Korba Teklya

Korba, Teklya From 1937, Teklya Korba worked for the Vinkler family as a wet nurse and then nanny for their child Sylvia who was born that year. The family lived in the town of Kałusz, district of Stanisławów (today Kalush, Ivano-Frankivs’k District) and belonged to the intelligentsia. On August 21, 1941, a few weeks after the Germans entered the town, Mr. Vinkler was among the first Jews to be slaughtered by the Germans in the nearby forest. His wife, Basya, was incarcerated in the ghetto with her mother and three young children. Every day, for a year and a half, Korba stole into the ghetto every evening to bring the Vinkler family food that she obtained in various ways. In 1942, the ghetto was liquidated and all the Jews were sent to the Bełżec extermination camp. Before the ghetto was liquidated, Korba had managed to smuggle the Vinklers to the Stryj ghetto and then she rented a one-room apartment close to the ghetto so they would have somewhere to flee to in time of need. During this time, Korba worked in a number of places and with the money she earned she bought food for her wards. On July 3, 1943, when the Germans burned down the Stryj ghetto, Vinkler’s two eldest daughters, Pnina and Ruth, managed to escape, but Basya Vinkler and her youngest daughter perished in the ghetto. That night, the girls went to Korba’s home, where they hid underneath her bed. They stayed there despite endangering Korba’s life, until the liberation, on August 8, 1944, and throughout this time, Korba looked after them devotedly. After the war, the survivors immigrated to Israel and they only renewed contact with Korba after the collapse of the Soviet Union. On May 11, 1994, Yad Vashem recognized Teklya Korba as Righteous Among the Nations.