Vasyltsov Mariia and Andrii

Andrii and Mariia Vasyltsov lived in the town of Talne, Kyiv region (current – Zvenyhorod district, Cherkasy region). The man worked as a driver. The couple had no children. Almost half of the town's population on the eve of the Second World War were Jews. The Vasyltsov family maintained friendly relations with many of their families.

With the beginning of the war, the difficult times came for the Jews. On August 16, 1941, shortly after the Germans occupied the town of Talne, under the pretext of compulsory registration, they were ordered to gather in the square, and then they were driven to the nearby village of Bilashky and shot. During August 16–18, 1941, about 2,800 people were executed in the trenches there. Almost 1,600 more were killed in the town of Talne. In general, during the years of occupation, more than 5 thousand Jews killed on the territory of the region.

Among those who were sent to the trenches in the summer of 1941 was the Kapitovskyi family. The Vasyltsov family recognized them among the staged and managed to hide Hanna Kapitovska (later – Froianchenko) in their house.

A few days later, an acquaintance from the village of Bilashky approached Mariia and told her about a two-year-old, obviously Jewish girl, who was found half-alive early in the morning after the massacre near the ditches. Mariia offered to bring the child to their house – decided to take care of her. When the woman came with the baby, Mariia recognized her as Nina Levenberh, the daughter of her friends Tsylia Zaslavska and Bentsion Levenberh. With the beginning of the German-Soviet war, Bentsion was conscripted into the Red Army. After the German occupation of the region, contact with him was cut off. Tsylia killed on August 16, 1941. Therefore, the childless Vasyltsov family decided to raise Nina and take care of her as a family member until her father returned from the front. For security reasons, her name was changed to Olha and they began to tell their neighbors that she was a Ukrainian orphan. Not everyone believed in this story, and some even knew the truth about the girl, but no one informed the occupiers on Vasyltsov. After the child moved, so as not to endanger their family, Hanna Kapitovska left the Vasyltsov family, and later left the city and survived the war under an assumed name.

After the German troops were expelled from town of Talne in March 1944, the grandmother of Nina (Olha) – Hanna Levenberh, her paternal aunt and uncle returned from the evacuation and contacted the Vasyltsov couple. Since Bentsion had been killed at the front, they decided not to separate his child from the rescuers. In 1945, Mariia and Andrii Vasyltsov officially adopted her. After coming of age, Olha remained in Ukraine. She considered the Vasyltsov couple to be her parents and at the same time maintained close contact with Jewish relatives. At their request, in 1994, Mariia Vasyltsova was awarded the title "Righteous Among the Nations". Six years later, Andrii Vasyltsov was also awarded this title.

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