Shevchuk Miroslav ; Father: Nikolai ; Mother: Rozalia

Shevchuk, Miroslav Shevchuk, Nikolay Shevchuk, Rozalia Miroslav Shevchuk lived with his parents, Nikolay and Rozalia, and his younger sister in the city of Borysław (today Boryslav, L’viv District). He completed his high-school studies in the summer of 1941, days before the German invasion. Among his classmates was Dzyunya Vander, a Jewish girl, whom Miroslav liked more than the rest. Following the city’s capture by the Germans, Dzyunya was forced to enter the ghetto, which was established in August 1942. There she endured intolerable conditions and was made to do backbreaking labor building roads outside the ghetto. Miroslav knew about her wretched situation and looked for ways to extricate her from the ghetto. With his parents’ consent he built a hiding place under the floor of the foyer in their house. In December 1942, a friend of Miroslav, dressed in a Ukrainian police uniform, went to the ghetto and escorted Dzyunya straight to the home of the Shevchuk family. From then on, Dzyunya did not see the light of day: by day she lay in her hiding place, which she called “the grave,” emerging into the house only at night. Nikolay and Rozalia Shevchuk treated Dzyunya as though she were their own daughter. They felt compassion for her because of the loss of her loved ones, and because they were sympathetic to their son’s fondness for the girl. The whole family made an effort to keep Dzyunya’s presence a secret from both neighbors and relatives. Thanks to their devotion, Dzyunya survived to see the city’s liberation by Soviet forces in August 1944. A year later, she and Miroslav were married. During the entire 50 years of their marriage they lived in the house in which the Shevchuk family had devoted itself to Dzyunya’s survival. On October 23, 2000, Yad Vashem recognized Miroslav Shevchuk and his parents, Nikolay and Rozalia Shevchuk, as Righteous Among the Nations.