Soshnik and Freedman Family Account

Yulian and Maria Kasperovich [Мария и Юлиан Касперович] were farmers who lived with their two sons on a khutor close to the village of Grzywkowicze, Polesie District (today Gryukavichy, Brest District). Before the war, the Kasperoviches had been friendly with a number of Jewish families living in the nearby village of Glinka, among them the Soshnik and Feldman families. In autumn 1942, when the Germans began the mass murder of the Jews in the villages of the area, the Kasperovich’s home became a way station for Jews fleeing to the forests. At their home, the Kasperoviches provided the Jews with food and clothing and instructed them on how to reach the marshes where the Germans rarely ventured. Among the Jews that were assisted by the Kasperoviches were Osher Soshnik and his father, his uncle Pinkas Feldman and other members of his family. The Kasperoviches hosted them in their home a number of times and took care of them to the best of their ability. Kasperovich also supplied information about what was happening in the surrounding villages and when he heard that the Germans were approaching the marshes, he warned his Jewish friends. In the spring of 1943, when the group of Jews hidden in their home expanded, the Kasperoviches managed to contact the partisans and to gradually move their charges into their hands. After the war, some of the survivors moved to the United States and others to Israel. They lost contact with their wartime saviors until the 1990s, when Soshnik, then residing in Israel, managed to locate the Kasperovich family in Belarus and thereafter they kept in touch.

On March 29, 1995, Yad Vashem recognized Yulian and Maria Kasperovich as Righteous Among the Nations.