Sofiya Makarevych (Melnychuk)
Sofiya Makarevych (Melnychuk)
Daughter of the Righteous Among the Nations
She was born on August 25, 1937.
Peasant Kateryna Melnychuk lived with her two children in the village of Obozivka, Vinnytsia Region. At the end of August 1941, the Nazis occupied the territory, and within a month Catherine handed over a room in her house to Benjamin Pickman, a blacksmith from the town of Pogrebyshche, and his family. The Pickman family was fed by Benjamin’s occasional earnings, for whose work the local peasants paid with food. But a few weeks later, someone reported to the police that a Jewish family lived in the village. On the night of the Pickman’s ‘arrest, one of the Pickmans’ daughters, nine-year-old Fania, was visiting her friend Nadia Khutorna. When she returned home, Fania found that her parents and brother had been taken to the firing squad. Kateryna Melnychuk left the girl and continued to take care of her, while seeking a safer shelter for the Jewish child. She turned for help to her niece Darina Nikolayuk. Darina hid Fanya for a while at her home in the village of Skomoroshky, about 25 kilometers from Obozivka. Daryna Fanya stayed for two months, after which she returned to Kateryna Melnychuk’s house, where she was taken care of. The girl remained there until the end of the occupation. Every time strangers or the police came to the house, Fanya hid in the fields or the woods. Fanya was often accompanied by her friend Nadiya Khutorna, who supported her. When raids were carried out in Obozivka for a long time, Fania hid in the house of another resident of the village, Yevhenia Zdetovetska, a mother of three small children. Eugenia’s small old house was located on the edge of the village, next to the forest, and it was relatively safe to hide because it did not attract the attention of the Nazis. After the liberation of the territory from the occupation in January 1944, Fania remained in Kateryna Melnychuk’s house for another year until the girl’s aunt took her in. Later, Fania settled in Kyiv, got married, and had children. She kept in touch with all those who saved her life during the war. On December 9, 1999, Yad Vashem awarded Kateryna Melnychuk, Nadiya Khutorna, Daryna Mykolayuk, and Yevhenia Zdetovetska with the honorary title of “Righteous Among the Nations”. On June 14, 2007, Sofia Makarevich was awarded the title of “Daughter of the Righteous Among the Nations”.