Petrovski Basilian

Petrovskiy, Basilian Basilian Petrovskiy, a wealthy and educated man, of Polish and Ukrainian extraction, lived in the town of Kołomyja in the district of Stanisławów (today Kolomyya, Ivano-Frankivs’k District). Petrovskiy was a regular customer in the metalwork shop in Kołomyja that belonged to David Likvornik. On July 4, 1941, the Germans invaded Kołomyja and began to persecute the town’s Jews. In April 1942, the Jews were moved to the ghetto and every day groups of Jews were taken to work as slave laborers. One morning, as Likvornik was working, Petrovskiy met him and invited him to come to his home should he need a place of refuge. During the Aktion to liquidate the ghetto, Likvornik and his son Yeshayahu hid among the houses and then decided to flee. They headed straight for Petrovskiy’s home, which was surrounded by large trees. Petrovskiy lived with his cousin Henya, a one-legged amputee. In their yard, there was another house with two small apartments in it, which was attached to the barn. Petrovskiy rented out one of the apartments to two Polish women and he decided to hide the Likvorniks in the second one. Pretending to be refurbishing the apartment, Likvornik and his son dug a bunker under the floor of the apartment, which they used as a hiding place for the duration of the occupation. Before long, some relatives, the Eisenkraft and Fogel families, joined them there, and the number of hidden Jews reached 16. Each family dug its own hole in which to hide and, so as not to arouse suspicion, Petrovskiy brought his wards food in the bucket that he used to feed the animals. Petrovskiy risked his life to save these Jews and he spent the war living in constant fear. Every time he heard about Jews that had been caught in hiding, his concern for his life and the lives of his Jewish charges increased. Nevertheless, he never ceased helping them. During the war, Petrovskiy also forged documents for young Ukrainians who wanted to evade being sent as forced labor to Germany. A few months before the liberation, he was caught doing this and was imprisoned. From then until the Red Army liberated the area, on March 28, 1944, Henya looked after the hidden Jews and no one discovered them. After the liberation, the survivors moved to Poland and later to Israel. While in Poland, they learned that the Soviet authorities had arrested Petrovskiy because he was a “capitalist” and they never found out what fate befell him. The survivors did not know Henya’s family name and were unable to locate her. Due to the lack of information about Henya, Yad Vashem could not bestow upon her the title, “Righteous Among the Nations,” which she undoubtedly deserved. On October 9, 1996, Yad Vashem recognized Basilian Petrovskiy as Righteous Among the Nations.