Bank of Portraits / Matsiuks Khoma and Nataliia, Ukrainets (Matsiuk) Solomiia

Matsiuks Khoma and Nataliia, Ukrainets (Matsiuk) Solomiia

Khoma and Nataliia Matsiuk lived with their five children in the village of Shchyborivka in the Khmelnytskyi region. The husband worked at the local collective farm. He also sold wood in the surrounding villages and was acquainted with many Jewish families. One of them the Matsiuks happened to rescue during the Holocaust.

After the Nazis occupied the region, the Katz family ended up in the ghetto of Starokostiantyniv. Moisei and Betia were forced to work every day, while their daughters stayed in the camp. One day the parents were informed that the children were killed during a mass shooting. The Katz family decided not to return to the ghetto and seek refuge in the surrounding villages. Moisei asked Khoma Matsiuk for help, and he did not refuse. The Katzs were lucky to get to Shchyborivka and hide in the outbuildings on the Matsiuks' farm. The 13-year-old Solomiia was entrusted to take care of the Jews. For two years, the girl brought them food, water, and other necessities twice a day. In March 1944, when Red Army soldiers were approaching the village, Khoma was one of the guides who showed them the way. He was killed under fire from the retreating German army.

For many years, the survivors kept in touch with the Ukrainian family. In 1996, on the basis of the testimony of Moisei and Beitia Katz, Yad Vashem recognized Khoma and Nataliia Matsiuk as Righteous Among the Nations, and in 2000 Solomiia Ukrainets (Matsiuk) was awarded this title as well.

Svitlana Demchenko

Kyiv

The National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War

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