Vavrysevych Mykola and Maria

In the autumn of 1939, the German army, taking the lands of Poland, stepped on the Ukrainian lands under Polish rule as well. In particular, the area of fighting was the town of Volodymyr (then Volodymyr-Volynskyi, current Zviahel, Volhynia region). First, the Nazis occupied it, but then, according to the agreement, gave it to the USSR. This town was one of the Hasidic centers in the region. Before World War II, the Jewish schools, periodic editions, shops and enterprises existed there. The Soviet authorities prohibited study of religion and Hebrew, the Jewish schools were initially switched to Yiddish, then closed at all. The activities of the Zionist parties were stopped, and their leaders were deported to Siberia in 1940.

During the German-Soviet war, on June 23, 1941, the Wehrmacht occupied the town for the second time. The large concentration camp was established there, in which over 56,000 people had been within more than 3 years. The citizens suffered three big massacres. If in 1939 the population of Volodymyr was 37,000 people, then by the end of the war it had reduced to 7,000. Many Ukrainians, Poles, Jews and people of other ethnicities were murdered.

Most of all, the Jews were persecuted. They were caught in the streets, taken from homes seemingly for work, but later killed and buried in the prison yard. The mass executions took place in other sites as well. In 1939, the number of the Jews radically increased due to the refugees from the Nazi-occupied Poland. Among the 38,000 of the population in Volodymyr there were 18,000 of them. In April 1942, the ghetto was established in the town, where the Jews were relocated from the outskirts as well. Approximately 18,000 prisoners lived in both parts of the ghetto. In August and September 1942, the Nazis carried out the final extermination of the Jews in Volodymyr. Near the village of Piatydni, the mass shooting took place: according to some estimates, 25,000 persons concentrated from the entire district died there. Only very few survived, mainly thanks to their friends and compatriots. In particular, the Vavrysevych family saved nearly 50 Jews from death.

Mykola and Maria Vavrysevych and their sons Mykhailo (born in 1924) and Mykola (born in 1926) lived in Volodymyr in the beginning of the war. Mykola-senior was born in the Chelm region. His father was a teacher and, at the end of his life, a priest. In 1910, Mykola Vavrysevych graduated from the Chelm gymnasium and entered the philology faculty of the Kyiv St. Volodymyr University, from which he was excluded in 1912 for participation in the anti-tsarist political actions and sentenced to half-year imprisonment. However, with the support from his friends, later he entered Petrograd University and the evening courses of the Archaeological Institute. He graduated from studies in 1917. From the autumn of 1917, he worked as the people’s education inspector in Cherkasy, then, from 1918, as the head of the Smila Ukrainian Pedagogical Studies. Later he worked as a teacher in the private Ukrainian gymnasium in Rivne. However, in 1930, he was fired because of the Communist Party membership and imprisoned in Bereza-Kartuska camp. He had a profound education, perfectly spoke French and German, and knew Latin. The difficult circumstances forced Mykola to return to the Chelm region and work as a teacher of German in the mechanical gymnasium.

In 1939, he moved to Volodymyr, where his sons studied. Together with them and his wife Maria, pedagog, he worked at their own farm. Nevertheless, he did not withdraw from research activities started in the Chelm region. He collected Ukrainian folklore, compiled readers, published folk calendars with the history of the Orthodox, Catholic and Jewish holidays.
 

When the persecution of the Jews began, the Vavrysevych family could not stand beside their disaster. In August 1942, Maria’s friend, Bluma Stein, asked to hide her daughter Shoshanna (married Bergman).

“Once our mother Maria Vavrysevych was passing the fence of the ghetto near the current school No. 1. The Jewish woman behind the barbed wire spoke to her, she likely knew her, as she called her by name. She asked her to harbor her middle daughter: “All of us will die here. Take her, she is blonde, like a Ukrainian, let her be an alive monument on our common grave!”. The Jewish woman was badly dressed, two girls were standing next to her, and they all cried heavily, as maybe they understood that they were seeing each other for the last time”. From the memories of sons of Mykola and Maria

The girl lived in the Vavrysevych family as an adopted daughter. Once the German officers came to Mykola’s house. The lady cooked a dinner for them, and Shoshanna served it – they did not recognize her as a Jew. Sometimes the escapees from the ghetto came to the house and asked for a shelter. On September 5, 1942, the ghetto action took place, so the Vavrysevych family hid not only 12-year-old Shoshanna, but also her 13-year-old sister Shena and their cousin Tonia Zuberman. On that day they opened their doors for many other Jews. Few days later some of them came back to the artisan ghetto, in particular brothers and sisters of Shoshanna (they perished there in 1943). The girl stayed in the Vavrysevych family.

In November 1942, Mykola and Maria sheltered Rakhil Zinger and her 13-year-old daughter Nekhame (married Ariel). On the Jewish holiday of Pesach, the sons of Vavrysevych Mykhailo and Mykola brought the Jews beetroot and potatoes so that they would not eat fermented food. The Zinger family had been hiding in the family until February 1944, and then went to the neighboring villages.

“Our house was big. Under the house we dug a hideout separated into two parts. The entrance to this hideout was in the room where nobody lived, only a large wardrobe stood. To get inside, it was necessary to move it, open the thoroughly masked door, there was the first section of the hideout, and from there it was possible to enter the second part. They were hiding there.

Once the policeman came to us, having some suspicions or a report, and asked to live there. Parents understood that they could not cause suspicion by refusal and agreed. For some reason we left him alone in the house, realizing that he would like to search around. When we came back, the policeman said he changed his decision. It is impossible to imagine what the Jews, who were in the hideout, passed through”. From the memories of Mykola Vavrysevych

Shoshanna and a few other Jews lived in the house of the Vavrysevych family until the return of the Red Army (July 20, 1944). Then the saved ones left the Soviet Union: some of them migrated to Israel, others to the USA. Some of them exchanged letters with the saviors and supported them financially. After the death of the father (he died on October 30, 1978), his sons Mykola and Mykhailo, being elderly persons, visited New York under the invitation from the Jewish Foundation.

On March 3, 1983, Yad Vashem recognized Mykola and Maria Vavrysevych as the Righteous Among the Nations. The trees in their honor have been planted in the Alley of the Righteous in Jerusalem.