Boykovskiy Ivan & Boykovskaya First name unknown

Boykovsky, Ivan Fancia Grunberg (b. 1915) was the second of five children. Her mother died before the war and, under German occupation in Tarnopol, her father and remaining siblings perished. Fancia managed to survive within the Tarnopol ghetto as well as various work camps until the spring of 1943. Following an Aktion (mass execution) on 8 April of that year, Fancia resolved to escape the ghetto. She approached Ivan Boykovsky, who managed a produce warehouse where she had briefly worked a year earlier; she recalled that during an Aktion in the ghetto, Ivan had agreed to let her hide in the warehouse. Fancia’s plot to escape involved borrowing Ivan’s wife’s identification papers, which would allow her to move out of Tarnopol. The Boykovskys did not agree to this plan, but did offer to let her hide in the warehouse. The warehouse contained a large machine for cleaning wheat that was inoperative; the Soviets had removed key parts of the machine while retreating to ensure the machine could not be used by the Germans. This machine had two legs with a gap between them. The gap was just big enough to hide someone lying down – it was not big enough to stand or sit in, nor could one stretch out fully. This gap became Fancia’s crude hiding spot. Ivan placed a crate at its entrance, but anyone who might have moved the crate and crouched down could have seen Fancia. Except for Sundays, local workers would enter the warehouse and work a full day, never imagining that Fancia was lying there quietly, listening to their conversations. Just before the start of each workday Ivan would slip Fancia food. When the workers were not present Fancia was able to leave her hiding place and move about the warehouse. On Sundays Ivan or his wife would empty her waste bucket. During the cold the winter months she used two empty sacks for warmth, stuffing one inside the other and nestling herself within. In March 1944 the Soviet army was approaching Tarnopol. Because of its proximityto railway lines, the vicinity of her hiding spot was frequently targeted for bombings. For her own safety, Ivan insisted that Fancia leave her hiding place. Fancia escaped to a neighboring village, and the next day encountered the liberating Soviet troops. Following liberation, Fancia stayed briefly in the town of Zbaraz, near Tarnopol, where she met her future husband. In her testimony to Yad Vashem Fancia recounted how despite the meager amounts of food she was provided, Ivan dutifully cared for her and treated her well. After moving to Poland and then immigrating to Israel, she continued to correspond with her rescuer, exchanging letters and pictures. On 13 September 2011, Ivan Boykovsky was recognized by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations.