Podolyan Maria Shapovalova Sofiya
Maria Podolyan (1914 year of birth) lived in the city of Kirovograd with her husband Stepan and younger sister Valya and worked in dairy factory. Valya had a friend, Jewish Mariya Tishkovskaya, whose family lived in the same house. At the end of July 1941 year Mariya sent her younger sister to relatives in the village, and on August 4, the Germans occupied Kirovograd. On September 30, all the Jewish of Kirovograd were ordered to come to the assembly point. That night, an unknown policeman came to Mariya Podolyan’s house and said that her sister was at the police station, and that Mariya should take her away from there. Mariya took Valya’s documents and went to the police, however instead of Valya she found Mariya Tishkovskaya there. When the Tishkovskaya family was sent to the execution ditches, she declared that she was Ukrainian and that she had come here by mistake. In the police, she said that her sister’s name was Mariya Podolyan and gave the address.
Mariya immediately understood Tishkovskaya’s thought and, without hesitation for a second, confirmed that the girl was her sister, gave the documents and took her home. Tishkovskaya spent several days at Maria’s house, and then they began to fear that the neighbors might betray them. Podolyan decided to find a more reliable shelter for the girl. Hiding Maria Tishkovskaya in a cart under a haystack, Podolyan took her to the city of Dneprodzerzhinsk, where her mother Sofiya Shapovalova lived. Sofiya was familiar with the Tishkovskaya family, and the girl’s story about the fate of her family and almost all the Jews of Kirovograd shocked her.
Shapovalova’s neighbors knew that she had two daughters, and she represented Tishkovskaya as her daughter Valya. But since the girl had a bright Jewish appearance, one of the neighbors denounced her to the police. Mariya Tishkovskaya and her "mother" were brought in for interrogation, during which they insisted that they were mother and daughter and that pure Ukrainian blood flowed in their veins. Soon they were released, and Mariya Tishkovskaya stayed with Sofiya Shapovalova until the liberation of Kirovograd on January 8, 1944. Of all her family, she alone managed to survive the war. For many years, Tishkovskaya (married Heinson) kept friendly relations with Sofiya Shapovalova and Mariya Podolyan, calling them mother and sister.
On May 14, 1996, Yad Vashem honored Mariya Podolyan and her mother Sofiya Shapovalova with the title of "Righteous Among the Nations".
Mariya immediately understood Tishkovskaya’s thought and, without hesitation for a second, confirmed that the girl was her sister, gave the documents and took her home. Tishkovskaya spent several days at Maria’s house, and then they began to fear that the neighbors might betray them. Podolyan decided to find a more reliable shelter for the girl. Hiding Maria Tishkovskaya in a cart under a haystack, Podolyan took her to the city of Dneprodzerzhinsk, where her mother Sofiya Shapovalova lived. Sofiya was familiar with the Tishkovskaya family, and the girl’s story about the fate of her family and almost all the Jews of Kirovograd shocked her.
Shapovalova’s neighbors knew that she had two daughters, and she represented Tishkovskaya as her daughter Valya. But since the girl had a bright Jewish appearance, one of the neighbors denounced her to the police. Mariya Tishkovskaya and her "mother" were brought in for interrogation, during which they insisted that they were mother and daughter and that pure Ukrainian blood flowed in their veins. Soon they were released, and Mariya Tishkovskaya stayed with Sofiya Shapovalova until the liberation of Kirovograd on January 8, 1944. Of all her family, she alone managed to survive the war. For many years, Tishkovskaya (married Heinson) kept friendly relations with Sofiya Shapovalova and Mariya Podolyan, calling them mother and sister.
On May 14, 1996, Yad Vashem honored Mariya Podolyan and her mother Sofiya Shapovalova with the title of "Righteous Among the Nations".
