivtsi A year later, Shmerko and Rakhil got married. The couple maintained friendship with their saviors even after emigrating to the United States.

In 1993, Yad Vashem recognized Mykola and Olha Kuchmii as Righteous Among the Nations.

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