OREST ZAHAIKIEWICZ
HELENA ZAHAIKIEWICZ MELNYCZUK
Ukrainian Rescuers
Orest: "One day as we were coming back home we saw a big commotion on our street. There were Polish police and German Police, only a few houses away from our house, where the Schefflers were hiding. What happened was that somebody had discovered some Jewish people who were in hiding.
The Jewish people went out on the roof; they were careless. Somebody saw them and turned them in to the Germans. As we were coming by, they were all lined up against the wall of that building: the Jews and the family that was hiding them. Then they were all taken away. And we knew there was only one way for them. They would be shot in the woods."
When the Ukraine was liberated by the Russians, the Schefflers were free. They eventually settled in Israel. Fearing reprisals from the Soviets for their political views, the Zahaikiewicz family became refugees. They now live in the United States, in the state of New Jersey.