Melnyk Andrii, Hanna and Anastasiia

A Baptist family, Andrii and Hanna Melnyk, had a small farm in the village of Sopachiv, Rivne region. Andrii lost both of his legs when he was seriously wounded during World War I. In September 1942, a year after the region was occupied by the Germans, the Melnyks hid a Jewish boy Abraham Apelboim in their house. He was the son of Moshe Apelboim, a well-known merchant in the area, from the village of Stara Rafalivka. During the liquidation of the Stara Rafalivka ghetto, Abraham was hiding there for a week and then managed to escape.

The boy walked 20 kilometers before reaching the Melnyks' house. Andrii and his wife took him in and hid in the barn. He spent about 10 days there, while Anastasiia, the Melnyks' youngest daughter, brought him food and told the news every day. Auxiliary police, formed from the local population, constantly carried out searches throughout the region, shooting every Jew they found. From Anastasiia, Abraham found out that his father, brother Shmuel, and several other survivors escaped from a labor camp and were hiding in the forests. The boy asked his rescuer to try to contact his family. Andrii succeeded, and Abraham's father took his son to a forest hiding place. After that, the Melnyks kept helping the Jews by bringing them food to the forest and letting them spend the nights. They believed that it was the duty of every good Christian to save the persecuted. Abraham, his father, and brother survived and emigrated to British Mandatory Palestine in 1946.

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In 1990, they re-established contact with the descendants of their rescuers' family. On June 28, 2000, Yad Vashem awarded Andrii and Hanna Melnyk and their daughter Anastasiia the honorary title of Righteous Among the Nations.