Sikorska Katerina ; Daughter: Gutor Irina (Sikorska)

Sikorska, Katerina Gutor (Sikorska), Irina Katerina Sikorska, a widow, was raising her daughters, Irina (later Gutor), Khristina, and Mariya, alone in the town of Podhajce, in the district of Tarnopol (today Pidhaytsi, Ternopil’ District). On July 4, 1941, the Germans conquered the town. In September 1942, after the local Jews had been incarcerated in the ghetto that was established in the area, Sikorska hid Michal Klyar and two young Jewish brothers, Leon and Dolik Kressel, her former neighbors, in her home. The Jews dug a bunker to hide in under the floor of the kitchen and they stayed there for eight months. One day, in spring 1943, policemen arrived at the Sikorskas’ home after being informed about the Jews hidden there. Sikorska was not at home at the time, and, apart from the hidden Jews, only her daughters were present. After an intensive search of the house, the police located the bunker and the three Jews were arrested. The police brutally beat 13-year-old Irina and set up an ambush for Sikorska. Later that night, Sikorska was apprehended at the door to her home and sent to prison in Brzeżany (Berezhany). She was later transferred to a prison in Tarnopol and in a public trial in August 1943 she was sentenced to death. She was executed a few days later. In the meantime, her daughters fled their home and spent the remainder of the war hiding with friends and relatives. No one knows exactly how and when Klyar and the Kressel brothers perished. For many years after the war, local Ukrainian antisemites labeled the Sikorska girls “Jews.” The surviving members of Podhajce Jewry dispersed around the world but maintained contact with them. On May 28, 1995, Yad Vashem recognized Katerina Sikorska and her daughter, Irina Gutor (née Sikorska), as Righteous Among the Nations.