Trubenok Maria

Maria Trubenok lived in the village of Koshany, Chernihiv region. She was about 50 years old when the war started. In September 1941, German troops captured the area, and at the end of the same year, Hava Hotman and her 11-year-old daughter Maria appeared on the doorstep of Maria's house. Hava and her daughter did not know Maria, and they knocked on her door, hoping that she would let them spent the night.

Maria saw that the eyes of the mother and daughter were full of fear and their clothes did not match the weather, so she invited them to her house and assured them that they could live with her as long as it was needed.

Since Hava Hotman and her daughter left their native city of Zhytomyr, they have had a lot to go through. After they run away from Zhytomyr, they went to their relatives in Kyiv. There they managed to escape the tragic fate of the Jews who came to Babyn Yar. Among those killed in Babyn Yar were Hava's parents and all her relatives.

When Hava and Maria came to Koshany, they were on the verge of exhaustion. Hotman and her daughter lived with Maria Trubenok until the very end of the occupation and left her house only after the area was liberated from Germans in September 1943.

All this time they used fictitious names. Although they had no documents, Maria did not hide them from the peasants. Every time Hava Hotman was interrogated in an attempt to find out her true origin, Maria Trubenok defended her and always insisted that they were relatives.

In rescuing the Jews, Maria Trubenok risked her own life, but faith sustained her — Maria believed that God sees everything, and this strengthened her determination. After the war, Hava Hotman and her daughter moved deep into Russia. Later, Hava was able to find her husband, the father of little Maria. They communicated with Maria Trubenok for many years and supported her financially.

On February 7, 1995, Yad Vashem awarded Maria Trubenok with the honorary title of "Righteous Among the Nations." In January 2020 the plaque with her name was opened in the Ukrainian village of Koshany. It was erected next to the monument for the inhabitants of the village who died during the Second World War.