Dorozhynskyi Mykola

Mykola Dorozhynskyi was orphaned early and lived with his grandmother in Kherson. When the German-Soviet war began, the boy was 13 years old. Hitler's troops, occupying the city on August 19, 1941, began to establish a "new order". A Judenrat was appointed, which registered all residents of Jewish nationality. The order of the military governor of the city obliged the Jews to wear two stars of David on their clothes: one – on the left side of the chest, the other one – on the back. They had to hand over all money and valuables to the Judenrat. In addition, on September 7 of the same year, they were ordered to move to the ghetto. This area was fenced off with barbed wire and guarded by guards with dogs. Mykola more than once witnessed how the Nazis drove slaves to the ghetto and beat the disobedient.

Later, raids on Ukrainians also began. Young people were detained just on the streets and sent to forced labor in Germany. One day Mykola was caught in such a raid. Before he could come to his senses, he found himself on the train, without even saying goodbye to his grandmother. Along the way, he met his peer Volodymyr Mohylevskyi. The teenagers quickly found a common language, so Volodymyr confessed to a new friend that he was Jewish and that his family had been killed on September 24, 1941, and he, as a child of a mixed marriage, was not shot then. Mohylevskyi managed to escape from the ghetto, and for some time he hid in the city. Somehow, having lost his vigilance, the boy fell under a roundup of Ukrainians who were being sent to the Reich. Mykola, who almost did not remember his parents, felt compassion for Volodymyr and suggested telling everyone that the two of them were brothers. In the future, the boys adhered to that legend. Upon arrival in Germany, Volodymyr was registered as Dorozhynskyi in the lists of hired workers, and both "brothers" were sent to work at the factory.

After the war, Mykola and Volodymyr returned to Ukraine together, and the strong friendship between them lasted all their lives.

In 1999, Yad Vashem recognized Mykola Dorozhynskyi as the Righteous Among the Nations.

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