Olena Malova-Zavadska

Olena was born in the city of Mohyliv-Podilskyi in the Vinnytsia region. Her family lived in their private house and ran the farmstead. The town was home to a large number of Jews, they made about 50 percent of the population. Olena’s father, Eugene, was repressed and shot in 1938. Her mother, Constance, tried to find a job, but she, as the wife of an “enemy of the people,” was denied. After numerous attempts, she got a job as a nurse.

When the city was captured by the Germans in 1941, the Zawadsky family already knew that Jews were at risk. 16-year old Olena gave shelter to her classmate Sarah Perelman and her mother Tsylya. The Zawadsky family took them home, hid them in a barn, fed and cared about them. Grandma’s friend Malvina Lerner and her husband were taken to Olena’s home as well.

Later, when the Germans left, the Romanians came. It became a bit calmer. They established a ghetto. Jews were given small homes to live in, it was possible to move around the city. In the same time famine and constant raids took place. When the Germans came again, Sarah and her mother returned to their hiding place in Olena’s house, where they remained until the Nazi expulsion from the city in March 1944.

Meanwhile, Constance completed medical studies and joined the Red Army. She finished the war in Debrecen (Hungary).

After the war, Sarah Perelman got married, in 1951 she gave birth to her son, Semyon, and in 1992 Sarah and her husband immigrated to the United States. Her family is still in touch with the Zawadskis.

On November 17, 1996 Yad Vashem recognized Olena Malova-Zavadskaand and her mother Constance Zavadska as Righteous Among the Nations.