Matviuk Vakula & Anna ; Son: Lavrenty

Matvyuk, Vakula Matvyuk, Anna Matvyuk, Lavrentiy Vakula Matvyuk, a farmer, lived in the village of Brody, Wołyń (today Volyn’ District). Matvyuk had a large family and by the time of the German occupation some of his children were already married. Matvyuk and his wife, Anna, were well acquainted with the local blacksmith, Herzl Kaminetski, who lived in the adjacent village of Chryniki (Khrinnyky). In late 1942, when no Jews remained in the area, Matvyuk offered Kaminetski shelter in his home. Matvyuk prepared a hideout in the loft of his cowshed for Kaminetski and his family of seven – Kaminetski, his wife, Hasya, 15-year-old son Ben-Zion, daughter Udl, her husband, Yakov, Hochman, and their children, three-year-old Velvel-Ze’ev and 18-month-old Leah (later Blitz). The Matvyuks shared their meager food supplies with their wards; Matvyuk and Kaminetski darted out at night to friends and brought additional provisions. The Matvyuks’ 13-year-old son Lavrentiy acted as the eyes and ears of the Jews in hiding. He spent hours on end in the hiding place playing with Ben-Zion and even went out with him on occasion. One night in July 1943, Hochman went into the village and never returned. The following day, locals discovered his body and buried it nearby. Thereafter, rumors spread in the locality about hidden Jews. Before long a group of Ukrainian nationalists arrived at the Matvyuks’ home and searched the house and farm. They found the entire Kaminetski family and apprehended them. Until May 1944, the family was held hostage in the village of Rzeczyca (Richytsya), where Kaminetski was forced to work as a blacksmith. A few weeks before the liberation, the family escaped to the forest, where they stayed with some Soviet partisans. In the late 1940s, the survivors immigrated to Israel, from where they kept in contact with the Matvyuk family. On July 7, 1996, Yad Vashem recognized Vakula and Anna Matvyuk and their son, Lavrentiy Matvyuk, as Righteous Among the Nations.