Kontsevich Tatyana ; Daughter: Anna

Kontsevich, Tatyana Kontsevich, Anna Tatyana Kontsevich was a farmer living in the village of Raj, Tarnopol District (today Ray, Ternopil’ District). When the Germans invaded the area, her husband was recruited for forced labor in Germany and she was left alone with her teenaged daughter Anna and young son Henyo. In autumn 1941, Kontsevich met Zeev Shutenberg, who worked as a truck driver transporting bricks from the brickyard in Raj to nearby Brzeżany (Berezhany). Shutenberg asked Kontsevich for food, and she complied and, despite her difficult financial situation, she invited him into her home for a meal. In summer 1943, a month after the liquidation of the Brzeżany ghetto, Shutenberg again appeared in Raj, this time with his wife, Malka. They asked Kontsevich to shelter them and to show their gratitude they gave her some money to buy a cow. While sheltering the Jews, Kontsevich also acted as an intermediary between the couple and Malka’s sister, Chana Redlich, who was hiding with her parents and her son Shimon in the ruins of the Brzeżany ghetto. In January 1944, when people began to settle in the area of the ghetto and it was feared that the Jews hiding there would be discovered, Kontsevich, after much deliberation, agreed to harbor them in her home. One cold night, Kontsevich met Redlich and her son on the outskirts of the town. Tatyana carried young Shimon on her back for the entire trip home. The following day, Kontsevich returned for Redlich’s parents but she found that they had been arrested and handed over to the police. Once, when Kontsevich was not at home, two Germans entered the house and wanted to take some hay from the attic. Knowing that the hidden Jews would be discovered there and had no way of escaping, Anna burst into tears and using hand movements and shouts explained to the intruders that until her mother returned she couldn’t let them take anything from the house. About 15 minutes later, Kontsevich returned home and she personallyclimbed into the attic and threw bales of hay down to the waiting Germans, who then left the premises. The four Jews hid in Kontsevich’s home until July 22 1944, when the area was liberated. The survivors then moved to Poland, from where they immigrated to Israel. They lost contact with the Kontseviches for nearly 40 years and it was only in 1982, after much effort that Shimon Redlich, by then a professor of Jewish History in Israel, tracked them down. On April 29, 1987, Yad Vashem recognized Tatyana Kontsevich as Righteous Among the Nations. On December 6, 1998, Yad Vashem recognized Anna Kontsevich as Righteous Among the Nations.