Borchakivskyi Mykhailo and Yevdokiia, Rudiuk (Borchakivska) Klavdiia

The couple Mykhailo and Yevdokiia Borchakivska with their three children – Viktor, Klavdiia and little Andrii – lived in the town of Ostroh in the Rivne region. The family’s neighbor was Hana Shtroiman, who had a niece from Warsaw, Iryna Sheneskrymer.

In 1939, Iryna came to visit her aunt, but was unable to return home because at that time her hometown, the Polish capital, was occupied by Nazi Germany.

When the Nazis captured the town of Ostroh on June 30, 1941, both women were moved to the ghetto. In the fall of 1942, Iryna managed to escape from there. She asked the Borchakivskyi family for shelter. She told her neighbors about the death of her aunt Hana and her ordeal after fleeing without food and water. Mykhailo and Yevdokiia arranged a shelter for Iryna and hid the Jewish woman for the next 16 months. Later, Hita Shtainberh, a native of Ostroh, turned to a Ukrainian family for help. Despite the danger and hardship, the Borchakivskyi family took her in as well. The Jewish women spent most of their time in the cellar, and 14-year-old Klavdiia took care of them. The girl brought them food, told them the news, and tried to support the fugitives.

After the expulsion of the Wehrmacht units from the city of Ostroh, Iryna Sheneskrymer mobilized into the Red Army, and after the war settled in Minsk. Iryna Shtainberh (Tova Reuveni) moved to Poland, and later emigrated to Israel. Both maintained ties with the Borchakivskyi family and their daughter Klavdiia for many years, continuing to call Yevdokiia and Mykhailo Mom and Dad, as they had done while hiding in their house.

In 1996, Yad Vashem recognized Mykhailo and Yevdokiia Borchakivskyi as Righteous Among the Nations, and in 1999, their daughter Klavdiia Rudyuk (Borchakivska) received this title.

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