Datsko Olga (Zabavka)

Datsko, Olga Olga Datsko, b.1922, lived in the village of Mysłowa, (today Maslova, south of Pidvolochys’k, Ternopil’ District). Her wedding was on the eve of the German invasion to the USSR in June 1941, and on the second day of the war her husband was conscripted to the Red Army. At the beginning of July the area was occupied and two years later, in July 1943, Olga found a stranger hiding in her barn. The man pleaded with her to allow him to stay until nightfall. Olga agreed and later that day, when she brought him food and drink, Michail Ehre told her that he was a Jew, and two days ago he had fled from the death pits near Kamionka labor camp where the camp inmates were all murdered. Michail was 50-years-old, but just three years earlier, in 1940, he had married a Ukrainian woman. The couple settled in Tarnopol and when the city was occupied by German forces, Michail’s wife hid him in their home until, in the summer of 1942, neighbors informed on them. They were both arrested. Michail was sent to Kamionka labor camp. His wife, Stefa, though, then pregnant with their first child, was released with the help of her relatives. Now, after all he had gone through in the camp and after his successful escape, Michail was determined to survive and see his baby and wife. Michail’s story touched Olga’s heart and she suggested that he stay and continue to hide in the barn. She kept Michail until the liberation of the area on April 14, 1944. Olga did share her secret with her mother-in-law, Mariya Hrynko, and Mariya appreciated her daughter-in-law’s good heart and kindness and she decided to help her in every matter. On the day of the liberation Michail was eager to go to Tarnopol immediately, but Olga thought it might still dangerous for a Jew. They disguised Michail as a peasant woman, and accompanied by Olga, they went into Tarnopol. They reached the city and found Stefa with her baby daughter, Anna, safe and sound. Until his death in 1979, Michail and his entire familyfelt deep gratitude towards Olga and maintained close, almost family-like, relations with her and her offspring. In the 1990s, Michail’s daughter, Anna, immigrated to Israel. On December 23, 2004, Yad Vashem recognized Olga Datsko as Righteous Among the Nations.