Efim Netiaga is a retired colonel, writer and activist. In 2012, he published the book "Patriots", in which he revealed the topic of the underground movement in the then Proskurov. The author donated a significant number of books to the library of the Community Center "Thia" as a token of gratitude to the then and former employees of the Hesed Besht Foundation during the preparation of the publication. But it is not only publishing activities that connect Efim Kyrylovych with the Jewish community. He came across a publication by Anatoly Slobodyan about the Jewish girl Nyusia Khayt, whom he knew personally. We are reprinting this article with the hope that perhaps their destinies will intersect again despite dozens of years and thousands of kilometers. The girl's story itself once again reminds us of the terrible times of persecution of the Jewish people by the occupiers.
105 lives in it alone…
It was in July 1941 in Chorny Ostrov, Khmelnytskyi district (then Chornoostrivs'kyi district – ed.). Daring fascists, accompanied by bravura marches on motorcycles, burst into the former district center from the direction of Yukhymovets.
– Uterus, milk, chicken, egg! – they shouted. – Essen, Essen! (that is, eat). The frightened peasants gave everything to the last, just to stay alive. And to the square near the city hall, Hitler's henchmen had already driven Jewish families. Among the prisoners was the beautiful Nyusia Khait. The police chief liked the girl (we will not mention the name of the traitor, because his children and relatives are not to blame). He courted her, made love to her, and then… threw her away like a rag. He pushed her into the church building…
A person has a destiny, and each one has its own. Having tied some kind of rag, Nyusya climbed down the wall and hid in a nearby pond. During the day, she, immersed in the water, breathed through the reeds, and at night she slept in the reeds. Having thought out her escape plan well, Nyusya reached the Zakharovets. Then she went to the far house, knocked carefully on the window. The lamp was lit, and an old grandmother appeared on the threshold:
– Go home, child.
She changed into simple village clothes, fed her, and hid her in the cellar. But the girl couldn't hide in the village for long, because someone betrayed her. Nyusya barely made it to the village of Ridkoduby at night. Here, a peasant woman hid her until Victory Day.
And at this time, the fascist thugs gathered all the inhabitants of this Jewish town, harnessed them like horses, and put the "young" in the carriage - they dressed old Hayya in a veil, and the groom - ancient Moishe, and to the sound of wedding music, beating the whips, they drove those doomed to death to drunken laughter... Then all 104 captured Jews were forced to dig their own graves, and after this work was completed, they were shot in the Chagaryn Forest.
… After the war, Nyusya Khait, the only survivor out of 105 people, worked for a long time as a cashier at the train station in Khmelnytskyi. Recently, she lives in Israel, sending gifts and thanks to her second mother…
Anatoly Slobodyan
