Martinetz Tikhon & Fedora

Martinets, Tikhon Martinets, Fedora Tikhon and Fedora Martinets, together with their seven children, lived on an isolated farmstead near the village of Zabolotye (today Zabolottya, Volyn’District). They primarily earned their livelihood from the land but to supplement their income, Tikhon worked in construction and repaired barrels. The Germans occupied the area on June 25, 1941. In Luboml, which was a distance of about 20 km from the Martinets’ home, a ghetto was established for the Jews, which existed until October 1942. At the time of the liquidation of the ghetto, several dozen Jews escaped into the nearby forests. One day in November, when Tikhon came to the forest to cut down trees for heating, he came across Wolf and Bella Shainwald, their 16-year-old daughter, Sonia, and Bella’s brother, Hershel Lachter. The farmer, seeing the deplorable condition of the Jews, suggested they move to a forest near his land. The Jews agreed and found a shelter that they could stay in about 2 km from the Martinets’ house. Tikhon, Fedora, or one of the children would bring them food and other items. Tikhon also showed them where he stored potatoes and allowed them to take. The winter of 1942-1943 was particularly cold and so the Jews would sometimes come to the Martinets’ house for the night and return to the forest early in the morning. Tikhon would use his horse to cover their tracks in the snow. Sonia Shainwald (later, Orbuch) recalls: “When Tikhon looked at me, he would cry and say: ‘Those who are older than you have already lived their lives, but you, you’re only 16, you haven’t lived at all and now you have to suffer and maybe die.” In mid-1943, Tikhon found a way of contacting members of the Soviet partisan division under the command of General A. Fedorov, and he helped the Jews he had been protecting to join up with a partisan group. At the end of that summer, Lachter fell in battle. The others fought against the Germans and their accomplices and survived until theliberation in the spring of 1944. After the war, the Shainwald family immigrated to the United States. They were able to renew contact with the offspring of their rescuers only in the 1990s. On August 12, 2001, Yad Vashem recognized Tikhon and Fedora Martinets as Righteous Among the Nations.