Pylui Anna

In May 2021, the Day of Remembrance of Ukrainians who saved Jews during Second World War was celebrated for the first time. It is symbolic that the second commemoration of this date fell on... a new war. On full-scale Russian aggression against sovereign Ukraine. On January 1, 2021, the State of Israel awarded the title of Righteous Among the Nations to 2,673 citizens of Ukraine for saving Jews from the Holocaust. But thousands of saviors still remain unrecognized and unknown...

With this story, the author wants to make his modest contribution to the search for Ukrainians who selflessly, risking their own lives and risking their own, saved Jews during the Nazi occupation, but not only Israelis, but also most of their compatriots, did not learn about their feat.

Anna Pylui (surname in second marriage) was born on December 22, 1906 in the village of Trostianchyk of the Trostianets district of the Vinnytsia region on the day of the Conception of the Holy Mother of God by the righteous Anna. The girl's father, Omelian Rymar, a village laborer, was a skilled householder, not in the first generation. At that time, he had oxen and horses on his private farm, which he used to cultivate his own land. God did not deprive children either. He and his wife had six of them, the youngest being Anna.

In addition to Ukrainians, many Jews lived in the village of Trostianchyk. They lived compactly – on one of the streets. It was called "Jewish" among the common people there. Little Anna always managed to grab an egg from the floor of her stable and run to a Jew (probably a shopkeeper) to exchange it for a toy, "some wristband".

Shortly before the invasion of the Nazis, the local Jews somehow learned what awaited them, so they left the village in the direction of the city of Bershad, and from there to the city of Odesa.

Before the attack of Hitler's Germany on the USSR, 25-year-old Hryhorii Pylui was called up for active military service, and his wife Anna remained with two daughters: the eldest – Nataliia (from her first marriage) – and the youngest – Pavlyna). The man ended up serving at the border guard in Western Ukraine (Hryhorii would return from the war in the fall of 1944 after being seriously wounded).

At the end of July 1941, German military equipment moved through the village. People cried. “Anna, it's war!” – an excited neighbor came running and announced the news that was already obvious to everyone. “My mother took me in her arms”, ​​said Anna's daughter, Pavlyna Dzhula from the town of Tlumach, “and for some reason, my mother's painful cry stuck in my memory the most”.

Hryhorii Piluy's hut was one of those that stood on the hill, and the road to the district center – the town of Trostianets – ran down the hill, near the river. From above, Anna Pylui could clearly see cars driving it and exhausted people walking. "Then, surely, the Jews are being chased away?" – thought the 35-year-old peasant woman. In addition, indeed, along the road, which turned into continuous suffering, Jews were driven to the town of Bershad.

Corn and sunflower fields were green on both sides of the road. Of course, collective farms. A collective farm was formed in the village as far back as 1929. All of a sudden, prisoners led by German soldiers ran away. They opened fire on them. Someone did not reach the field and fell, and someone managed to hide in the thickets. Local villagers said that they were Jews from the town of Tulchyn and its surroundings. “They were mocked”, – Pavlyna Dzhula recounts the stories of eyewitnesses, “as if they were not people, but animals”.

At night, at the beginning of august, immediately after the escape of individual Jews from the convoy, there was a knock on the window of soldier Anna Pylui. The woman was wary, but decided to go out and have a look. A stranger, 30-40 years old, stood at the door. In a weakened, barely audible voice, she said:

– I want to eat...

The guest was alone. Anna Pylui anxiously asked:

– Where are you from?

– From there... – and pointed in the direction of the corn.

She said that she managed to escape when they were being transfered between two places of detention. Some of the Germans were shot while fleeing, others, who did not manage to quickly jump into the sunflowers and cornfields, were led further down the path of suffering. Only a few were able to escape. Anna, after thinking for a moment, let the guest into the house. She fed what she had of food. The house was ordinary, as in most peasants: in the middle – a hayloft, and on the sides – two large rooms. “Where to put her?” – worried Anna Pylui, realizing that soon it will become clear, someone can see and hand over to the occupation authorities. Then death to everyone – both her and her children, and the Jews.

There was a stable in yard of Pylui family, which was divided in half by an entrance door. Once in the middle of it there was a stall for a cow, which was separated from the sheep by a partition. For the sheep, the owner made a trough in which hay and other fodder were placed. Then, behind the chute, pasture was stored, i.e. stocks for the winter – cut hay, straw, corn husks. The stable was long and could hold a lot of feed.

“My mother offered the Jewish woman a place to hide behind the gutter: – Come with me. You will live in a stable. Nevertheless, you must behave in such a way that neither a sound nor a rustle could be heard from you. I will bring you food myself...” From the memoirs of Pavlyna Dzhula (Pylui)

Anna spent the overnight guest in the hiding place, in which she would live (just imagine!) for more than two and a half years – until the expulsion of German troops from the Trostianets district.

Wehrmacht units passed through the village and moved on. Instead, their allies – the Romanians, occupied the village. Both during the German occupation administration and during the Romanian administration, the Ukrainians had no rights in their land. The conquerors behaved like masters in the village of Trostianchyk.

“Mother was afraid not only for the Jewish woman, but also for herself and her children. She kept me close to her and led me everywhere by my hand, afraid to let go." From the memoirs of Pavlyna Dzhula (Pylui)

Pavlyna remembered how the Romanian soldiers shouted the same phrase (swearing content) and always walked with nagaikas (a pen with a corrugated tube). There was a whistling in the air from their blows. They whipped the local people with those iron whips, driving them to work on the collective farm, even though people worked day and night in their own gardens to survive, and in the collective farm – for the needs of the occupiers. In addition, peasants were forced to hand over grain and eggs, and those who had cows and pigs – milk and meat.

At night, when the village was quiet, the Jewish woman came out of hiding to breathe fresh air (on the other side of the stable there was a secret door that only the household knew about). Anna should not only be careful, but also feed her ward with something. Pavlyna Dzhula said that her mother had 60 ares of vegetable garden, planted potatoes, sowed corn, wheat and rye, with which, by the way, she also sewed the roof.

“Mother strictly forbade us to even mention another woman in our stable. "God forbid you say a word about her”, – said the mother, “they will kill us all.” That's why we kept our mouths shut...” From the memoirs of Pavlyna Dzhula (Pylui)

After nearly 900-plus days spent with the sheep in a cramped stable separated only by a gutter, the young Jewish woman was finally free. This happened after the Soviet troops drove the Germans and Romanians out of the country. The Jewish woman returned to Trostianets to her home, where she lived before the war.

The story with the rescued had its continuation. Already, of course, not as dramatic as its beginning during the German-Romanian occupation.

Pavlyna's mother was sick. Her legs hurt a lot, so on Sundays she tried to rest at least a little and often accompanied the girl to town. “Pavlynka, get up, daughter, because people are already going to the market”, – Anna was preparing a wicker basket for her daughter, in which she put eggs, sprinkling them with wheat chaff so that they would not break. “We had to buy salt and kerosene in that small firebox”, Pavlyna Hryhorivna recalled the post-war period, “so that later in the evening we could light up the house a little”. The Jewish woman knew Pavlynka Pylui well, as soon as the little one came to the market, took her to her apartment for a few hours. In addition, she never let go without treating her to various goodies.

“I don't know what it was, but the pastry looked yellow and had the same jam on top – for me, these cookies seemed very tasty in those hungry post-war years”. From the memoirs of Pavlyna Dzhula (Pylui)

The hostess served all those delicacies with fragrant tea. Such a celebration for Pavlynka took place every Sunday, on market day. The girl returned with the people from Trostianchitsi, who, after shopping, were going home. In addition, the way was quite long – 15 km.

“I don't know if it was a first name or a surname, but she was called Hesterka (probably from the name Ester. – Author). I remember my mother always said: "Pavlynka, you will go to Hesterka, give her some eggs and convey my congratulations”. From the memoirs of Pavlyna Dzhula (Pylui)

Little Pavlina saw the Jewish Hesterka, whom her mother saved from death, every Sunday until she was 14 years old.

“Hesterka was a very, very kind woman. She always looked for me at the marketr and took me home to feed me. She lived near the market, in one of a row of small houses, where she had her own room... I don't know what happened to her after that, whether she stayed in Trostianets or left for Israel”. From the memoirs of Pavlyna Dzhula (Pylui)

We would not have learned about this touching story of the rescue of a Jewish woman by a Ukrainian peasant from Podillia, Anna Pylui, if it were not for her daughter Pavlyna. When she became an adult, she graduated from the Tlumatskyi Agricultural Technical School in Ivano-Frankivsk region and returned for several years to Vinnytsia region, to her native village of Trostianchyk. Mother, suffering from bronchial asthma, needed constant care. Therefore, the daughter, having got a job at the local collective farm, worked and took care of her at the same time. In 1972, Anna Pylui has passed away.

After the death of her mother, Pavlyna Pylui returned to Tlumach at the request of her sister Nataliia, who lived in Carpathian region. She first worked as an accountant-cashier at "Shliakhbud", and then moved to work at "Agricultural Chemistry". She had worked there for 16 years, until retirement.

In 2022, it will be half a century since the passing of an ordinary village woman from the village of Trostianchyk in Vinnytsia region Anna Pylui. This is a good opportunity to remember her holy deed, a real feat done in the name of good, which, we believe, should be remembered by society. We do not know whether the facts are enough for the State of Israel to recognize her as the Righteous Among the Nations, but for us, Ukrainians, she is truly the Righteous...