Saik Onufrij & Anna ; Daughter: Maksimova Irina (Saik)

Saik, Onufriy Saik, Anna Saik, Irina Onufriy Saik and his wife, Anna, lived in Tarnopol (today Ternopil’). Saik worked as the manager and watchman at a private estate, known as Zamek, on the outskirts of the city. In 1942, a Beutesammellager (booty collection point) was established adjacent to the estate, where Jews were used as workers, and over time Saik got to know several Jewish prisoners, among them Michael Ginsberg and his young wife, Sophy, with whom he became friends. On June 20, 1943, when the Tarnopol ghetto was liquidated, Ginsberg turned to Saik and asked for help finding a hiding place for him and his family. Saik offered to shelter them on the estate, in an empty cave that had previously been used to store ice. Later that month, a group of Jews led by Ginsberg and his wife fled the camp and headed for the cave, where Saik was waiting for them. Among those who arrived there with the Ginsberg couple were Michael’s mother, Rose, his sisters, Anna Ginsberg and Ruth Starkschall, Ruth’s husband Nathan, and seven other Jews, friends of the Ginsbergs. In order to conceal his Jewish wards, Saik constructed a fake wall before the end of the corridor that led to the hideaway and he set up a pigsty there. The existence of the pigsty allowed the Saiks to bring food to their charges under the pretext of feeding the pigs. The 12-year-old Irina, the Saiks' daughter, also took an active part in caring for the Jews in hiding; together with her mother she cooked for them, brought food and water to the hiding place, did her best to raise the spirits of the Jewish fugitives In March 1944, as a result of the battle for Tarnopol, the Germans evacuated the city’s population and the 13 Jews were left in their hiding place for a month with very little food. At first they ate the potatoes they had stored, and later the peels. After the liberation, on April 14, 1944, the survivors left their hiding place of nine months. The Ginsbergs’ home was one of the few in thearea that were not destroyed. Survivors and rescuers lived there for about a year, until the survivors moved to Poland, from where some later immigrated to Canada, and others to the United States. They lost contact with the Saiks for about 40 years and it was only in 1988, during a trip to Ternopil, that Ginsberg and his wife located the Saiks’ children. On April 27, 1992, Yad Vashem recognized Onufriy and Anna Saik as Righteous Among the Nations. On May 6, 2007, Yad Vashem recognized Irina Maksimova (Saik) as Righteous Among the Nations.