Yanus Illia and Vassa, Kaminskyi Savelii and Marfa

Ilya and Vassa Janus lived with their two children in the village of Novosilky (near town of Volodymyr) in Volyn.

At the very beginning of the German-Soviet war, on June 23, 1941, the Wehrmacht occupied the town. A large camp was created there and 56 thousand people have been there in more than three years. There were three major massacres of the townspeople. The Nazis annihilated many Ukrainians, Poles, Jews, and people of other nationalities.

First of all, citizens of Jewish origin were repressed. In April 1942, a ghetto was created in the town, where they were also resettled from the surrounding areas. In August – September 1942, the Nazis carried out the final liquidation of the Jews of the town of Volodymyr. The mass shootings continued near the village of Piatydni. According to estimates, 25 thousand people who were transported from the entire region killed there. Some of them were saved, most often thanks to their friends and compatriots.

Already during the occupation, Illia Yanus met the cobbler Israel Perl. He said that his wife and children were killed, and he himself was left only as a specialist. Moreover, at the same time he asked Illia to save Haia Kohonzon and her children: 10-year-old Roza and 7-year-old Anatolii. Israel got to know them in the camp. He wanted to help at least these children to survive. Their father was at the front.

Illia decided on a risky act and one day, hiding Haia and her daughter and son in a cart, he took them out of the ghetto. Together with his wife, they dug a hole in their garden, disguised it well, and for six months it served as a shelter for the fugitives. However, when a rumor spread through the village that Janus famely had sheltered Jews, Haia and her children had to return to Volodymyr-Volynskyi (current Volodymyr).

This time the Polish Kaminskyi family hosted them: Savelii and Marfa, who lived with their three children. Savelii got the documents for Haia with a Ukrainian surname, and this helped the Jews to survive until the end of the Nazi occupation.

After the war, Haia Kohonzon was found by her husband Hersh. In the 1990s, the family emigrated to Israel, and the youngest son, Anatoliiy, to the USA.

In 1998, Yad Vashem recognized Illia and Vassa Janus, as well as Savelii and Marfa Kaminskyi Righteous Among the Nations.