Yatsyuk Ivan & Serafima

Yatsyuk, Ivan Yatsyuk, Serafima Ivan Yatsyuk and his wife, Serafima, lived in the town of Podhajce, Wołyń (today Pidhaytsi, Volyn’ District), and were practicing Baptists. In May 1943, Yatsyuk met a young man who appeared to be Jewish not far from his home. Yatsyuk invited the man inside and in the doorway of his home he told his wife that God had sent them an important guest and that they should thank Him. The couple fell to their knees and began to pray, and David Prinzental heard them thank God for sending them a son of Israel. They prayed for the safety of the surviving Jews, hiding in the forests and the fields, and then the Yatsyuks invited Prinzental to join them for a meal. Before partaking in it, Yatsyuk recited some verses from the Bible. Baptists were a minority in the village, which was mostly Russian Orthodox and antagonistic towards the Baptists. Prinzental occasionally stayed with the Yatsyuks for short periods, but through them he met other Baptist families in and around the village that were willing to help him. Prinzental found shelter and understanding among many of these people. For almost a year, until the liberation, in early February 1944, Prinzental and other Jews wandering in the area after their communities were liquidated, were welcome to seek shelter in the Yatsyuks’ home. After the war, Prinzental (later Prital) immigrated to Israel, from where he corresponded with the Yatsyuks. On September 13, 1983, Yad Vashem recognized Ivan and Serafima Yatsyuk as Righteous Among the Nations.