Yakubovski Yuri & Jakubovskaya Praskovya ; Child: Jakubovskaya Olga ; Child: Jakubovskaya Teklya

Yakubovski, Yuriy Yakubovskaya, Praskoviya Yakubovskaya, Teklya Yakubovskaya, Olga Yuriy and Praskoviya Yakubovski were well-to-do farmers who lived with their daughters, Teklya and Olga, in the town of Obertyn not far from Horodenka (Stanislawów, later Ivano-Frankivs’k District). For years Yuriy Yakubovski was a customer of the Nachwalger family that owned a store for metal products in town. In June 1941, when the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, their Axis partners, the Hungarians, occupied Obertyn. In August, control of the town passed to the Germans and from then on the Jews’ living conditions worsened. In April 1942, most of the Jews were transferred to the ghetto in nearby Kolomyja and a month later, the town was declared Judenrein (“free of Jews”). One morning, when Yuriy went out to feed his cows, he was astonished to find 32-year-old Leon Nachwalger, who had fled from the Kolomyja ghetto, in his stable. Yuriy brought him food and agreed to hide him. During the summer, Leon hid in the loft of the stable. The other members of Yuriy’s family also helped look after Leon. When the local police conducted searches to seek out Jews in hiding, Leon escaped to a nearby forest and stayed there for days until the searches were over. In the forest he met other Jews in the same circumstances – people living at the mercy of others. Once, when Leon was in Yakubovski’s stable, he suddenly heard strange voices drawing near. Policemen came into the stable, accompanied by Yuriy and his wife who looked very frightened. In the end, they had only come to confiscate some grain! Leon remained with Yakubovski a year and a half, until the liberation of the area on March 30, 1944. About a year later, he left the Soviet Union and later settled in Austria. For many years, he kept in touch with the Yakubovski family to whom he was always grateful. On May 15, 2000, Yad Vashem recognized Yuriy and Praskoviya Yakubovski and their daughters, Teklya Yakubovskaya-Tkachuk and OlgaYakubovskaya-Stanislavskaya, as Righteous Among the Nations.