How the Israelis rescue the families of the Ukrainian Righteous Among the Nations during the Russo-Ukrainian war
Our series of articles on the Ukrainian Righteous Among the Nations tells the stories of Jews rescued by Ukrainians. In contrast, this piece is about Israelis helping Ukrainians from the Righteous families during the ongoing war.
On 24–25 February 2022, most families of the Ukrainian Righteous Among the Nations received evacuation offers from charitable organizations. During those days, at the request of the organization From the Depth, the present author interviewed four dozen families of the Righteous to see if they were willing to evacuate. The majority refused to leave Ukraine: some had sons and husbands of military age in their families, while others were not ready to leave their homes even under fire.
Only a few families agreed to leave. Two families of the Righteous were evacuated from Kharkiv after the war broke out, and three more families agreed to go to safe places in Poland, Germany, and Switzerland later. Lidia Savchuk, one of the last four surviving Righteous Among the Nations of Ukraine, who was 98 at the time, was evacuated from Kyiv amid shelling personally by the Israeli Ambassador Michael Brodsky.
More than ten families of the Ukrainian Righteous Among the Nations received support for evacuation to Israel. Immediately after 24 February 2022, the families of the Righteous who applied to Yad Vashem and the relatives of the rescued persons received assistance in leaving Ukraine.
On the part of Israel, Sochnut, Yad Vashem, Joint, the Israeli embassies in Ukraine, Poland, and Moldova, and the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration aided in the evacuation. They helped with traveling outside of Ukraine, crossing the border, finding food and accommodation on the way to and upon arrival in Poland and Moldova, finding a residence in Israel, etc.
Most of the support in Israel was provided by Yad Vashem employees and management, who accommodated the descendants of the Righteous in their homes and supported them morally and materially. Of course, the families of the rescued also helped whenever they were able and ready to accommodate the Ukrainian Righteous Among the Nations.
Below are the stories of several families that went to Israel.
The Righteous family of Arkhytiuks-Sotnykovs from Rivne
Tamara from the family of the Arkhytiuks-Sotnykovs received assistance with evacuation. Born in 1944 in Rivne, she was evacuated to Israel with the help of Yad Vashem after Russia launched a full-scale war against Ukraine.
According to Yad Vashem, Halyna Sotnykova (Arkhytiuk) lived with her parents and grandmother Oleksandra Zdanevych in Rivne in a small private house near the railway tracks. During the war between Germany and the Soviet Union, five of Oleksandra's sons served in the Red Army. "On 28 June 1941, the day that Rivne was occupied by the Germans, Leike and Mirlya Fabrykant, two sisters that Oleksandra recognized as local girls, came to her home. The sisters had been on a passenger train that was bombed from the air on its way from Rivne to the east. In the resulting commotion, Leike and Mirlya lost the other members of their family and all their belongings. Not knowing where to turn, they asked Oleksandra to let them stay with her temporarily. She agreed, hid them in a barn near her home, and provided them with food for several days. Oleksandra told her daughter, Olga, and her husband, Fedir Arkhytiuk, that the girls were staying with her."
The Germans announced they were setting up a ghetto for Jews, but the Fabrykant sisters were afraid to go there. According to Yad Vashem, "Fedir then began to build a hiding place for the girls in an abandoned field behind the cemetery. It was too dangerous for all involved to let the girls stay in the barn, for if they were to be caught, they would all be shot: the girls for being Jewish and their rescuers for aiding Jews. He dug a pit, placed some boards, blankets, and basic necessities inside, and at night moved the girls there. During the entire period of the German occupation, the Fabrykant sisters hid there. Each day some member of the Arkhytiuk family, usually Olga or Olga’s older daughter, Halyna, would bring them food and news. Very rarely would the girls come to their rescuers’ home to wash and change their clothes. In the cold winters, however, Zdanevych would bring them into the house. Since Fedir worked in a meat processing plant, neither his family nor the girls in hiding suffered from hunger. But the other conditions were very difficult: the cold, the wet, the lice, and the constant fear that they would be discovered."
Soviet troops liberated Rivne in February 1944. Yad Vashem recognized Oleksandra Zdanevych, Fedir and Olga Arkhytiuk, and Halyna Sotnykova (Arkhytiuk) as Righteous Among the Nations.
Liubov is from the Slobodiuk family
Liubov is a pensioner who was evacuated from Odesa to Jerusalem, where she is now in a hospice. The Word of the Righteous project has the honor of helping her financially to cover her medical treatment and other medical needs.
Video of Liubov in Jerusalem:
According to Yad Vashem, "Sydir and Yustyna Slobodiuk were farmers living with their daughter Mariya in Mizocz, Wołyń (today Mizoch, Rivne District). Before the war, several Jewish families lived in the village, among them the Garshteins, merchants who purchased agricultural produce from the Slobodiuks. Sofya, their daughter, was Mariya’s school friend. When the Germans conquered the area on 28 June 1941, the Jews of Mizocz were sent to the Rivne ghetto. Out of concern for the fate of her friend, Mariya visited the ghetto several times and brought Sofya food. One day in spring 1942, Sofya turned up in Mizocz after escaping from the ghetto, where her parents, sister, and brother were later killed in an Aktion on 13 July 1942. Sofya hid for a short time in Rivne with an acquaintance who harbored her in return for her money, and she later arrived at the Slobodiuks’ home and asked for temporary shelter. Mariya persuaded her parents to help her Jewish friend, and Sofya stayed with the Slobodiuk family for 11 months. When a rumor spread in the village that the Slobodiuks were helping a Jew, [Sydir] Slobodiuk moved his ward to the home of a friend who lived in the village of Werchow (Verkhiv) not far from Ostróg (Ostroh). Sofya stayed there for about six months and then was relocated. One day, when Slobodiuk returned from visiting Sofya, a group of Ukrainian nationalists attacked and killed him because he was known for aiding Jews. For many years after the war, Sofya maintained contact with the Slobodiuks, even after her immigration to Israel, in 1978. On 4 October 1992, Yad Vashem recognized Sydir and Yustyna Slobodiuk and their daughter, Mariya Slobodiuk, as Righteous Among the Nations."
Serhii and Volodymyr Kuklin from the Righteous family of Romaniuks
According to Yad Vashem, "Ivan and Oleksandra Romaniuk and their two daughters lived in the village of Straklov (today Strakliv, Rivne District). […] Following the town’s occupation by the Germans on 25 June 1941, Ivan hid his friends Ben-Zion and Sara Binshtok at his place of work. One of the Binshtok’s two sons, Isaak, was murdered by rioters against Jews in the first days of the occupation, while the second, Haim, succeeded in escaping into the forests. For a month or more, Ben-Zion and Sara hid in the storerooms until Ivan had prepared a place for them under the floor of his home. He brought them to his house at night. The rest of Ivan Romaniuk’s family, including his younger sisters, Olga and Tetiana, helped provide for the fugitive couple. Once a day, they brought them food and water and removed a bucket of excrement. They also kept watch when the couple came upstairs to warm up or wash for fear that neighbors would see them. The Binshtoks could not repay their benefactors for their good deeds, as their property was plundered immediately after the occupation. To provide for themselves and for the fugitives, the Romaniuk family had to sell some of their belongings as well as the fuel that Ivan received as payment for his work. With this small pittance, Oleksandra bought food, dividing the meals equally among everyone in the house. The Binshtok couple thus survived to greet the day of the area’s liberation in March 1944." On 22 November 2000, Yad Vashem recognized Ivan and Oleksandra Romaniuk as Righteous Among the Nations.
Liudmyla Hasparova from the Righteous family of Karpiks
After the Russian Federation's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the family of the rescued Goldsteins invited Liudmyla Hasparova to Netanya. She currently works at the Lee Petra Grebenau fashion house and, at one point, made a unique dress for the wife of the world-famous Quentin Tarantino.
The Word of the Righteous project maintains a close connection with Anastasia Karpik, Liudmyla’s mother and the widow of the Righteous Yosyp Karpik, and her aunt, Olga, the widow of the Righteous Stepan Karpik.
According to Yad Vashem, "Oleksii Karpik and his wife, Iryna, were farmers, in their early 40s, living in the village of Rakowy Las, district of Polesie (today Rakiv Lis, Volyn’ District). They and their teenage sons, Yosyp and Stepan, were Seventh Day Adventists. On 2 November 1942, five Jews from the nearby town of Kamień Koszyrski (Kamin’-Kashyrs’ky) who knew the Karpiks knocked on their front door. They were Yakov Goldstein, his wife, Sara, their sons, 20-year-old Shamay and 19-year-old Meir, and another young man, Menashe Perchik, all survivors of the Jewish community of Kamień Koszyrski. The Karpiks warmly welcomed them into their home and hid them in a haystack in their attic. […] [T]he Goldsteins remained with the Karpiks for 17 months, until the Red Army liberated the area on 16 April 1944. Throughout their time in hiding, the Goldsteins were also helped by Larisa Barancewicz, a Pole living in Kamień Koszyrski, who aided three Jewish families. After the war, the Goldsteins and Menashe Perchik immigrated to Israel, where they maintained contact with their wartime rescuers. On 1 May 1995, Yad Vashem recognized Oleksii and Iryna Karpik and their sons, Stepan Karpik and Yosyp Karpik, as Righteous Among the Nations."
Ukrainian refugees from the families of the Righteous Among the Nations receive basic aid and support in Israel, but most of them are of retirement age and cannot earn a living on their own. They need constant support, especially in another country. The Word of the Righteous project is thankful to all our friends for aiding such families, Ukrainian refugees from the Righteous families in other countries, and nearly 60 families in Ukrainian cities, from Kharkiv to Lviv and from Odesa to Kyiv. These people are typically over 80 and are either the Righteous Among the Nations who risked their lives to save the Jews, their widows, or their children who were born during or before World War II and whose lives were also in danger.
On behalf of all our families of the Righteous Among the Nations, we thank Hennadii Khelemsky and his relatives, the family of Kostiantyn and Ksenia Vaisman, Mykhailo Komisaruk, Viktoria Mihailio, Roman Shpek, Felix Indenbaum, Tim Kogan, Oleg Havrysh, Ala Komisarenko, Yaroslav Lomakin, Kyrylo Shevchenko, Denys Chernyshov, Viacheslav Cherniakhovsky, Serhii Roit, Serhii Budkin, Olena Berezina, Dmytro Hrydzhuk, Rostyslav Diuk, Vasyl Horbal, Volodymyr Mazover, Oleksandr Chernytsky, Oleksandr Kamotsky, and all others who share their strength and funds.
Our gratitude goes to all the people at Yad Vashem, Sochnut, and the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration who help Ukrainian refugees from the families of the Righteous Among the Nations.
Marharyta Ormotsadze
Marharyta Ormotsadze is a co-founder/producer of the Word of the Righteous project, which tells about the valor of Ukrainians who saved Jews throughout Ukraine during the Holocaust.
Translated from the Ukrainian by Vasyl Starko.
