Vitruk Aleksandr

Vitruk, Pelageya Vitruk, Nikolay Vitruk, Aleksander Chuyesh, Konstantin Chuyesh, Domna Dmitri and Pelageya Vitruk lived with their three children in the village of Władynopol (today Ladyn’, Volyn’District). They had a fairly large plot of land, a large fruit orchard, and a number of cows. There was a lot of work to be done on the farm and sometimes the Vitruks needed extra help. That is how they came to know Yakov Kipershain from the nearby town of Olesk. As they worked together, Dmitri and Yakov became friends. On June 22, 1941, the day when Germany invaded the Soviet Union, the two were conscripted into the Red Army. Their military service did not last long. Near Kovel (now Kovel’), their unit was surrounded and the soldiers were taken prisoner. In an attempt to escape from the Germans, Dmitri was killed, but Yakov hid and survived. For several days he hid in the swamps and then tried to make it back to his hometown. On the way, he entered the Vitruk home and notified Pelageya of her husband’s death. She asked Yakov to stay and help her with the farm work. Although Yakov never went out of the Vitruks’ yard, a rumor that he was there spread through the village. With the help of 16-year-old Aleksander, Dmitri’s brother, Yakov constructed a few hiding places on the farm, where he hid whenever the local police visited there. Pelageya and her children were questioned about the existence of a Jew in their home, but they revealed nothing. The angry policemen threatened them and at the end of 1943 they carried out their threats. The Vitruk home was totally burned down but everyone living in the house, including Yakov, fled and survived, thanks to Nikolay, Pelageya’s oldest son, who saw the perpetrators drawing close. Left without a roof over their heads, they turned to Pelageya’s brother, Konstantin Chuyesh, who lived with his wife, Domna, and their three children on an isolated farmstead three kilometers from the village of Władynopol, and asked him to give themshelter. The Chuyeshes prepared a bunker in the barn, where Yakov hid until the liberation of the area in August 1944. At that time, Konstantin and Yakov were conscripted into the Red Army. Konstantin fell in battle and Yakov returned home. In 1946, Yakov and Pelageya were married. On June 24, 2001, Yad Vashem recognized Pelageya Vitruk and her son, Nikolay, as well as Aleksander Vitruk and Konstantin and Domna Chuyesh, as Righteous Among the Nations.