Leshchynskyi Petro and Olimpiada, Zhelikhovska Leonida, Polishchuk Viktor, Samopal Petro

Petro Leshchynskyi lived with his wife Olimpiada and two sons in the town of Haisyn in the Vinnytsia region. Together with them, the wife of Petro's brother - Leonida Zhelikhovska – lived in the house with her son Victor. Petro worked as a controller in a warehouse of agricultural machinery and supported the whole family.

After the occupation of Vinnytsia by Nazi troops in July 1941, persecution of the Jewish population began in the region. Already in August, the occupation authorities decided to use Jews for forced labor. For this, the Todt organization was involved, a paramilitary formation whose functions included the construction of military facilities and the construction of highways. The Soviet prisoners of war were also involved in the construction of roads. In the first half of September 1941, the Nazis began planning the creation of seven labor camps for road works between Vinnytsia and Haisyn. About 3.5 thousand Ukrainian and 3.8 thousand Romanian Jews worked there in 1942–1944.

One of the tragic places where people were killed was the Belendiivka tract on the outskirts of the city. On September 16, 1941, the first mass shooting of the Jews of Haisyn took place there. The condemned were driven to the ravine in groups of 60-75 people, their documents and valuables were taken from them, they were stripped and shot with automatic weapons. That day, 3 thousand of Jews were exterminated. The next day, everything happened again: another 1 thousand men, women and children became victims. Despite the strict warning of the death penalty for helping the Jews, the townspeople still communicated with them. Food products were secretly passed through the barbed wire, and some were helped to escape.

Sometime in the summer of 1943, Petro Leshchynskyi brought two Jews to his home: Lev Burshtein and his son Arkadii. They worked as tailors in a city factory. When he offered them help, they immediately agreed, because they understood that in the end they too would share the fate of their numerous tribesmen.

Father and son were hidden in the house; the whole Ukrainian family took care of them. Meanwhile, Petro Leshchynskyi was looking for an opportunity to help them to reach Transnistria. With this question, he turned to his friend and namesake Petro Samopal, who lived in the neighboring village of Zherdenivka. He agreed and first took the Jews to his home by wagon, and then he ferried them across the Southern Bug River. Having reached the town of Bershad, the Burshtein family stayed there until the end of the occupation in March 1944.

In 1995, Yad Vashem recognized Petro and Olympiada Leshchynskyi, Leonida Zhelikhovska and her son Victor Polishchuk, as well as Petro Samopal as Righteous Among the Nations.