Lytvynenko Motria

Motria Lytvynenko was an ordinary peasant. She lived with her husband and son in the village of Veselynivka (until 1946 – village of Skoptsi) of Baryshivskyi district, Kyiv region. At the beginning of the German-Soviet war, when she was 26, her husband was taken to the front. As of October 1941, the village was occupied by Hitler's troops.

A few weeks later, a woman with two twin boys knocked on Motria's door and asked to spend the night. It was her acquaintance from the city. In the morning she asked if Motria could look after the children and explained that she was not their mother. Motria agreed.

The children's names were Roman and Pavlo. Brothers with the surname Bukhhalter were born in 1939. Their mother, Liubov Eidlis, died in a year after their birth and their father, Hersh Bukhhalter, went to the front in June 1941 (where he died). Before his mobilization, the sons lived with their grandparents - Pinchas and Tsyla Bukhhalter. During the occupation, they, like most Jews, were shot in Babyn Yar.  Children were sheltered in the apartment of a neighbor woman. When it became dangerous to hide the children in the city, she agreed with her friend Motria Lytvynenko, and she took them to her place. During two dangerous years (from October 1941 to November 1943), she took care of them as family. After the expulsion of the Nazis from the Kyiv region,  children lived there for a little more than a year.

Then Motria's husband returned from the war. Motria gave birth to a daughter.  In 1944  Motria gave the boys to an orphanage, hoping that their parents were looking for them. Finally, in 1952, Roman and Pavlo were taken by their maternal grandparents, Zalman and Haya Eidlis. They lived in Kyiv.

The survivors grew up, graduated from technical school, and worked at the factory. They found their savior and kept in touch with her.

In 2002, Motria Lytvynenko was awarded the title "Righteous of Babyn Yar".

On November 30, 2004, Yad Vashem awarded Motria Lytvynenko the honorary title "Righteous Among the Nations." In 2006, she was awarded the Order of Merit of the 3rd Class.