Bank of Portraits / Mlodnytskyi Tadeusz

Mlodnytskyi Tadeusz

Tadeusz and Stefania Mlodnytski lived in the town of Mykolaiv in the Lviv region. Tadeusz was an organist in the local Roman Catholic church. At the beginning of the war, the couple had three children: Stanislava, Yosyp and Tadey. Anton was born in 1942. The family lived in a small house on the territory of the monastery, which was allocated to Tadeusz for household needs.

During the Nazi occupation, this house became a hiding place for two Jewish families and a fugitive from the Lviv ghetto.

"Father was walking down the street. A strange man was walking towards him. It was Mordechai Saurhaft. Father bowed to him, and the man was pleased to be greeted so politely. So he dared to appeal. He told that he escaped from the ghetto and was looking for a place to hide... My father was very active. He helped everyone. He did not look at nationality or anything. He was such a person who helped everyone..." From the memoirs of Stanislava Khrystoforova (Mlodnytska)

Tadeusz Mlodnytskyi invited the stranger to join the Jews who were hiding in his workshop near the church. Together they made an underground cellar - in case of raids. The warning that strangers appeared in the yard was the barking of a dog. Risking their lives, the couple of Mlodnytski hid seven Jews for almost two years.

"...I was little and I don't remember well. But I remember that my father told me not to tell anyone anything. I was not even allowed to play with the children, lest I betray them. Once dad went to buy food, and they asked him why he was buying so much food. But he was not afraid of anything, because he believed in God. And if there is faith, then nothing is scary. God does not wish harm on anyone..." From the memoirs of Stanislava Khrystoforova (Mlodnytska)

After the war, the survivors emigrated abroad. Mordechai Saurhaft, who moved to America, kept in touch with his rescuers.

On June 28, 1978, Yad Vashem honored Tadeusz Mlodnytskyi with the title of Righteous Among the Nations.

Svitlana Demchenko

Kyiv

The National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War

  • fingerprintArtefacts
  • theatersVideo
  • subjectLibrary