Leonid Putan was a student in mathematics and physics at the Belorussian State University in Minsk. In August 1941, he joined the underground and personally assisted his Jewish friends to safety. Putan was able to obtain false identity papers by acquiring the university’s official stamp and university diplomas. He gave out forged diplomas to eight of his Jewish friends and took those in immediate danger to distant villages. Putan and his mother, Yuzefa, also sheltered many Jews in their home. The Putans risked their lives to safely hide Irina Rukhovets and her four-year-old daughter, Inessa, for six months before asking Tatyana Novitzkaya to take them in. After the war, Putan maintained friendships with the Jews he rescued, namely Lyubov Brish, Valentina Svoyatysky, her sister Sofya, and the Rukhovetses. On November 12, 1998, Yad Vashem recognized Leonid Putan and his mother, Yuzefa Putan, as Righteous Among the Nations.

Edited from Yad Vashem, Righteous Among the Nations Database