Penderetskyi Fedir, Hanna and Mykola

Fedir and Hanna Penderetskyi lived in the village of Tenetnyki (current – Ivano-Frankivsk district) in the Ivano-Frankivsk region. Fedir was a forester. My 16-year-old son Mykola was raised by a pious Baptist couple in love for the Lord and respect for one's neighbor.

At the beginning of July 1941, the region was occupied by German troops, who began to establish a "new order". First of all, the restrictions concerned the Jewish population. Ghettos and labor camps were created for him in the towns and settlements of Ivano-Frankivsk region. Jewish residential areas existed in the neighboring town of Burshtyn and the urban-type settlement of Bukachivtsi (current – Bukachivtsi, Ivano-Frankivsk district). In April 1942, the Jews of the village of Tenetnyky were resettled to the urban-type settlement of Bukachivtsi. In the fall of 1942, the villagers learned that all the prisoners had begun to be taken to the death camp in the town of Belzec (Poland). Those who tried to escape were shot. One of the executions took place in a field near the village of Tenetnyky.

At the end of 1942, during one of the rounds of the forest, Fedir Penderetskyi came across several hiding places where Jews lived – individually and in families. The forester did not point them out – he sympathized: he brought food and warm clothes. In addition, he helped them build dugouts and reported news of the outside world. Among the Jews who hid there were fugitives from the ghetto of Burshtyn, urban-type settlement Bukachivtsi, and Rohatyn. Hanna and Mykola joined in their rescue. They delivered provisions to the forest. Mykola often got there alone, with food on his shoulders. Fedir Penderetskyi was especially sympathetic to Jewish children, in particular eight-year-old Yakiv Dikman.

Once Shymon Nahelberh, a native of the neighboring village. Chahriv, arrived in the forest after escaping from the labor camp, and then for some time hid with the Pavlyshyn family and with their neighbor Fedir Lubinets. Shimon asked Penderetskyi to provide shelter to a Jewish woman he met in the forest. Fedir met her and secretly led her to the hiding place. Thus, 16 Jews were under the care of the forester and his family. Among those who survived the war thanks to the Penderetskyi family were: Doctor Lipa Shumer and his wife, Yakiv Feldman and his wife, Tsali and Shansiia Drach, the family of Yozef Kosten, Mendel Dikman and his son Yakiv, Izrail Erenberhand his wife, the brothers Shyffer, Abrakham Biien, and Oskar Shenkler.

After the war, those who survived left the area; some emigrated to Israel, others to the United States. However, they continued to maintain relations with their saviors. In 1997, Fedir, Hanna and Mykola Penderetskyi were recognized as Righteous Among the Nations.

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