Israelis Award Righteous Ukrainians

According to the Charge d'Affaires of Israel in Ukraine Zeev Ben-Arie, the Ukrainian righteous, as they are called by those they rescued, did not consider it anything special to hide Jewish children from the SS.

They considered it a normal act of humanity. However, such manifestations of mercy were fatally dangerous for the saviors. One of those decorated, Kateryna Savchenko whose family sheltered a Jewish girl Halyna from the Nazis, remembers that in neighboring villages the SS would shoot dead the whole family if they found a Jew in the house. Although some righteous did not live to see this day, their awards were received by their relatives. For under Jewish tradition, a good deed glorifies the benefactor's family for several generations.