Romaniuk Ivan & Alexandra

Romaniuk, Ivan Romaniuk, Aleksandra Ivan and Aleksandra Romaniuk and their two daughters lived in the village of Straklov (today Strakliv, Rivne District). Ivan worked in the storerooms of the fuel plant in Dubno, near the train station. Following the town’s occupation by the Germans on June 25, 1941, Ivan hid his friends Ben-Zion and Sara Binshtok at his place of work. One of the Binshtok’s two sons, Isaak, was murdered by rioters against Jews in the first days of the occupation, while the second, Haim, succeeded in escaping into the forests. For a month or more, Ben-Zion and Sara hid in the storerooms, until Ivan had prepared a place for them under the floor of his home. He brought them to his house at night. The rest of Ivan Romaniuk’s family, including his younger sisters, Olga and Tatiana, helped provide for the fugitive couple. Once a day they brought them food and water, and removed a bucket of excrement. They also kept watch when the couple came upstairs to warm up or wash, for fear that neighbors would see them. The Binshtoks could not repay their benefactors for their good deeds, as their property was plundered immediately after the occupation. In order to provide for themselves and for the fugitives, the Romaniuk family had to sell some of their belongings as well as the fuel that Ivan received as payment for his work. With this small pittance, Aleksandra bought food, dividing the meals equally among everyone in the house. The Binshtok couple thus survived to greet the day of the area’s liberation in March 1944. After the liberation of the area, Ivan was called up for military service in the Red Army and was killed in action that same year. In the new situation, it was now the Binshtoks’ turn to assist their rescuers. They took Aleksandra and her daughters into their home in Dubno and supported them. A few years later, the Binshtoks left Ukraine and settled near Moscow. They corresponded with Aleksandra and her daughters for many years afterward. OnNovember 22, 2000, Yad Vashem recognized Ivan and Aleksandra Romaniuk as Righteous Among the Nations.