Bondarenko Vasyl and Hanna

Vasyl and Hanna Bondarenko lived in the territory of the present-day village of Siedove in the Donetsk region. Like most peasants who had estates on the shores of the Sea of Azov, they were engaged in fishing.

In the winter of 1942, a teenage girl came to the couple’s farm asking for food. Vasyl and Hanna lived alone and had no children, so they were happy to welcome the guest and invited her to stay with them. The Bondarenko family did not regret their decision even after the girl told them about her Jewish origin. Her name was Sofiia, she was the fourth, youngest child in the family of Mariupol tailor Markus Yudovych. Her mother died of illness on the eve of the German-Soviet war, her older brother was called up to the front, and one of her sisters managed to evacuate.

On October 16, 1941, the Germans drove the Jews of Mariupol out of the city for execution. Sofiia said that her father and sister Rakhil must have died. She also fell into the firing pit when the machine gun burst, but, realizing that she was alive, she began to get out at night. Moving along the sea, she reached the area where Vasyl and Hanna lived.

The Bondarenko family decided to adopt Sofiia. The couple persuaded the village headman to register the girl as their daughter.

After the war, Sofiia's brother returned from the front and her sister from evacuation, but the girl stayed with her new parents and lived with them until 1951, when she got married. Later, she took care of them when they got old.

In 2002, Yad Vashem recognized Vasyl and Hanna Bondarenko as Righteous Among the Nations.