Shcherbatyuk Yakov & Yaryna

Shcherbatiuk, Yakov Shcherbatiuk, Yaryna Yaryna Shcherbatiuk managed a bakery in the village of Belopolye (today Bilopillya, Vinnytsya District). As a result, she was acquainted with David Shvartsman, a local tavern manager, as well as with his wife, Nechama, and their three children. Soon after the invasion of the USSR by Nazi Germany on June 22, 1941, Shvartsman’s eldest son was conscripted to the Red Army, while Yaryna’s son, Pyotr, who was under recruitment age, was sent home from his boarding school in Leningrad. In July, the area was occupied by German troops and almost immediately the Jews became a target for persecution. By the end of the month, hundreds of Jews had been murdered in the nearby city of Berdichev (now Berdychiv), and each passing day claimed new victims. Considering the situation, the Shvartsmans decided to entrust their youngest daughter, 12-year-old Yevgeniya, into the Shcherbatyuks’ hands. Shortly thereafter, the rest of the family was taken off to Chernorudka (now Chornorudka) village, in the nearby district of Zhitomir, and killed. Yaryna and her husband, Yakov, were in their late 50’s. Their older daughters were already married and living separately, while their son, Pyotr, was perpetually hiding from being enlisted into forced labor. Very quickly Yevgeniya became as a beloved child to her hosts. Yevgeniya hid in their house and very few people in the village knew about her. Sometimes, Yaryna and Yakov took her to their friends and relatives living in nearby villages, where Yevgeniya could live openly, her identity being unknown to the authorities there. After the liberation in January 1944, Yevgeniya continued to live with the Shcherbatiuks since none of her immediate family had survived. She treated them as if they were her parents until their deaths. In the 1990s, Yevgeniya immigrated to Israel. On February 24, 2002, Yad Vashem recognized Yaryna and Yakov Shcherbatiuk as Righteous Among the Nations.