Koreyvo Jan & Yekaterina

Koreyvo, Jan Koreyvo, Yekaterina Jan and Yekaterina (Katya) Koreyvo were an elderly and poor farming family. They lived with their children in the village of Losośna Białystok District (today Lasosna, Grodna District). Yekaterina had been hired to care for the children of the Żukovski family in Grodno. Later, she remained particularly close to Solomon, one of the Żukovski’s sons who was to become a teacher and a convinced Marxist. After the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, Solomon tried to flee the advancing German troops. Yet, he was soon forced back to Grodno. He survived almost eighteen months in the ghetto with the help of Yekaterina Koreyvo who would smuggle food into him. At very last stages of the Grodno ghetto, in February 1943, Solomon escaped and made his way to the Koreyvo's home. They hid him in a potato cellar and Yekaterina brought him food three times a day. Solomon Żukovski wrote in his notebook on April 1943: “I have to be very careful because not only I will be shot, but she, the neighbors and the children too.” The hosts were also very cautious since strangers often came to the house. Yekaterina also provided him with warm clothes and washed Solomon’s clothes. “It is difficult to express what she means to me. A mother wouldn’t have done as much. She is a poor woman, without land and without a cow, who cares for me as best she can”, wrote Solomon. Jan Koreyvo was constantly on the watch for police. When it was known that a policeman was coming close, Solomon Żukovski would run into the forest and hide there for a few days. Although the Koreyvo lived in poverty, they shared all they had with Solomon and never expected payment for what they did. They hid Solomon until the area was liberated by the Red Army in July 1944. After the war, he continued his warm relations with his rescuers. On December 12, 2000, Yad Vashem recognized Jan and Yekaterina Koreyvo as Righteous Among the Nations.