Shymanovskyi Petro, Lidiia, Anatolii and Borys, Shevchenko (Shymanovska) Raisa, Lemeshko Oleksandra

Petro and Lidiia Shymanovskyi lived in Zhytomyr with their three teenage children. The family was friends with local artist Volodymyr Leman, who gave drawing lessons to their children. The Shymanovskyis’ youngest daughter, 12-year-old Raisa, loved to watch the Lemans’ 4-year-old son, Valeryk.

After the occupation of the city on July 9, 1941 by Nazi troops, the life of the population changed radically.

In August 1941, a ghetto was established in the city of Zhytomyr in the area of ​​ Chudnivska, Ostrovska and Katedralna streets. As of September 5, 1941, 4,820 people lived here. After a meeting between the leadership of Einsatzgruppe "S" and the field commandant's office, which took place on September 10, 1941, it was decided to liquidate the Jewish community. The result of this decision was a mass murder committed in Zhytomyr on September 19, 1941 by personnel of Sonderkommando 4a. The terrible events are described in detail in the "Report on Events in the USSR No. 106" dated October 7, 1941.

The Leman family was not affected by the first wave of persecution. They were allowed not to move to the ghetto. Volodymyr continued to study with his students at home. But one day in May 1942, the artist with his eldest son, 9-year-old Arkadii, appeared on the doorstep of the Shymanovskyis' house and began to beg to save him and the children. A new wave of roundups began in the city. Of course, the Ukrainian family did not refuse and immediately hid the Jews in the attic of the house. Volodymyr was nervous because his wife Reiza and their youngest son Valeryk were in the city during the raid and he did not know where to look for them. To find out at least some news, Petro and Lidiia sent their daughter Raisa to the Lemans' apartment. The girl, walking through the streets, was supposed to try to find Reiza and Valeryk. Near the Jewish house, Raisa saw policemen checking the documents of all passersby. When Volodymyr heard about this, he realized that his relatives had already been arrested and, possibly, executed.

It was dangerous to stay in the city. The Shymanovskyis’ older sons, Borys and Anatolii, helped Volodymyr contact his old friend, who managed to get Arkadii out of the city. Until the end of the occupation, the boy was under the care of Olexandra Lemeshko in the village of Lubianka.  

Volodymyr himself also decided to flee the city so as not to endanger the Shymanovskyi family. He hid in the forests and surrounding villages.

After the expulsion of the Nazis, Volodymyr Leman and his son moved to Kyiv, changed their surname to Lomin, and later married. In the 1990s, the family emigrated to Israel.

In 2004, Yad Vashem recognized Petro and Lidiia Shymanovskyi and their children Borys, Anatolii, and Raisa, as well as Oleksandra Lemeshko, as Righteous Among the Nations.