Ribachok Varvara ; Daughter: Oksana

Ribachok, Vira Ribachok, Varvara Ribachok, Oksana Vira Ribachok, a widow and young mother, lived in the village of Niewirkow, district of Wołyń (today Nevirkiv, Rivne District), with her mother-in-law Varvara Ribachok and sister-in-law Oksana. In the first few weeks of the occupation, warehouses for storing grain were established in Niewirkow and among the Jews working there were Israel Zinman and Moshe and Mikhla Schreiber from the town of Międzyrzec Korecki (Velyki Mezhyrichi). Ribachok, who was not previously acquainted with these Jews, befriended them and despite her dire financial situation she and her mother-in-law regularly brought food to the workers in the warehouse. On September 23, 1942, when the Jews were expelled from the village, Zinman and the Schreibers hid and the following night they came to the Ribachoks’ home. Despite the danger, Varvara, Oksana and Vira agreed to harbor the Jews and dug a hole in their small barn where the Jews hid for about seven months, until May 1943. The entrance to the hole was covered with straw and manure and every morning the Ribachoks took their hidden wards potatoes and some milk, and at night they took them porridge made from different grains. The Ribachoks took care of all the Jews’ needs but, by spring 1943, their supplies were drained and so the Jews decided to leave for the forest. The Ribachoks provided them with five loaves of bread and some potatoes, which they borrowed from their neighbors, for their journey. On January 14, 1944, immediately after the Red Army liberated the area, Zinman returned to visit the Ribachoks. He found Vira and Oksana ill with typhus; Varvara had already died. Zinman joined the Red Army and after his release, he immigrated to Eretz Israel, in 1946. The Schreibers later moved there too. In 1992, Zinman visited Niewirkow / Nevirkiv with the aim of dedicating a memorial to the Jews that had perished during the war, and at the ceremony next to the mass grave, he met his savior,Vira Ribachok. On May 4, 1994, Yad Vashem recognized Vira Ribachok, Varvara Ribachok, and Oksana Ribachok, as Righteous Among the Nations.