Romchuk Semen and Sekleta, Samotes Stepan and Khrystyna

Semen and Sekleta Romchuk lived in the village of Piatka in the Zhytomyr region. During the German occupation, the couple saved two Jewish children from execution. In July 1941, after occupying the village, the Nazis moved the local Jews and several dozen of their fellow tribesmen from the surrounding villages to a makeshift ghetto on its outskirts. In October, they were shot in the north of the settlement near the river.

Among those who escaped were two children: Klara Hrubman and Arkadii Aizenshtein. They asked to be taken to the Romchuk home. Semen and Sekleta took care of the children for several weeks, but due to constant raids by the Nazis in search of Jews, the girl and boy had to leave the village. Arkadii got a job as a shepherd on a remote farm and lived there until the end of the war. Klara hid in the forest for a year, occasionally visiting the village of Piatka in search of food. When possible, the Romanchuk fam ily took the girl to their home.

In the spring of 1942, Semen and Sekleta decided to send Klara to the village of Malosilka, about 5 km from the village of Piatka, where, in their opinion, it was safer. They taught her how to talk to strangers, put a cross around her neck and told her how to avoid dangerous paths. When they got to their new place, Klara asked to help with the household chores of the Samotes family. Stepan and Khrystia immediately realized that the girl was Jewish, but they were not afraid to help. They told the neighbors that she was an orphan, their distant relative.

Klara lived in Samotes family until the end of the occupation. After the war, when she went to study in Zhytomyr, she always visited her saviors in the village of Malosilka. Later, she emigrated to Israel. In 1999, based on Klara Hrubman's testimony, Yad Vashem recognized Semen and Sekleta Romchuk as Righteous Among the Nations, and in 2000, Stepan and Khrystyna Samotes also received this title.

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