Vezhbytskyi Yan and Yuzefa

Yan and Yuzefa Vezhbytskyi lived with their four children in the town of Dubno in the Rivne region. During the Holocaust, the family sheltered 11 Jews in their home, saving them from extermination.

The persecution and murder of Jews, of whom at the time of entry of Hitler's troops in the city there were about 12 thousand in the city began almost immediately. Initially, they were used in forced labor. From June 28, Jews were ordered to wear an armband with a Star of David, which was replaced on October 17 with a special yellow identification mark. On August 3, a 12-member Judenrat was appointed, and within days, the citizens of Jewish origin were ordered to surrender all gold and silver jewelry and securities. On August 21, 1941, over 1thousand of them, mostly men, were shot. In April 1942, a ghetto was created in the town of Dubno, where Romani people were also located. Already on May 27, the Einsatz group destroyed about 3,800 Jews at the old airfield. The last slaves in the ghetto were executed in October 1942.

Barukh and Ester Kats were among those rescued by the Vezhbytskyi family, who survived the mass shooting in May and managed to get out of the ghetto. The couple asked Yan and Yuzefa for shelter. At that time, four fugitives were already hiding in the attic of the Vezhbytskyi house: Shlomo and Khasiia Shyller, Moshe Hrosblat, Aaron and Bella Hrosberh. Later, four more people moved to the same hiding place: Tsylia Shyller with her daughter Sonia, and Shaider and Hrysha Druk. For 17 months, all the fugitives were under the care of the Vezhbytskyi family, who brought them food, took care of their health and safety, risking their own lives.

After the war, the rescuers moved with their children to the city of Szczecin, in the new borders of Poland. The families of the Jews they saved emigrated to Israel and

In 1981, Yad Vashem recognized Yan and Yuzefa Vezhbytskyi as Righteous Among the Nations.

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