Rak Ludwik & Maria

Rak, Ludwik Rak, Maria In the summer of 1941, during pogroms against Jews launched by the Germans and Ukrainian nationalists after the occupation of Otynia, in Eastern Galicia, the Kajzer family was murdered, all except for 18-year-old Eugenia Kajzer (later Wojt). In 1942, in her search for a hiding place, she knocked on the door of Maria and Ludwik Rak, who lived in the village of Święty Stanisław, in the county of Kołomyja. Stirred to compassion by her plight, the Raks allowed her to stay. Eugenia hid in a farm building by day, where the Rak children looked after her, and in the Raks’ home at night. Despite the fact that Eugenia had nothing to pay them with, the Raks saw to all her needs without expecting anything in return. After the war, Eugenia met the Raks in postwar western Poland, helped them settle into their new home, and stayed in touch with them for many years. On May 22, 1994, Yad Vashem recognized Maria and Ludwik Rak as Righteous Among the Nations. File 6127