Popel Motria, Vasyl and Stefaniia, Leshchynska Helena

The widow Motria Popel with her son Vasyl and daughter-in-law Stefania lived in the city of Boryslav, which is in the southwestern part of Eastern Galicia in the territory of the modern Lviv region. Together with her Polish neighbor, Helena Leshchynska the Popel family saved local Jews during the Holocaust.

In 1939, there were about 12.5 thousand people of Jewish nationality in Boryslav. However, it is very difficult to establish the exact number of Jews who survived the war: the figure varies between 250 and 800 people. In total, there were at least six major actions to exterminate Jews. Some of the victims were shot in the city or in the surrounding forests, in particular in the Bronytskyi Forest near the town of Drohobych, the rest ones were taken to the Belzec and Auschwitz death camps, where most of them died.

During the first of the actions on November 27–28, 1941, the Nazis arrested about 800 disabled Jews – invalids and old people – who were shot near the oil rig. The second, most massive action was held on October 6–8, 1942, when about 5 thousand people, mostly women and children, were sent to the Belzec death camp. On October 23–24, 1942, a third action took place, during which more than 1 thousand people were deported, and at the beginning of November another roundup began, which lasted for almost a month. The captured Jews, mostly the wives and children of defense industry workers (Rüstungsjuden), were kept in the local cinema “Colosseum”, where they were starved, and then sent to the same Belzec. The last mass act of extermination of the Jewish population of Boryslav was the liquidation of the ghetto on May 25 – June 2, 1943, when about 700 people were shot, including representatives of the Jewish security service.

The Lipman family from Boryslav was lucky to avoid execution in 1942 thanks to the help of Ukrainians and Poles. At first, Helena Leshchynska sheltered Avram and Etka with their son Yuzef in her house. The days of the raids were memorable for both families – to overcome their fear, Helena and her two children performed church hymns.

After the liquidation of the ghetto, in the hope that the roundups had ended, the Lipman family tried to hide in outbuildings in their former yard. However, the danger did not pass, so they asked their neighbor Motria Popel and her son for shelter. The Ukrainian family took care of them until the end of the Nazi occupation of Boryslav.

In 2003, Yad Vashem recognized Helena Leshchynska and Motria, Vasyl and Stefania Popel as Righteous Among the Nations.