Pustovyi Stepan, Lukiia, Mariia and Larysa

Stepan Pustovyi lived in Kharkiv with his wife Lukiia and daughters Mariia and Larysa. On October 23, 1941, German troops entered the regional center. The family had to leave their house, which stood on the territory of the machine-tool factory, because the occupiers decided to organize a ghetto there. Immediately after the capture of the city, the Nazis began to repress the Jewish population. Its census was conducted on December 6. Persons of the relevant nationality were registered on separate yellow forms. The number of registered Jews was 10,271, although in reality there were much more of them in the city.

Once, Stepan entered the ghetto territory to take some of his property, which he had left at home. By chance, I met a Jewish acquaintance, Rebeka Reznikova. She spoke about her two daughters, who were left with a Ukrainian husband, and about the fear that children from mixed marriages would also be persecuted.

Stepan and Lukiia decided to support Rebeka, so they began to visit the ghetto and feed her and other Jews. In December 1941, mass executions began, and the liquidation of the ghetto itself continued until January 7, 1942. The executions took place near the city in the Drobytskyi Yar tract.

Rebeka managed to escape from the ghetto. Pustov family helped her to leave Kharkiv and settle in the countryside. Later, it founed out that the occupiers were interested in Stepan and Lukiia: someone reported that the family was helping Jews. The day before, Stepan, together with Rebeka's husband, got fake metrics for her. Moreover, within a few days the Pustov family had to flee the city. Taking a risk, the Ukrainian couple also took the Reznikovs' daughters away. All settled in the village of Kotelva in Poltava region. In the summer of 1943, Jewish girls were forced to run away and save themselves.

In 1998, Yad Vashem recognized Stepan and Lukiia Pustovyi, as well as their daughters Mariia and Larysa, Righteous Among the Nations.

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