Karatai Nikolai & Yulia ; Son: Nikolai

Karatai, Nikolay Karatai, Yulia Karatai, Nikolay Jr. Nikolay and Yulia Karatai, poor farmers, lived with their three children, the eldest Nikolay, b.1927, in an isolated farmstead at the edge of the village of Baranowicze (today Baranavichy, Brest District). An acquaintance of the father was Shlomo Yarmowski of Nowogródek (Navagrudak). On July 3, 1941, following the German invasion of the Soviet Union, Nowogródek was occupied by the Germans and the persecution and mass murder of the Jews began. On December 8th, 4,000 Jews were massacred and a ghetto was established for the Jews of the town and the surrounding area. After further bloodbaths that took place throughout 1942-1943, only 230 Jews were left alive in the ghetto. The survivors, by digging a 250 meters long tunnel, escaped on September 26, 1943 to the adjacent forest. However, many lost their way and were shot so that only about 100 Jews managed to reach the woods. Among those who made it were Shlomo and Sima Yarmowski and relative, Boris Troitskii. The three came by night to the house of Nikolay Karatai who opened his home to shelter them. Nikolay dug a hole under the stable where they could hide as necessary and with a bit of money that Shlomo still had, they managed to buy some extra food. The eldest boy, Nikolay Karatai helped during a whole year to bring food and other things they needed. The two younger children also helped the fugitives and no outsider knew what was going on at the house. After a year of living under very difficult conditions, the three joined the partisans. The Red Army liberated the region in July 1944 and the two families continued to keep in contact after the war. When the Yarmovskis immigrated to Israel in 1960, the contact was broken. Twenty-five years later it was renewed with the children of the Karatai family. On January 10, 2001, Yad Vashem recognized Nikolay and Yulia Karatai and their son Nikolay Jr. as Righteous Among the Nations.