Gavelsky Iosif & Gavelskaya Anna

Gavelskiy, Iosif Gavelskaya, Anna Iosif Gavelskiy and his wife, Anna, lived in the village of Slobodka Gorchich nyanskaya, district of Kamenets-Podolsk (today Slobidka-Horchychnyans’ka, Khmel’nytskyy District). Shika Kuperman, a Jew from nearby Dunayevtsy (Dunayivtsi), worked as the blacksmith on the kolkhoz where Gavelskiy was the head of a group of farmers. Gavelskiy and Kuperman were good friends. When the Germans invaded the area on July 11, 1941, Kuperman continued in his job, on the request of the management of the collective. However, when the ghetto was established in Dunayevtsy, in the spring of 1942, he and his wife were moved there. In late October 1942, Kuperman and his wife appeared at the Gavelskiys’ home and asked for shelter. They told the Gavelskiys about the liquidation of the ghetto that took place on October 18, and how they had escaped from a group of Jews being taken to the death pits. Initially, the two Jews were hidden in the Gavelskiys’ attic, but every night Kuperman went down and helped Gavelskiy dig a small hiding place in the barn. The Kupermans spent a total of 18 months, until the liberation, hidden in this shelter. Once a day, Gavelskiy or his wife brought their wards a bucket with food and water and emptied their waste pail. No one else knew of their presence there. On March 26, 1944, when the Red Army liberated Dunayevtsy, the Kupermans emerged from their hiding place and returned home. They later moved to the United States, from where they maintained contact with their wartime rescuers. On March 5, 1998, Yad Vashem recognized Iosif and Anna Gavelskiy as Righteous Among the Nations.