Bilok (Yurashchuk) Hanna, Yurashchuk Petro

Hanna Yurashchuk lived with her brother Petro, two younger sisters and parents in the village of Bochkiv (current – the village of Velikiy Bychkiv) in Transcarpathia. In 1939, this territory was occupied by Hungary.

In March 1944, the German army entered the region, and in May, the transportation of Jews to the Auschwitz camp in the Polish city of Oświęcim began. From May 14 to June 6, about 85 thousand people were taken out in 28 trains from eight places of concentration in the region.

Hanna was worried about the fate of her friend, 19-year-old Zalman Zelmanovych, who lived nearby. After consulting with her relatives, the girl tried to save her neighbor. At night, she sent her 16-year-old brother to him, who transferred the Jew to a nearby village of Luh. There the young man was hiding in the stables. Hanna and Petro took turns visiting him, feeding him and morally supporting him. A few weeks later, it became known that the occupiers executed a local woman who was hiding Jews in her house. Therefore, in the future, the Yurashchuk family decided not to take any risks, they found an opportunity to put Zalman on a train bound for Hungary. His older brother was there in one of the labor camps, and the younger one joined him. After the war, the boys learned that their parents Itskhak and Pnina and many other relatives had died. The brothers emigrated to Israel. Zalman corresponded with Hanna and Petro throughout his life. In the 1990s, at his invitation, Petro visited the Holy Land.

In 1996, Yad Vashem recognized Hanna Bilok (Yurashchuk) and Petro Yurashchuk as Righteous Among the Nations.

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