Zazulia Mykola, Nykyfor and Stepan

Brothers Mykola and Nykyfor Zazulia were originally from the village of Lypky in the Rivne region. Widower Nykyfor lived with his sons Andrii and Stepan, daughter-in-law Natalia and daughter Halyna. Mykola lived alone. During the Holocaust in the Rivne region, the family sheltered persecuted Jews from the neighboring village Velyki Mezhyrichi.

The occupation of Rivne region by the Nazis took place from June 24 to August 9, 1941. The first execution of Jews in the region took place at the end of June in the village of Muravytsia. In total, more than 1 thousand of them were killed in Rivne region in July, and 3,500 in August. The anti-Jewish actions ended in 1941 with the shooting of 15 thousand people in the cities of Rivne and Kostopil on November 6 and 7.

During January-May 1942, mass executions were not carried out in the region. The German civil administration dealt with the resettlement of Jews in ghettos. The first of them were created in January 1941 in the settlements of Stepan, Derazhne and Kostopil, and in December – in the city of Rivne. In April 1942, the ghettos appeared in the cities of Dubno, Radyvyliv, and Sarny, in May – in the settlements of Demydivka, Dubrovytsia, Rafalivka, Velyki Mezhyrichi, and others. In May, the Nazis resumed the mass murders of Jews. 16-year-old boys Mordekhai Averbukh and Shmuel Khonihman escaped from the ghetto in the village of Velyki Mezhyrichi on September 26, 1942, on the eve of liquidation it. Having found himself in the village of Lypky, they asked Nykyfor Zazulia for asylum. The man agreed to hide the fugitives for a few days. However, with the approach of cold weather, he decided to leave them for the winter. Later, two young women – Rula and Etla – asked to Zazulia’s family courtyard. Nykyfor hid all four of them in a pit that he and his son Stepan specially dug in the barn. Mykola Zazulia provided the Jews with food and clothing.

After the war, Shmuel Honigman emigrated to Canada, and Mordekhai Averbukh – to the State of Israel. The last one maintained contacts with his saviors and in 1992 came to Ukraine.

In 1995, Yad Vashem recognized Nykyfor Zazulia, his son Stepan and brother Mykola as Righteous Among the Nations.

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