Shevchuk Yevgenia

Shevchuk, Yevgeniya Yevgeniya Shevchuk lived with her baby daughter in Lwów (today L’viv). Like many others, when the Germans approached the city in late June 1941, she vacated her apartment and moved to the countryside. Shevchuk settled in the village of Stanimirz, Tarnopol District (today Stanymyr, L’viv District), where her aunt lived. On her journey there, Shevchuk noticed among the many refugees a young woman crying bitterly with a baby in her arms. Shevchuk offered to help her and she told Shevchuk that she had nowhere to flee to, that her husband was fighting on the front, and she was penniless. Out of sympathy, Shevchuk invited this woman, Sheindl Goykhman, to accompany her. That night, the women and their babies arrived in Stanimirz where they found an abandoned house on the outskirts of the village. Goykhman and her one-year-old daughter Eleonora found shelter in the basement of the house, where they stayed for the next three years. Every evening, Shevchuk brought Goykhman and her daughter food. On dark, moonless nights, Shevchuk encouraged her wards to leave their hiding place despite the fear that they would be spotted. Shevchuk, a devout Christian, prayed for the safety of Goykhman and her child, whose personal development was hindered due to the circumstances. She lost the ability to talk and could no longer walk and there were times when they feared for her life. The Red Army liberated the area, on June 20, 1944, and Shevchuk returned to her home in Lwów with the Goykhmans, whose apartment had been appropriated by another family. The four of them lived together until Shevchuk’s husband returned from the army in 1946, and they remained close friends thereafter. Eleonora (later Katzner) eventually immigrated to Israel. On July 27, 1995, Yad Vashem recognized Yevgeniya Shevchuk as Righteous Among the Nations.