Babyichuk Feodor & Praskovia

Babyichuk, Feodor Babyichuk, Praskovia Berish Weidberg and his daughter, Lucy (b. 1930), lived in the village of Gushtyn, near Skala in eastern Poland. Upon the German occupation of the area, the Jews were forced into a ghetto and persecuted in the familiar ways, suffering Aktion upon Aktion. Just before the ghetto’s liquidation in early 1943, Berish contacted an old prewar acquaintance, Feodor Babyichuk, and requested shelter for his daughter, his friend Chaim Brettler, and himself. Despite their limited means, the Babyichuks immediately agreed. Feodor created a hiding place in the attic of his barn, padding the floor with fresh straw. A routine developed in which the three Jews remained in their hiding place during the day and descended to the family home in the evening after dark, where they ate dinner with their rescuers and discussed the latest news from the front. In December 1943 a rumor spread that the Babyichuks were harboring Jews, and the three were forced to take refuge in the forests for two weeks before they felt safe enough to return to the attic. Berish, Lucy, and Chaim stayed in their hiding place until the Red Army liberated their town in March 1944. Immediately upon the liberation, Berish and Chaim returned to Skala, while Lucy remained with the Babyichuks. Unfortunately, the Germans returned to the area a couple of weeks later and controlled it for an additional six weeks, during which time Lucy was compelled to continue hiding. Berish and Chaim hid in a separate location during this time. After the war Berish, Lucy, and Chaim immigrated to the United States. Lucy recalled that her father sent packages to the Babyichuk family for a period, but the connection between them eventually died out. On August 20, 2013, Feodor and Praskovia Babyichuk were recognized by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations.