Boiko Yefrosinia ; Daughter: Yarovaya Sofia (Boiko)

Boyko, Yefrosinya Boyko, Sofya Yefrosinya Boyko lived with her daughter Sofya in Kiev, next door to the Lipnitskiy family of four. When the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, in June 1941, Mr. Lipnitskiy was conscripted into the Red Army and he was killed in action. His wife, Tatyana, and children, 12-year-old Mara and four-year-old Arkadiy, decided to flee eastward, but they did not manage to get far enough before the Germans conquered the entire area, and they returned to Kiev. In early September 1942, Yefrosinya heard from an acquaintance that the Lipnitskiys had returned to the city and were staying with her. Yefrosinya and Sofya went to visit their former neighbors who told them that they had returned to Kiev because they believed that their chances of survival were higher in a big city. Yefrosinya and Sofya left the Lipnitskiys some food and returned home. That very night, during the curfew, Tatyana and her children appeared at the door of the Boykos’ home after having been expelled from their acquaintance’s home upon the order of her son-in-law. They stayed with the Boykos for five days and then Sofya escorted them to her aunt’s home in Vasilkov (today Vasyl’kiv). From there, with the help of Sofya’s uncle, the Lipnitskiys moved to the village of Ksaverovka (Ksaverivka), where, as refugees, they found work although they had no papers. After the liberation, the Lipnitskiys returned to Kiev. On September 7, 1997, Yad Vashem recognized Yefrosinya Boyko and her daughter, Sofya Boyko as Righteous Among the Nations.