Horblanski Hnat

Parypa, Roman Parypa, Irena Horblanski, Hnat Lutak, Kirilo Roman Parypa, a forest ranger, and his wife, Irena, lived in the village of Lipowica, district of Stanisławów (today Lypovytsya, Ivano-Frankivs’k District). When Irena fell ill in 1940, Leopold Karp, a Jewish doctor from the town of Rożniatów (Rozhnyativ), treated her. During Karp's visits to his patient, he became acquainted with many of the local villagers, among them Hnat Horblanski, Parypa’s assistant, and Kirilo Lutak, a lumberjack. The Germans conquered the area on July 2, 1941, and they immediately rounded up the Jews into ghettos. Karp, his wife, Eva, and some other doctors were temporarily allowed to stay in the villages in order to treat the outbreak of typhus in the area. In July 1943, the Gestapo began to round up the remaining Jews and, in the evening before the final deportation was to be carried out, the Parypas invited the Karps to celebrate the Feast of Ivan Kupala with them. That night, due to stormy weather, the Karps slept in the Parypas’ home. The following day, when they heard about the roundup, Lutak escorted the Jewish couple to a hiding place in the forest that he and Parypa had previously constructed. Thereafter, these two men also brought food and drink to the hidden Jews every night. After some time, because the hideaway was close to a German guard post, Lutak and Parypa decided to move their wards to the Carpathian Mountains, where Horblanski built them a shelter. He took them there and then provided them with food for the following nine months. All the rescuers that helped the Karps were poor people, motivated by friendship and humanitarianism to help the Karps, and received no compensation for so doing. After the war, the Karps moved to the United States, and after a few years, they lost touch with their wartime saviors. On January 28, 1986, Yad Vashem recognized Roman and Irena Parypa, Hnat Horblanski, and Kirilo Lutak, as Righteous Among the Nations.