VILNIUS, September 14, BNS–Yuli-Yoel Edelstein, the speaker of the Israeli Knesset, honored the family of Ignacy and Katarzyna Bujel who saved the life of a young Jewish woman during World War II at a ceremony in Vilnius, the Israeli embassy reported.

Edelstein and Israeli ambassador Amir Maimon presented the award to the Bujels’ daughters, Kristina Kovalevska and Leokadija Chaninovic, during a ceremony Wednesday.

The Bujel family were honored as Righteous among the Nations for saving the life of Feiga Dusiacka, then a 24-year-old resident of Vilnius. Feiga and her mother and sister together with a group of Vilnius ghetto prisoner were taken to Ponar just outside of Vilnius to be executed. When the shooting began Feiga fell into the pit and lay among dead bodies. The bullets did not hit her and when the police left she got out of the hole and ran to the village of Vaidotai and found the home of the Bujels where she used to spend childhood summers together with her brothers and sister. The family hid the young woman when policemen came to their house apparently looking for Jews.

Among those present in the ceremony at the Sholom Aleichem school were Feiga Dusiacka’s daughters, Ana and Kotia Dobiecki, who came to Vilnius from Paris, according to an embassy press release.

The Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial has recognized around 900 Lithuanians citizens as Righteous among the Nations for risking their lives to rescue Jews during World War II.