Marchuk Yevtykhiy and Hanna

On the eve of World War II, Yevtykhiy and Hanna Marchuk lived with their children in the village of Shchytynska Volya in the Volyn region. Before the war, Volyn was under Polish rule. Ukrainians, Jews, and Poles lived in the village. Vira's parents had good relations with all their fellow villagers, so they were respected in the village, and people always turned to their father for advice.
 

"My mother's father Trokhym and my father read the Bible. I remember in the childhood Bible lying on a shelf so old, well-read. At that time there were many illiterate people, and parents could read and write. In the evenings peasants, especially men, came to us. My grandfather and father shared with them what they read. They lived very well together. My father was elected the head of the village by the community for being a good, fair and literate man. " From the memoirs of Vira Marchuk ...

Before the war, in January 1938, Yevtykhiy and Hanna gave birth to their first child, Mykola, and in 1940, their second son, Ivan, was born. The family was happy. And suddenly - the war. It became very difficult for everyone to live. Vira`s parents with young children were no exception. However, it was especially difficult for the Jews to live.

"In our village lived a Jewish family Oremland, which, in addition to parents, had seven persons. My mother, Hanna Marchuk, was friends with this family, especially Meite. They went to school together and were friends. " From the memoirs of Vira Marchuk ...

On June 1, 1942, the Oremland family and all other Jews of the Shchytynska Volya were relocated to the Kamin-Kashyrsky ghetto. 20-year-old Meite, her sister Pesya and brothers Iser and Yosel were hidden by Marchuks. At night they lived in the attic, and during the day in the hayloft. Four Jews from a nearby village also were hidden by Marchuks. All of them, together with Meite, Pesya, Iser and Yosel, hid in the summer and autumn of 1942 in the family Marchuk.

"During this period, my parents had a third son - Pavlo. Parents risked not only their lives but also the lives of their children. If someone found out that they were hiding Jews, they would shoot everyone. ”From the memoirs of Vira Marchuk ...

In the winter, Jews from the Belarusian ghetto in village of Dyvyn fled from it and asked the Marchuks, but there was nowhere to hide them. So father Yevtykhiy and the Jews built a shelter, a dugout in the woods, about eight kilometers from the village. It was very dangerous in the village. And in the winter of 1942-1943, more than twelve Jews hid in this bunker.

"The shelter was well disguised, and only my parents knew about its existence. They often visited the Jews, bringing them food and medicine. Many of them fell ill with typhus, one woman even died. My mother also fell ill with typhus from contact with patients. But the father and mother were very sympathetic to the Jews, so, risking their lives, they did everything to help them survive. "From the memoirs of Vira Marchuk ...

In the spring of 1943, Meite noticed a stranger near the bunker. Fearing that a stranger would be able to find their shelter, the Jews left the dugout and fled the district. It was later revealed that the out-of-town man had indeed led the police to the shelter, who blew him up. After these disturbing events, Jews sometimes hid in the swamps, but sometimes secretly visited the Marchuks. And even when Vira's father died at the end of the war, they repeatedly turned to their mother, Hanna Marchuk, to get at least some food. At that time it was very difficult for Hanna, because she was raising three sons and was pregnant. However, she never refused to help.

"After the war, most of the surviving Jews moved to Poland and from there to Israel. Of all the survivors, only Meite Oremland (later Maria Volnyanska), a friend of my mother's childhood, remained in Ukraine until the 1990s and always kept in touch with mother. Yosel Ades, who was hidden by my parents, came with his family to Shchytynska Volya, visited our relatives. My mother already lived in the Zaporizhia region, but she came to Volyn to meet Yosel. I am grateful to my parents that they left us an example of how to love people. I also, like my father, read the Bible, which teaches to love God and neighbor "From the memoirs of Vira Marchuk ...

On January 3, 1996, Yad Vashem awarded the honorary title of Righteous Among the Nations to Vira`s parents, Yevtykhiy and Hanna Marchuk. Their last names and first names are engraved on a board in the Garden of the Righteous Among the Nations in Jerusalem. On October 23, 2017, Vira and her brother and children went to the award ceremony of the Righteous Among the Nations in Kyiv, where they received a diploma and a medal in the names of Marchuk Yevtykhiy and Marchuk Hanna.