In Cellars, Pits and Attics
Pavel & Lyubov Gerasimchik and their children, Klavdiya Kucheruk , Galina Gavrishchuk and Nikolay
Pavel (Pavlo) and Lyubov (Lubka) Gerasimchik and their three teenage children, Klavdiya, Galina and Nikolay, lived in the village of Szubkow, close to the town of Tuczyn in the Równe District, Wołyń. In 1935, Pavlo Gerasimchik became acquainted with Isaak Khomut (later Emmet), a well-to-do Jew from Tuczyn who was married with two daughters. When the Germans occupied the area at the beginning of July 1941, unlike most of the locals, Gerasimchik did not turn his back on his Jewish acquaintance. Despite the hardships brought about by the war, his thoughts turned to the Jewish family who were in even greater danger and need, and he told the Khomuts that he would be willing to host them in his home should it become necessary.
In September 1942, when preparations were made to liquidate the Tuczyn ghetto, the Khomut family decided to flee and head for Szubkow. Their attempt failed, and they were forced to return to their house in the ghetto. To their great surprise, the following day Gerasimchik appeared at the Khomuts' residence and offered to hide the family in his home for a short while. The Khomuts took Gerasimchik up on his offer, and when it became dark, Khomut's wife Polina and their eight-year-old daughter Lara secretly left the ghetto and were driven by Pavlo to his village, hidden under the straw in his cart. A few days later, after the ghetto was liquidated, Khomut joined his wife and child. The Khomuts' eldest daughter Hanele had been handed over to another family that had promised to save her. Unfortunately, they betrayed her to the authorities, and she was killed.
In view of the danger to anyone offering aid to Jews, the decision to take in a Jewish family was probably a very hard decision for Gerasimchik. By agreeing save the Jewish refugees, he put not only himself but also his entire family in danger. In fact, intense searches for Jews were repeatedly carried out in the area, and locals caught harboring Jews paid with their lives. Gerasimchik was very troubled by having endangered himself and his family. Soon after the Khomuts arrived, he reminded them that he had only invited them into his home for a short time, and asked them to leave. However, watching the Jewish family sadly preparing to depart from the relative safety of his home to what was certain death Gerasimchik had a change of heart, and instead of letting his wards move on, began to build a hideout for them under his threshing floor.
Thus, what began with an offer of temporary shelter evolved into Gerasmichik hiding the Khomut family for the duration of the occupation. For 18 months, the Jewish family secretly stayed in two hideouts in the Gerasimchik's yard. Gerasimchik's wife and children played an active role in caring for and saving the Jewish family. They brought them food and cleaned the chamber pots every day, and at night they stood guard while their charges briefly left the hideout to breathe some fresh air. The entire Gerasimchik family worked hard to provide food for the extra mouths – not an easy task at a time of war. Towards the end of the occupation, as the Germans were retreating, 15 German soldiers billeted themselves on the Gerasimchiks' property. They stayed on the threshing floor exactly above the heads of the hidden Jews. For almost two weeks, until the Red Army liberated the area on 15 February 1944, the Gerasimchiks could not bring the Khomuts any food.
After liberation, Gerasimchik returned the gold watch that the Khomuts had given them when they first moved into their home. The Khomuts eventually immigrated to the United States.
On March 15, 1990, Yad Vashem recognized Pavel and Lyubov Gerasimchik as Righteous Among the Nations. Their children Klavdiya Kucheruk, Galina Gavrishchuk, and Nikolay Gerasimchik were awarded the title on December 6, 1999.
Historical background
Tuczyn is situated in Volhynia, a district in northwestern Ukraine. When the Germans occupied the town on 6 July 1941, the Ukrainians immediately staged a pogrom, murdering 70 people. The following day, the German Einsatzgruppen killed another 30 Jews. In 1942, Tuczyn’s 3,000 Jews were confined to a ghetto. The Jews organized a resistance, and when on 24 September 1942 German and Ukrainian police moved in to liquidate the ghetto, the small underground group began shooting and setting houses on fire. In the confusion that ensued, some 2,000 Jews were able to flee. Most were caught and murdered; only a small number were able to survive the Holocaust.
From the testimony of Isaak Khomut:
…We were immersed in our sad thoughts when all of a sudden Pavel arrived. He was embarrassed, as if the deeds of his neighbors shamed him. He had heard about the ghetto, and it was clear that we were doomed. It wasn’t easy to express sympathy with the fate of the Jews, and he was mulling over what he could do to help us at this critical moment. We told him that we wanted to leave the ghetto, even for a few days, to see how matters would develop. Pavel saw our distress, and said that if we needed shelter for a short time, we could come to his place…
[After they had arrived at his home] Pavel was deeply frightened when he saw the ghetto go up in flames, but he did everything in his power to calm my wife and daughter down. He moved them to the barn and hid them in the straw. When it became too hot for them, he put them on top of the hay in the barn. That was where I found them when I arrived in the village. He had supplied them with food and drink. I realized that Pavel was a good man. He knew that his help to us put his entire family at risk. I had never seen such a delicate and sensitive person. Pavel wasn’t very happy with my arrival. He feared that his neighbors had seen me come, but I told him that I had arrived unnoticed. He also remembered that I had asked for short-term shelter. He agreed that we would stay until we found a way out. We thought that liberation would come soon, and stayed in his home. It never entered our minds that we would stay for such a long time…
We decided to leave his home on Sunday and go to Tuczyn. We didn’t believe that begging him to stay would help, because we had seen how nervous his wife was about his bringing us to their home. Pavel was very worried about informers. And above all, we knew that he was a poor peasant who hardly was able to make ends meet. The food he gave us was at the expense of his family. Suddenly we heard shots from the direction of Tuczyn. We were very frightened… Pavel decided to go to Tuczyn to see what was going on. He came back depressed. On his return he told us that we would have to stay with him, because there was nowhere to go… We told Pavel that he was unable to keep us, because he was giving us his own bread. He said that at this time he could not drive us away from his home. Pavel was afraid that one of his neighbors would discover our presence, so he prepared a hideout under the hay in his yard. We had to hide like animals in the hay. It was very crowded. During the day it was very hot, and there was a smell from the pot that we used for our excretions, which was next to us the entire time. At night, Pavel would empty the container and return it. It was most uncomfortable to have Pavel do this for us. We sat in the hideout for several weeks. We couldn’t wash or change clothes. We had lice, and scratched ourselves. But we had to get used to this life. We created a little hole in the haystack for some fresh air and light…
On 4 November 1942, the last massacre took place. This was when my dear daughter Hanele was murdered. After the massacre, they announced that whoever hid a Jew would be executed with his family and his farm would be burned down. After this decree, Pavel panicked and pressured us to leave for the forest. Pavel felt bad when he saw us crying, and he left and covered the hole with a sack. A few days passed. We thought incessantly about finding a way out. We wanted to release our good Pavel of the burden and the fear we were causing him and his family. Suddenly, we heard the dog bark. We knew that the dog barked only when strangers approached the place, and soon we saw two Ukrainian policemen coming toward us. They circled the yard and stopped near our haystack. They interrogated Pavel as to whether he had seen Jews here or at his neighbors’ place. Pavel was uncomfortable, and said that he hadn’t seen Jews for a long time. The policemen said that they had a report about Jews, and he’d better admit [his guilt]. Pavel emphatically denied the charges. The policemen left. A short while later, I saw Ukrainian policemen lead Leibl Briman, his wife, the teacher Genia, their two-year-old son and his wife’s sister away. Pavel later found out that they had been found in a haystack, just like ours, on a nearby farm.
The situation deteriorated. There were cases of entire Christian families that were killed because they had hidden Jews. We couldn’t stay on…
One evening, Pavel brought us food and said that he realized we had nowhere to go to. He understood our fear of life in the forest and had therefore decided to dig a hole for us in the barn so that we could take shelter there until the danger passed. Of course I joined him in the digging. We dug the entire night near the barn. The entry [to the hole] was from inside the barn. Pavel poured the sand we had dug out into the river so that there would be no sign left [of the digging]. Any change could have provoked suspicions. That night we moved into the hole. The conditions there were terrible. It was humid and airless. When I told Pavel about the problems, he suggested that we hide in the straw in the barn. We arranged ourselves in the straw. We could only lie down, because when we sat up, our heads stuck out of the straw. Despite the many hardships we spent 16 months in the straw…
Pavel’s financial situation was terrible. He had a small farm and young children. He worked the farm on his own. It was no wonder he couldn’t really feed us. Our main food was potatoes cooked with their peels… We sometimes suffered from the heat in summer and had no water to drink. Pavel didn’t bring water because he saw children playing nearby, and was afraid they would see him bringing food to the barn. They would tell their parents, and this would mean the end for us and for his family. It is interesting to note that despite the difficult conditions, the many dangerous moments, the loss of hope to ever be able to live a normal life, we didn’t want to die. More than once we felt the closeness of death. Ukrainian police often conducted searches in the neighborhood. Every time they caught a Jew, the searches would intensify…
When the Germans were already on the retreat, they dug trenches along the river. They situated their headquarters in Pavel’s home. Fifteen soldiers were stationed in the barn for 12 days. They sprawled on the hay under which we were hiding. We were in a state of constant alert. We knew we couldn’t sneeze or cough. My wife and I were awake all the time. We were hungry and thirsty. Pavel couldn’t come near us. The guards stood over the opening all night. Again, a miracle…
On 15 February 1945, the area was liberated. We stayed another few days in our hideout. We waited until the situation had stabilized. The murderers were still raging. We wanted to know if there were any Jews left, and how the Soviets were treating the Jews.
Several days later, Pavel heard that there were a few Jews in Tuczyn. We prepared to return to our destroyed town.
We had to walk along the walls. Our legs didn’t move. We were careful that the villagers wouldn’t discover us. The Ukrainian murderers mercilessly killed Jews because they were afraid they would testify against them. It has to be mentioned that some Jews who had survived the Nazi hell were killed by Ukrainians after liberation. We said farewell to Pavel and his family. I would like to underscore again the noble attitude of Pavel and his wife. Not only didn’t they want payment for the food they gave us, but he also gave us clothes and food for the way. My wife had given Pavel a gold watch when she arrived at his home, and when we left he gave it back to her. Pavel and his wife were happy when they saw us leave their home after the terrible ordeal.
In Tuczyn we found 12 Jews. It is hard to describe the reunion with the remnants of what once was a vibrant community. Everyone told their sad story. We cried as we remembered our dear ones who died terrible deaths. Only then did we feel the horrible loneliness. We were all put into one house by the Russian police. Bands of murderers were still raging and we feared an attack.
We have never forgotten for one minute the terrible catastrophe that befell us and our innocent loved ones who were tortured and murdered. We pay tribute and owe a debt of gratitude to our good friend Pavel Gerasimchik and his family who risked their lives and saved us from certain death…
From the Testimony of Laura Oberlander
Then, six weeks before liberation, would you believe that the German soldiers made their stand in our barn?… They took over the farm… The German soldiers slept on top of the hay. And at that time, Pavlo insisted that he put their horses in the barn… because he wanted to have some kind of movement, so that if they heard something they would think it was the horses… There was a whole bunch of German soldiers on top of us, and we could hear them inhaling cigarettes. For the six weeks, my father had his hand on my mouth and nose constantly. God forbid you wanted to sneeze. Or cough. Or anything…