Hajdejczuk Helena

Hajdejczuk, Helena Helena Hajdejczuk, a widow who lived in the village of Gody-Dobrovidka (Kolomyja County, Stanislawów District), provided for her two young daughters by working as a seamstress and growing fruits from their small vegetable garden. At the beginning of 1943, after the last of the Jews from the Kolomyja ghetto were murdered in the Szeparowce forest, Helena, who was visiting a neighbor, met Artur Schtorch, 19. He had escaped the slaughter and was seeking shelter in the home of acquaintances in Gody-Dobrovidka. They could not help him, but Helena agreed to hide him in her home. For an entire year Artur stayed on the Hajdejczuk farm, mainly in the barn. From there he had access to the threshing floor, where he had a bed behind a double wall. Sometimes Helena allowed him to get some air in the courtyard at night. One day in January 1944, three Ukrainian policemen arrived at Helena’s home and under threat of severe punishments demanded that the occupants tell them where Jews were hiding. Despite Artur’s presence, Helena insisted that there were no Jews in her home, and her daughters followed suit. However, as a result of the incident, Helena and the girls decided to leave their home and seek shelter with relatives in Kolomyja. That night, Artur, too, left his place of hiding and took refuge in the attic of an abandoned building in a local collective farm (kolkhoz). Every few days Helena would bring him food and give him news of developments on the outside. Before one such visit she stopped by her home to get something but was surprised there by local criminals, who handed her over to the Kolomyja police. She was executed on the eve of the liberation together with all the prisoners in Kolomyja. Artur survived. After the liberation he joined the Red Army, and at the end of the war returned to Kolomyja. He stayed in touch with the daughters of his benefactress for many years. On March 18, 2002, Yad Vashem recognized Helena Hajdejczuk as Righteous Among the Nations.