Grogul Ignatiy & Varvara ; Son: Stepan ; Daughter: Yevgenia

Grogul, Ignatiy Grogul, Varvara Grogul, Yevgeniya Grogul, Stepan Ignatiy Grogul, a priest in the Orthodox Church, lived with his wife, Varvara, daughter Yevgeniya and son Stepan in the village of Zahorce Wielkie, Wołyń (today Velyki Zahirtsi, Rivne District). In 1942, when the Germans had been in control of Ukraine for almost a year, Grogul met Eliyahu Jakira on one of his trips to nearby Dubno. Jakira was looking for a way to get his family out of the ghetto and Grogul agreed to employ Jakira’s youngest daughter, nine-year-old Miriam, as a shepherd. On an agreed date, Miriam was taken to the outskirts of the town, where Grogul’s daughter Yevgeniya was waiting for her. Yevgeniya brought Miriam to her family home and thereafter she lived there openly. Miriam was given a Ukrainian alias, Marusya, and she helped out with the domestic chores and herded the cows. Grogul occasionally traveled to Dubno and he always brought regards from her family. One day, Miriam heard Grogul tell his wife that Miriam’s brother had been arrested and a list of names and addresses had been found in his pocket. The Groguls decided to spread a rumor around their village that Miriam was leaving the village to visit her mother. Miriam bid farewell to all her acquaintances and headed in the direction of the forest. Later that night, Grogul picked her up on his cart and secretly returned her to his house. Miriam was hidden in the Groguls’ house or basement for a long time. When the danger of her being discovered subsided, Grogul took her in his cart to the forest, from where she walked back to the village carrying gifts, as if she were returning from the town. Within a year, the frontline neared Dubno and German soldiers were billeted in Zahorce Wielkie, some in the Groguls’ home. When they became suspicious of Miriam, Grogul’s family decided to flee with their ward to the forest. While they were gone, the Germans ransacked and burgled their home. The Groguls later returned home withMiriam and, after the liberation, Grogul took her to Dubno. When she discovered that all her immediate family had perished, she returned with Grogul to the village. Miriam (later Drukh) eventually found some surviving cousins and immigrated with them to Israel in 1949. On January 27, 1993, Yad Vashem recognized Ignatiy and Varvara Grogul and their children, Yevgeniya and Stepan Grogul, as Righteous Among the Nations.