Melnik Andrey & Anna ; Daughter: Anastasia

Melnik, Andrey Melnik, Anna Melnik, Anastasia Andrey and Anna Melnik owned a small farmstead near the village of Sopaczów (today Sopachiv, Rivne District). They were Baptists. Andrey had lost both his legs through injuries that he sustained in World War I. One day in September 1942, a little over a year after the region was occupied by the Germans, the Melniks took in a young boy Avraham Apelboim and offered him shelter. He was the son of the locally well-known merchant, Moshe Apelboim, of Stara Rafalowka. Avraham hid inside the ghetto of a nearby Nowa Rafalowka for a week during its liquidation and then fled. He walked 20 km until he arrived at the Melnik’s farmstead. Andrey and his wife took Avraham in and hid him in the loft of the barn. He hid there for about ten days. Each day, Anastasia, the Melnik’s young daughter, brought him food and information about what was going on in the vicinity, because Ukrainian police were going about the district looking for Jews in order to kill them. Through her, Avraham learned that his father, his brother, Shmuel, and several other Jews had escaped from the labor camp and were hiding in the forests. Avraham asked Andrey to get in touch with his family. As a result, they came to the Melnik’s farmstead and collected Avraham. The Melniks continued to provide food for the Jews in the forests and gave them shelter at night, since they believed that saving Jews was a good deed and their religious duty as good Christians. Avraham, his father, and brother survived the war years and in 1946 immigrated to Mandatory Palestine. In the 1990’s, they renewed their contacts with the offspring of the Melnik family. On June 28, 2000, Yad Vashem recognized Andrey and Anna Melnik and their daughter, Anastasia, as Righteous Among the Nations.