Demus Bronislava, Nikitenko (Demus) Halyna

Bronislava Demus lived with her daughter Halyna and son Eduard in the town of Iziaslav in the Khmelnytskyi region. Before the war, the woman was a deputy of the city council, respected by the local population.

German troops occupied this territory on July 5, 1941. In August, the first few hundred Jews were killed, the rest were placed in a ghetto formed in the old part of the city. On September 9, 1942, during a punitive action, the Nazis killed most of the ghetto's inhabitants.

A Jewish teenager Semen Shyder came to Bronislava's house. He was friends with her son Eduard, who was then at the front. The woman hid the fugitive in the attic of the barn, covering the hiding place with hay. Two days later, Roza Zihelboim and Yasha Klepak joined Semen.

Since there was not enough space for the three in the attic, Bronislava suggested that they move into a small crypt in an abandoned Polish cemetery near her yard. At night, the Jews moved there. Once a day, 13-year-old Halyna brought them food, even though she and her mother were starving.

After Semen and his comrades moved to the cemetery, Sonia Vynohradova, a Jewess who had been hiding with her husband's relatives, settled in Bronislava's house. In addition, in the spring of 1943, two more young men – Lazar Vitelmakher and Aron Korenblit joined Semen.

All of them lived in the tomb until April 1943, and then decided to join the Soviet partisans. Along the way, they split into two groups, and in a few days Semen, Roza, and Yasha were lucky enough to join the red squad. Lazar and Aron died on the way. Later, friends learned about the death of Roza Zihelboim and Yasha Klepak.

In March 1944, the Nazis were expelled from the city of Iziaslav and its surroundings. Semen Shyder returned to his hometown. Bronislava continued to take care of the young man. Until the death of his savior in 1971, Semen maintained a close relationship with her and called her mother.

In 2001, Yad Vashem recognized Bronislava Demus and Halyna Nikitenko (Demus) as Righteous Among the Nations.