Iżakowski Józef

Iżakowski, Józef In 1941, when war broke out between Germany and the Soviet Union, Chaim Akura was serving in the Red Army. In a battle in the Tarnopol region, his battalion was surrounded and his fellow soldiers taken prisoner, while he himself escaped to the nearby forest. A few days later, as the front moved eastward, Akura reached the nearby village of Sosnow, in the county of Trembowla, where, at the advice of another Jew, he turned to Józef Iżakowski, who lived on an isolated farm, for help. After introducing himself as a Ukrainian who had fled from German captivity – a claim rendered credible by Akura’s Aryan looks and fluent command of Ukrainian – Akura was taken on by Iżakowski as a farm hand. About a year later, when Akura realized that Iżakowski sympathized with the Jews and hated the Germans, he revealed his true identity. Not only did Iżakowski remain loyal toward Akura, he guarded his secret and watched out for his safety. Despite these precautions, rumor spread that Iżakowski’s farm hand was Jewish. In late 1943, German policemen and Ukrainian nationalists raided Iżakowski’s farm, beat Iżakowski up, and looted his property. In a joint decision, Akura was transferred to a haystack in a field, where Iżakowski continued to feed and clothe him. In April 1944, when the Red Army liberated the area, Akura signed up to complete his army service, but was arrested and exiled to Siberia. When he was liberated in June 1946, Akura tried to establish ties with Iżakowski, who had moved with his family to an area within the new borders of Poland. After all his efforts to trace his rescuer failed, Akura immigrated to Israel in 1990. On July 9, 1997, Yad Vashem recognized Józef Iżakowski as Righteous Among the Nations.