Moisey Patyuta and his wife, Anisya, were good friends with Nadezhda Gusareva, a Jewish woman, at the time of the German occupation of Kiev. Fearing for her nine-year-old son’s life, Nadezhda asked the Patyuta family to take him in. The Patyutas passed Gusareva’s son, Iosif, off as a relative from out of town. Later, Nadezhda was murdered at Babi Yar in September 1941. Despite the financial struggles, they continued to look after Iosif for over three years. Iosif and the Patyutas grew an emotional bond and Iosif stayed with them even after the war. On February 6, 1992, Yad Vashem recognized the Patyuta family as Righteous Among the Nations.

Edited from Yad Vashem, Righteous Among the Nations Database