Melnyk Hnat and Paraska

Hnat and Paraska Melnyk, along with their four teenage children, lived in the village of Krupets in Khmelnytskyi region.

In the summer of 1942, a year after the start of the German occupation, Hnat brought home a 10-year-old boy he found in a haystack in the collective farm field. The frightened child called himself Tolyk. The boy had a broken leg, and he felt pain. Paraska began treating him with compresses made from medicinal herbs, and within a few weeks, the pain disappeared. The couple realized that the child was Jewish. Later, the boy admitted that his real name was Zus Hlikshtein and that his parents, older sister Tsylia, and other relatives had perished in the ghetto in Slavuta. The Melnyk family decided to keep Zus, although neighbors saw the Jewish child in their yard and warned them about the consequences of hiding Jews. During raids, the boy ran to the field or to Hanna Lavruk, a lonely neighbor.

However, the occupying authorities soon suspected Gnat of involvement with partisans, and his house came under constant surveillance. It was not possible to hide Zus in the future, so the man managed to transport the boy to his relatives in the western part of the country.

Paraska, unfortunately, died soon. After the war, Hnat remarried, sought out Zus and supported him as if he were his own son.

In 1990, Zus Hlikshtein moved to Israel.

In 2002, Yad Vashem recognized Hnat and Paraska Melnyk as Righteous Among the Nations.