Romaniuk Danylo and Mariia

At the end of 1942, two Ukrainian girls, playing near the field on the farm in Velykyi Hai near the town of Radyvyliv found a three-year-old child. The little girl was crying and calling her mother with a piece of bread in her hands. One of the girls, Hanna Romaniuk, brought her home. Parents Danylo and Mariia immediately understood that the child was Jewish. The daughter begged them to leave the girl as a guest, and they finally agreed. The Romaniuk family was raising their five children, so they did not worry about what to feed or what to dress one more child, but the issue of safety was urgent. The ward was named Vira, and she quickly became part of their large family.

"Bronia never lived in a barn, but was with us in the house, I taught her the Ukrainian language, we walked hand in hand together. She learned to sing. There were three houses on our farm. Everyone knew we had a Jewish girl, but no one gave it away. Although the Germans stood under our barn. Only God knows how we survived". From the memoirs of Hanna Romaniuk

Once a relative of the Romaniuk family, Oleksandra Kukharuk, saw the girl and recognized her as Bronia, the daughter of Avraam and Khaia Rudman, who lived near Radyvyliv. In October 1942, the Jewish ghetto was liquidated there. This is how the Ukrainian family found out about the relatives of their foster daughter. After the war, the girl stayed with the Romaniuk family for some time.

In the meantime, trouble happened in the family: the eldest sons – Mykhailo and Vasyl were blown up by a mine. The first of them died immediately, and the second one remained disabled. Without the boys' tangible help, it became difficult to maintain the farm, and the family found itself on the verge of survival, besides, a lot of money was spent on Vasyl's treatment. At this time, little Bronia's relatives suddenly appeared and asked to give the girl under their care. The child had a hard time getting used to the new family, cried every time after the visits of mother Mariia and asked to take her back. In 1945, Bronia's uncle and aunt informed that, together with other Jews who survived the Holocaust, they were moving to Poland and taking the girl with them. Later, rumors reached the Romaniuk family that Bronia ended up in a Kraków asylum, and as a result, communication was lost for a decade. They were looking for the child, they wanted to know how her life turned out, but they did not find out anything during the Soviet era.

Only in 2011, Bronia Bynder (Rudman) came to Radyvyliv from Israel with her children and looked for Hanna Kukharchuk.

“We felt God's blessing all the time, everything was going well in life, and everyone is healthy. Probably, for such an act - great gratitude from God. I am very happy that Bronia found me and that we met, she remembers everything, every path in the village”. From the memoirs of Hanna Romaniuk

In 2012, Yad Vashem recognized Danylo and Mariia Romaniuk as Righteous Among the Nations.