Senkiv Mikhail & Viktoria

Senkiv, Mikhail Senkiv, Viktoriya Mikhail Senkiv and his wife, Viktoriya, were farmers living in the town of Tłuste, district of Tarnopol (today Tovste, Ternopil’ District). They were devout Christians who, in May 1943, welcomed nine-year-old Pesach Kats into their home. Kats was orphaned early in the occupation and escaped from the Tłuste ghetto before it was liquidated, in early June 1943. He hoped to seek refuge with a local family and the first house he reached was the Senkivs’. They invited Kats inside and after he told them about the tragic fate that had befallen his family, they suggested that he stay with them. Kats had blond hair and blue eyes and so he could live quite openly with the Senkivs. During the quiet times, he was permitted to roam around freely in the house and yard. He played with the Senkivs’ daughter Oresta, who was two years younger than him, and even occasionally took the cows out to graze. Kats only went into hiding when the Germans were conducting house searches in the area. The Senkivs prepared a hideout for Kats in the cellar. A supply of food and water as well as a bucket was kept permanently in the hiding place in case Kats ever had to unexpectedly enter it. The Senkivs’ neighbors knew about Kats but believed that he was a relative. Despite endangering their lives by harboring the Jewish child, the Senkivs treated Kats lovingly. He stayed with them until the Red Army liberated the area, in March 1944, and Kats left the Senkivs’ home with an army unit. The unit commander promised to take Kats to Chernivtsi (former Cernăuţi), where he hoped to find some living relatives. Kats later moved to Romania and then Israel and he lost contact with the Senkivs. Contact was renewed in 1992 when Kats visited Tovste and located the Senkivs’ daughter Oresta. On July 19, 1995, Yad Vashem recognized Mikhail and Viktoriya Senkiv as Righteous Among the Nations.