Rybak Janina

Rybak, Janina One day in 1943, as the ghettos in Eastern Galicia were in the midst of final liquidation, Perla Reibel, who had endured much hardship, reached the home of Janina Rybak, a devout Catholic, in Monasterzyska, in the Tarnopol district. Rybak was a poor woman who lived with her only son, but despite the risk, she agreed to conceal Reibel in her small apartment. Although her decision caused her difficulties, Rybak took care of her ward and regularly prayed for her well-being until the area was liberated in the summer of 1944. In her post-war testimony, Reibel wrote, “I am convinced that without the assistance of Janina Rybak, I would have had no chance of emerging from this war alive.” Everything Rybak did to rescue Reibel was for humanitarian and religious motives, not for material reward. After the war, Reibel emigrated to the United States and her rescuer moved to a location within Poland’s new borders. On July 6, 1981, Yad Vashem recognized Janina Rybak as Righteous Among the Nations.