Navolski Anton

Navolski, Anton Father Anton Navolski was a priest in the town of Tłuste (today Tovste), south of Czortków, Tarnopol District (Chortkiv, Ternopil’ District). Before the war, Navolski preached tolerance and thanks to this the local Ukrainians had good relations with the Jews. During the years 1941–1944 Navolski expended much effort to protect the local Jewish population and he even helped Jewish refugees from Hungary that had fled to the town from the surrounding villages. On July 6, 1941, when the last Soviet soldiers left the town, gangs of young thugs roamed the surrounding area and attacked any Jew they came across; over 200 Jews were murdered on that day alone. When Navolski heard about this, he placed his followers on every road to Tłuste to stop the entrance of the murderers into the town. Throughout that day, he walked through the town’s streets, gave encouragement to those of his flock fighting the attackers and calmed the frightened Jews. On July 9, the Hungarians entered Tłuste and two months later they passed their rule to the Germans. Throughout the German occupation, Navolski helped Jews in various ways and during Aktionen he hid them in his home and church. Ulka Sommer, one of those he rescued, later testified that during the war, Navolski preached love of Jewish neighbors. Even after a priest in the neighboring town was killed just for saying that Ukrainian independence will not be built on Jewish blood, Navolski continued to preach against murdering Jews. Izvolski died in 1965 and for many years thereafter many Jews continued to be grateful for his wartime actions. On March 9, 1993, Yad Vashem recognized Anton Navolski as Righteous Among the Nations.