Makarevich Kuzma & Maria ; Son: Stepan

Kozyol, Yevdokiya Kondratyuk, Lukyan Kondratyuk, Fedora Kondratyuk, Fyodor Sadovnik (Kondratyuk), Nina Makarevich, Kuzma Makarevich, Mariya Makarevich, Stepan In the early 1940s, Yevdokiya Kozyol lived in the village of Ożenin, Wołyń District (today Ozhenyn, Rivne District). Among her acquaintances was Motl Kluchnik (b. 1920) a resident of the adjacent town of Zdołbunow (Zdolbuniv). The Germans conquered Zdołbunow on June 28, 1941, and, in May 1942, they established a ghetto there. For a long time, Kozyol had no idea what had become of her Jewish friend. Then, in October 1942, Kluchnik knocked on the window of Kozyol’s home. Kluchnik told her about the tragic fate that had befallen the town’s Jews, about the terrible conditions in the ghetto, and about how he had escaped from a truck taking him and a group of Jews to the death pits. Kluchnik knew that Kozyol was a good person and that she would not throw him out of her home. Indeed, for a few days he found refuge there. However, Kozyol’s home was not suitable for an extended stay: it stood on a main road and the inside was visible from the street. Thus, Kozyol took Kluchnik to the home of her friends, the Kondratyuks. Lukyan and Fedora Kondratyuk and their teenaged children Fyodor and Nina were Evangelists. Lukyan and Fyodor built a well-concealed bunker for Kluchnik in the forest. Before Kluchnik moved to this hideout, he asked Kozyol to check who of his family was still alive and living in Zdołbunow. A short time later, Kozyol brought Kluchnik’s older brother Idel to join him in the bunker and, from October 1942, until the liberation, on February 3, 1944, the two brothers remained hidden in there. The Kondratyuks looked after their wards well, providing them with food. After some time, the Makarevich family began to help them also. The Makareviches also lived in Ożenin and were devout Evangelists. It was principally the sons of the two families, Fyodor Kondratyuk and Stepan Makarevich, who brought thehidden Jews food and water. On freezing winter nights, when the Kluchniks were cold through to their bones, the two brothers often stole into Ożenin in order to warm up and sometimes wash, too, in either the Kondratyuks’ or the Makareviches’ home. During the war, these two families also helped other Jews that were hiding in the forest, including the six members of the Valdman family, originally from the nearby village of Stadniki (Stadnyky). Fourteen-year-old Nina Kondratyuk was one of a very few people that knew how to find the Valdmans' bunker. Once in several days Nina brought them a basket of food and the news. On the day the area was liberated, all these Jews congregated in the Kondratyuks’ home, where they prayed together with other Evangelists to thank God for being saved. Idel was later killed during a German aerial bombardment. Motl remained in Zdołbunow. Gitl Valdman, her son Buzya, his wife, Brandlya, and their daughter Riva, and Gitl’s daughter, 15-year-old Malka (later Jarkon) immigrated to the United States. On February 3, 1997, Yad Vashem recognized Yevdokiya Kozyol, Lukyan and Fedora Kondratyuk, their son, Fyodor Kondratyuk, Kuzma and Mariya Makarevich, and their son, Stepan Makarevich, as Righteous Among the Nations. On March 12, 2000, Yad Vashem recognized Nina Sadovnik (née Kondratyuk) as Righteous Among the Nations.