Kernitsky Vladimir & Kernitzkaya Praskovia

Kernitskiy, Volodymyr Kernitskaya, Praskovya Volodymyr Kernitskiy and his wife, Praskovya, were residents of the village of Kalne, Tarnopol District (today Kal’ne, Ternopil’ District). They lived next door to their good friends the Goldman family. In June 1941, the Germans conquered the area and in March 1942, the Goldman family was sent to the nearby Kozowa ghetto. The family maintained contact with the villagers in Kalne and whenever there were rumors of imminent Aktionen or deportations to labor camps, the Goldman family fled to Kalne and hid in the Kernitskiys’ home. In spring 1943, after Goldman and his two sons perished, his wife, Perla, and daughters, Hanusha and Adela escaped from the ghetto, which was liquidated one week later. They hid for a short time in the forest and every day or two they went to Kalne. They sometimes spent a night in the Kernitskiys’ home and the Kernitskiys, who were also helping four other Jews, always provided them with food. In autumn 1943, the Jews’ bunker in the forest was discovered and all those living in it, among them Perla and Hanusha were murdered. The 13-year-old Adela was in Kalne at the time and thereafter she was hidden along with two other Jewish girls, Tonya and Gusta, in a hole in the Kernitskiys’ field where potatoes were stored, until February 1944. Tonya and Gusta subsequently went to join friends in the neighboring village and were killed by Ukrainian nationalists. Adela later moved into the home of a childless farming couple, where she stayed until the liberation, in April 1944. In 1945, Adela immigrated to Eretz Israel and it was only in the early 1990s that she made contact with Praskovya Kernitskaya. Adela (by then Ada Meir) found out from her that Ukrainian nationalists murdered Volodymyr Kernitskiy in 1947 because they had not forgiven him for helping Jews during the war. On May 18, 1996, Yad Vashem recognized Volodymyr and Praskovya Kernitskiy as Righteous Among the Nations.