On the eve in Kyiv six Ukrainian families received Righteous Among the Nations award from the State of Israel.

The people and families, who during the Holocaust have been saving Jews from death, carry this honorary rank.

Personally only one righteous - 88-year-old Oksana Markivna Antypchuk from Uzhachyn settlement of Zhytomyr region came to receive the award. The other heroes were awarded posthumously. At the age of 13 Oksana saved a Jewish boy Nahum, whose family was killed: while her house was being searched, Oksana with a child were hiding under the heating stove. Then Oksana Markivna’s family was hiding Nahum for a long time, having baptized him with a Christian name Anatoliy. Throughout his life he called Oksana Markivna his second mother, maintained relationships with her family. He died two months before the rewarding of his rescuer.

According to the Israeli law, the title of Righteous Among the Nations is given to non-Jews who have risked their lives saving Jews during the Holocaust. Ukraine occupies the 4th place in the world by the number of the righteous: at the beginning of 2016 there were more than 2,500 Ukrainians, who made efforts to save Jews. All the names of the righteous are stored in Yad-Vashem, the Holocaust History Museum in Israel. It is important to understand that helping Jews demanded a tremendous courage and sacrifice: for the hiding of Jews there was only one punishment - death. Also the whole family of a savior was destroyed. Despite this, thousands of Jews were able to survive thanks to the help and courage of the real People who were ready to sacrifice their own lives to save innocent.

Jews have a saying: “Save a life, save a whole world”. Ukrainian righteous saved the world many, many times. Their names will be never forgotten, their heroism will always be an example for future generations and a reminder of the terrible crimes of the Holocaust.