Serafin Andrei & Anastasia

Serafin, Andrey Serafin, Anastasiya Andrey Serafin, a lawyer, and his wife, Anastasiya, lived in the town of Husiatyn, in the district of Tarnopol (today Husyatyn, Ternopil’ District). In summer 1943, they welcomed Sabina Badian (later Hirsch), who was a friend and schoolmate of their 15-year-old daughter, Lidiya, into their home. Before the Germans had invaded the area on July 6, 1941, Badian lived with her parents and sister on the same street as the Serafins. In the first few weeks of the occupation, the Badian family was sent to live in the ghetto in nearby Kopyczyńce (Kopychyntsi), where over time Badian lost all her family. When she was left alone, she decided to return to Husiatyn and to ask the Serafin family to shelter her. After walking for several days, Badian arrived exhausted and starving at the Serafins’ home. Anastasiya was delighted to see her and immediately beckoned her inside. Badian was hidden in their attic for a full month, during which time Serafin set about obtaining a false ID in a Ukrainian name for her. During her time in hiding, the local priest visited the Serafins’ home and at the Serafins’ request, taught Badian Christian prayers and mannerisms. When Badian’s papers in the name of Stefka Bohdan were ready, Sabina decided to leave Husiatyn because she was known there. She spent the remainder of the war, until spring 1944, working under her alias in the village of Stadnitse, close to Grzymałów. After the war, Badian moved to Poland and, in 1948, she immigrated to Canada. She tried for years to locate the Serafin family and she later discovered that after the war they had been deported to Siberia. Badian eventually managed to contact Lidiya Serafin and hosted her in the 1990s. On September 2, 1997, Yad Vashem recognized Andrey and Anastasiya Serafin as Righteous Among the Nations.