Bank of Portraits / Zamrika Hryhorii, Marfa and Lyubov

Zamrika Hryhorii, Marfa and Lyubov

Marfa and Hryhorii Zamrika and their daughter Lyubov lived in the village of Mostove, not far from the village of Domanivka.

On August 17, 1941, the area was occupied by German and Romanian forces, and the following month, control in the village completely shifted to the Romanians. These lands became part of the Romanian governorate called "Transnistria". The fate of the Jews who couldn't evacuate to the east was horrifying.

In early November 1941, the mass deportation of Jews from Odesa to the Domanivka district began. Most of them, in groups of 2–5 thousand people, were sent on foot to the Bogdanivka collective farm; many perished on the way. In this region, extermination awaited them in the camps of Bogdanivka, Berezivka, Akmechetka, Domanivka, and others.

In the fall and winter of the same year, Jews, mainly women, children, and the elderly, were brought by trains from Odesa to the village of Mostove. They were placed in the ruined buildings of the park, near the house of Hryhorii and Marfa Zamrika. Soon, this territory was turned into a ghetto.

Sympathizing with the prisoners, the Zamrika family came daily with food to the entrance of the ghetto. It was during this time that they met 45-year-old Rozaliya Malets, a professional seamstress. Rozaliya's health deteriorated continuously, and by the beginning of 1942, she could barely stand. The Zamrika family decided to help her.

They paid a bribe to the Romanian officer, the camp commandant, who allowed Rozaliya to move to their home for a week, supposedly to sew clothes for the entire family.

At the end of the week, the commandant went on vacation, another man took his place, and no one remembered that Rozaliya was supposed to return to the ghetto.

The Zamrika family hid Rozaliya Malets for over two years, exposing themselves to mortal danger. At the end of 1943, rumors reached her that in the labor camp Domanivka, Jews were assigned work and kept in more or less tolerable conditions.

Not wanting her rescuers to risk more, she decided to move to the camp.

After the Nazis were expelled from the region on March 28, 1944, Rozaliya Malets returned to the Zamrika family and invited them to visit her in Odesa. They remained in warm, friendly relations for the rest of their lives.

On January 19, 1995, Yad Vashem honored Hryhorii, Marfa, and Lyubov Zamrika with the title of Righteous Among the Nations.

Andriy Vasylenko

Kyiv

Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv

  • fingerprintArtefacts
  • theatersVideo
  • subjectLibrary