Shevchuk Yevheniia

On the eve of the Second World War in 1941 Yevheniia Shevchuk, a woman from Lviv, gave birth to a daughter, and then, when the Nazis occupied the city, she decided to move with the child to the countryside. On the way to the village of Stanymyr, where her aunt lived, at the railway station she met another young mother who was also holding a baby in her arms. She was very nervous and confused, so Yevheniia offered her help. The woman admitted that she was Jewish and was trying to escape the city, but had no money, that her name was Sheindel Hoikhman. Concerned about the fate of her new acquaintance and her daughter, Yevheniia offered to go with her.

Having reached the village of Stanymyr, the women found an old dilapidated hut and decided that Sheindel would stay there until Yevheniia settled down with her aunt. In a relatively quiet mountain village, the Jewish woman and her child managed to survive the entire occupation. Yevheniia visited her wards almost every evening, trying to support them in every way: she brought food, water and warm clothes for little Eleonora.

After the expulsion of the Nazis, the young mothers returned to Lviv. It turned out that the Hoikhmans’ apartment was occupied by another family. Sheindel was unable to prove to the new residents that the house had belonged to her family before the war. Then Yevheniia came to the rescue again, inviting her friend to live with her. In 1946, Sheindel’s husband was demobilized, the family reunited and moved into a separate apartment.

A chance meeting between two women with newborn daughters turned into a long-lasting friendship. In the 1990s, Eleonora Katzner (Hoikhman) emigrated to Israel and testified about her savior.

In 1995, Yad Vashem recognized Yevheniia Shevchuk as Righteous Among the Nations.