Bruzhnik Atylia ; Daughter: Shumilova Olga (Bruzhnik)

Bruzhnik, Atylia Shumilova (Bruzhnik), Olga Atylia Bruzhnik lived with her 18-year-old daughter Olga, 16-year-old son Ivan, and their grandfather, in the village of Stai, in the district of Minsk. In July 1941, Olga and her grandfather were passing a railway track when they heard the cries of a baby. The infant was two-year-old Vera Usarova, from Białystok in Poland, who had been lost by her mother, Anna, on their journey eastward. Upon seeing the helpless child, Olga implored her grandfather to take her back to their home. He agreed, and Vera soon became an integral member of the Bruzhnik family and was legally adopted by Atylia. Vera was also baptized and given the name Valia. The Bruzhnik family and their neighbors knew that Vera was Jewish and all the residents of Stai supported them in their rescue deeds. Olga developed an especially warm relationship with Vera and she took care of the child as if she were her sister. Vera remained with the Bruzhniks until 1957, when her biological mother, who was living in the city of Stalino (today Donets’k) in Ukraine, found her. Contact between Vera (later Bodnya) and the Bruzhniks was nevertheless maintained. They continued to see each other and the Bruzhniks still called her Valia, even after she immigrated to Israel. On July 23, 1998, Yad Vashem recognized Atylia Bruzhnik and her daughter, Olga Shumilova, as Righteous Among the Nations.