Shchupova Vira, Surovova Kateryna

Vira Shchupova and her family lived in the town of Khmilnyk in the Vinnytsia region. With the beginning of the German-Soviet war, her husband was called up to the front and she moved to her parents.

The Germans occupied the town of Khmilnyk on July 9, 1941. They began to exterminate the Jews almost immediately. For example, in the village of Tereshpil, Khmilnyk district, 30 Jewish collective farmers were publicly executed in front of the local population in the first days of the occupation. One of the orders stated that Jews had no right to buy anything at the market except potatoes and peas. Whoever of them will be caught buying something else will receive from 20 to 50 lashes. Therefore, the Jewish population was forced to starve. Ukrainians were forbidden to have contact with them, and they were also punished for this.

Despite this, Vira Shchupova decided to help her school friend Emiliia Kesser and her two-year-old son Valerii Sandler. Emiliia's parents and brother were shot in January 1942, so the woman decided to escape the ghetto. The matter was too risky, because Vira's older brother had joined the occupation authorities – he was appointed head of the local police. He and his friends often visited the house where the Jewish woman and her son were hiding in the basement. Vira managed to get documents for her friend with a Slavic surname. She persuaded their mutual acquaintance Kateryna Surovova to lend Emiliia her birth certificate. Then the Jewish fugitives reached the town of Zhmerynka, controlled by the Romanian occupation authorities. They lived there with foreign documents until the arrival of Red Army units in March 1944.

After the war, the survivors emigrated to the United States. Emiliia and her son supported their rescuers throughout their lives and provided financial assistance.

In 1999, Yad Vashem recognized Vira Shchupova and Kateryna Surovova as Righteous Among the Nations.