Bank of Portraits / Bochkov Yevheniia, Melaniia, Borys and Heorhii

Bochkov Yevheniia, Melaniia, Borys and Heorhii

Yevheniia Bochkova lived in Vinnytsia. She became a widow and raised four children alone. At the outbreak of war, her eldest son went to the front, and she stayed in the occupied city with her three younger children - Melania, Heorhii, and Borys. The Jewish family of Rakhman lived next door to the Bochkovs: Samuel and Etia with their teenage sons and Etia's mother Ester Shkolnyk. The families had good relations, and their children were friends.

A month after Vinnytsia was occupied, the extermination of Jews began. One of the Rakhman's sons, Aaron, was killed during one of the shooting operations in August 1941, and on September 19, Etia and her mother were also killed by the Nazis.

Samuel Rakhman and his younger son Yurii were moved to a ghetto in the city district of Jerusalymka. Yevhenia's children visited their former neighbors almost every day, bringing them food. The shootings repeated from time to time, so Samuel asked Yevheniia to hide him and the boy for a while. The Jews, therefore, stayed with the Bochkovs for several weeks. Samuel realized that he was endangering the widow and her children, so he decided to stay in a labor camp for Jewish artisans. The Rakhmans stayed there until March 1943 and then asked Yevheniia to take them back.

After the war, the families remained friends. As soon as an opportunity emerged, Yurii Rakhman made public the story of his rescue by the Bochkovs.

In 1995, Yad Vashem recognized Yevheniia, Melaniia, and Borys Bochkov as Righteous Among the Nations, and in 2001, Heorhii Bochkov was awarded this title as well.

Svitlana Demchenko

Kyiv

The National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War

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