Poloz Mariia, Romanova (Poloz) Tamara, Sokolova (Poloz) Valentyna

Mariia Poloz and her adult daughters Tamara and Valentyna lived in the city of Zhytomyr. On July 9, 1941, the regional center was occupied by Nazi troops. Already in the first days of the occupation, its Jewish residents became victims of the new authorities. On July 19, 1941, more than 100 of them were shot – allegedly for setting fire to city buildings. In the following days, anti-Jewish violence gained momentum. In total, about 2 thousand Jews were killed in the city of Zhytomyr during July – August 1941. September became one of the bloodiest months during the entire period of occupation of the region (28 thousand victims).

On the eve of the liquidation of the ghetto in Zhytomyr on September 19, 1941, Sheindl Shteinberh and her daughter Klara managed to escape from there. They decided to turn to the Poloz family for help. Klara Shteinberh and Tamara Poloz were childhood friends, they studied at the same school before the war. Mariia and her daughters hid the fugitive in their home for several days, but the raids and searches in the city were so harsh that the Jews had to leave the hiding place so as not to endanger the Ukrainian family. They decided to get to Kyiv. It seemed to them that it would be much easier to survive in a big city. Before escaping, Valentyna Poloz gave Klara her documents, which later helped her survive, and Sheindl had to pretend to be mute, because she had a strong accent.

A few months later, they returned to Zhytomyr and asked to live in Polozov house again, and later moved to Berdychiv. There, Klara found work and, together with her mother, awaited the expulsion of the Nazis from the region.

After the war, the two families maintained friendly relations, but after the girls got married, they gradually lost touch. It was only in the 1990s that Klara Zaltsman (Shteinberh), already living in Israel, found Valentyna Poloz's contacts.

In 1998, Yad Vashem recognized Mariia Poloz and her daughters Tamara Romanova and Valentyna Sokolova as Righteous Among the Nations.