Aksenchuk Yevstakhi & Anna ; Son: Bogdan

Aksenchuk, Evstakhiy Aksenchuk, Anna Aksenchuk, Bohdan Anna Aksenchuk, her husband, Evstakhiy, and their son Bohdan (b. 1932) lived in Czortków, in the district of Tarnopol (today Chortkiv, Ternopil’ District). The Germans conquered the town on July 6, 1941, and, in April 1942, they established a ghetto there. Anna would enter the ghetto in order to exchange food for various other items and thus she met Rosa Kaliszer (later Gros). A friendly relationship, beyond just trading, developed between the two women. Anna soon hinted to Kaliszer that in times of trouble, she was welcome to come to her home. In June 1943, rumors began to spread around Czortków that the ghetto was about to be liquidated. Anna decided to rescue Kaliszer and, on her own initiative, she went to the ghetto and exited with Kaliszer, her daughter Batya and her brother Abraham Wartenfeld. The three Jews were then hidden in the root cellar, where another Jewish child, Lola Rein (later Kaufman) joined them two months later. These four Jews remained hidden on the Aksenchuks’ property until the arrival of the Red Army, in late March 1944. Anna’s husband, Evstakhiy, played an active role in hiding the Jews, as did their son Bohdan, who was responsible for taking food and water to the hidden wards and concerned himself with regularly emptying the bucket they used as a toilet in the hideout. After the war, Kaliszer, her daughter and brother immigrated to Israel. Lola Rein, who had lost both parents in the ghetto, found her uncle and together they left for the USA. On November 21, 1994, Yad Vashem recognized Anna and Evstakhiy Aksenchuk and their son, Bohdan, as Righteous Among the Nations.