Bomok Mikhail & Maria ; Daughter: Markiv Maria (Bomok)

Bomok, Mikhailo Bomok, Mariya Markiv-Bomok, Mariya Mikhailo and Mariya Bomok and their four children were a farming family who lived in the village of Stary Skałat (today Staryy Skalat, Ternopil’ District), which was captured by the Germans on July 5, 1941. A year or more later, a few Jews from the Skalat ghetto asked Mikhailo if he would be willing to shelter Jews after the ghetto’s liquidation in return for payment. He agreed, and five young people arrived at his home: Shlomo Rozenshtein; Shmuel Marder and his fiancée, Vila Breitshnaider; Shmuel’s sister, Mina (later, Milch); and Yeta Sass. They had fled from the killing operation (Aktion) in which the Skalat ghetto was liquidated on June 9, 1943. The fugitive Jews were hidden in the Bomoks’ cellar. They had barely enough money for their upkeep, and to compound the situation, four months later Pepa Willner and her daughter, Tova, were also given shelter by the Bomoks. On the eve of the Skalat ghetto’s liquidation they had fled into the forests with the help of non-Jewish acquaintances. When Pepa learned that her brother, Shmuel Marder, had survived the Aktion and was hiding in one of the nearby villages, she decided to track him down and eventually reached the Bomok farm. While she was talking with Bomok, Shmuel apparently heard his sister’s voice and came out of hiding to greet her. Pepa and her daughter joined the group of fugitives. In return, she offered to help with any sewing that needed to be done. It was extremely difficult to maintain seven people in hiding. The quantity of products purchased in the market, the fact that the stove was in use more than usual – these and other telltale signs intrigued the neighbors, and soon someone informed the authorities. At the beginning of 1944, German troops and Ukrainian policemen appeared at the Bomoks’ home. Mikhailo and the members of his household were ordered into the courtyard and told to stand in a row. The forces entered the house and checked the roomsand the attic, then scoured the barn and the cowshed. Mariya offered them refreshments to distract them, and the search stopped before it reached the cellar. After the liberation of the area in March 1944, the group of survivors left Ukraine, and their ties with Mikhailo and Mariya were severed until 1996. On July 26, 2000, Yad Vashem recognized Mikhailo and Mariya Bomok as Righteous Among the Nations. On November 16, 2004, Yad Vashem recognized Mariya Bomok-Markiv as Righteous Among the Nations.