Waszczyszyn Michal & Anna ; Son: Stepan

Vashchyshyn, Mykhailo Vashchyshyn, Anna Vashchyshyn, Stepan Mykhailo Vashchyshyn, his wife, Anna, and their eldest son Stepan lived in the village of Czystylow near Tarnopol (today Chystyliv, Ternopil’ District), where they were farmers. The Germans occupied the area early in July 1941, and one day in the autumn of 1943, during the harvest, the Vashchyshyns, father and son, met an unfamiliar young Jew in the field. His name was Marcel (Moshe) Rawicz, a native of central Poland, who, in 1939, had moved with his family to Tarnopol. His parents and other relatives had perished in various ways during the years of the German occupation, while he and a group of Jews who were fit for work had been employed in a labor camp not far from Czystylow. Several days earlier, Rawicz and a number of other Jews had escaped from the camp, after learning that the Germans were about to liquidate it. At first, they hid in the forest, but hungry, they had gone into the villages in search of food. When Vashchyshyn and his son came upon a desperate and starving Rawicz, they provided him with food, and the following evening, despite the heavy rain, they collected him from his hiding place. In their barn, under a pile of hay, a shelter had been prepared for him, and that night the barn became Rawicz’s home for more than six months, until the area was liberated, in mid-April 1944. Vashchyshyn and his son brought Rawicz food and provided all his basic necessities. At first they did not want to share the secret with Anna, but when she found out she supported the act of rescue, and also joined in caring for him. After the liberation, Rawicz returned to Tarnopol and, in 1946, moved to Poland and from there to Venezuela. Rawicz and the Vashchyshyns corresponded for many years after the war. On November 2, 1997, Yad Vashem recognized Mykhailo and Anna Vashchyshyn and their son Stepan, as Righteous Among the Nations.