Kryzhov Vasil & Kryzhova Natalia ; Son: Oleksandr

Krizhov, Vasyl Krizhova, Natalya Krizhov, Oleksandr Vasyl and Natalya Krizhov were farmers and were the parents of eight children. They lived in the village of Netreba, which was situated approximately 20 km south of Rokitno (today Rokytne, Rivne District). In June 1941, the Germans occupied the area. Throughout the period of occupation, the Krizhovs heard about the persecutions of the Jews in Rokitno until, in August 1942, rumors reached them that the whole Jewish population of the town had been annihilated. In September, these rumors were confirmed when Oleksandr, Krizhovs' third son who was 12-years-old, heard from a Jewish boy of the same age that he had met in the forest, about the slaughter of the Jews of Rokitno. Ever since his community had been wiped out, the boy, whose name was Yakov Goldfarb, had been hiding. Upon his father's advice, Oleksandr took Yakov to an abandoned hut in the forest that once used to be a check post on the Polish-Soviet border. This hut became Yakov's shelter for many months. During that time, either Oleksandr or one of his brothers, Grigoriy or Petro, brought him food, two or three times a week. For a short period of time, Yakov was joined by another Jew from Rokitno, Katz, who later left; Yakov never found out what became of him. Once in a while, when he was lonely and especially when it was terribly cold during the freezing winter nights, he would come to the Krizhovs' house where he was always treated with respect and compassion. But the fear of being caught always forced Yakov to return to the forest. After the liberation in February 1944, Yakov discovered, to his great grief, that his parents, Meyer and Riva, and his sister, Yenta, did not survive. He was sent to an orphanage and after finishing school moved to Odessa, where he married and raised two daughters. On January 12, 2003, Yad Vashem recognized Vasyl and Natalya Krizhov, and their son, Oleksandr, as Righteous Among the Nations.