Bovkun Georgiy

Georgiy Bovkun and Isai Podolskyi lived in Dnipropetrovsk (now Dnipro) and have been friends since school years. After the start of the German-Soviet war, they enlisted in the Red Army and went to the front. During one of the battles, Bovkun's unit was surrounded - the man was taken prisoner. In August 1941, Georgiy managed to escape and return to his hometown. There he began working at the railway station and later joined an underground organization.

In October of the same year, Georgiy Bovkun discovered that his friend Isai Podolskyi was also in the city: he had managed to escape from captivity. By that time, about half of the Jews of Dnipropetrovsk had already been exterminated by the Nazis.

Bovkun managed to find Isai and take him to his grandparents, where Georgiy lived. Isai told Georgiy that when he escaped from captivity, he returned to the city to learn about the fate of his parents. He turned to several old friends, but no one agreed to give him shelter for more than a day or two.

For 6 months Bovkun hid Podolskyi, shared his food with a friend. He also managed to obtain false documents for Isai. From that time until the end of his life, Isai became Anatoliy Trosnytskyi.

In March 1942, when Georgiy Bovkun led Isai out of hiding into the street to breathe fresh air, they were spotted by a neighbor who had anti-Semitic beliefs. And although they managed to convince a neighbor that they were cousins, Podolskyi decided to leave.

Intending to cross the front line, Isai went east with false documents. However, on the way he contracted typhus and ended up in a hospital in Huliaipole (Zaporizhzhia region). Isai was cared  by nurse Sanda Kostenko, who found out that he was a Jew. Nevertheless, the woman did not extradite him and left, and when Podolskyi was sent with other patients to a POW camp, she gave him her address in Huliaipole, promising to hide him if he ever needed shelter.

In May 1942, Isai Podolskyi managed to escape from the camp. When he came to Sanda Kostenko's house, he found her sick with typhus. Sanda's 16-year-old daughter, Olena, cared for her mother and ailing grandmother. Despite the difficult situation, she left Podolskyi in the house. After recovering, Sanda Kostenko helped Isai find a job at the factory.

Soon, in the summer of 1943, Isai was arrested on suspicion of underground activities. He managed to escape and return to the Kostenko family. He hid there until he left the town of Huliaipole. When he managed to cross the front line, he joined the Red Army, in troops of which he fought until 1944. The Red Army ID was issued for him with the name of Anatoliy Ignatovych Trosnytskyi - so Isai remained for the rest of his life with another surname, which saved him. He was severely wounded in the battles near Kryvyi Rih and lost his arm. After demobilization, he graduated from the institute, and in 1993 Isai Podolskyi moved to the United States.

Georgiy Bovkun and Sanda Kostenko were awarded the title "Righteous Among the Nations" on August 5, 1996. Olena Kostenko was awarded the title "Righteous Among the Nations" on April 4, 1999.