Ukraine war
Her grandmother saved a Jewess from the Nazis – now her granddaughters have been saved by their descendants
Just get out: Refugees are waiting in Poland for an opportunity to travel to Przemysl. There is sympathy for the wave of refugees from Ukraine worldwide – with a special story in Israel.
© Attila Husejnow/ / Picture Alliance
During World War II, Maria Blishchick saved the life of the Jewess Fanya Bass in Ukraine. Almost 80 years later, the Bass family has not forgotten the heroic deed. After the outbreak of war in Ukraine, they take in two of Maria Blishchick’s granddaughters.
Russia’s attack on Ukraine has led to a mass flight. More than 1.7 million people have already fled to Poland, and other countries bordering Ukraine have also taken in hundreds of thousands of refugees. Lesia Orshoko and Alona Chugai’s escape, on the other hand, has taken them to Israel – it’s the continuation of a rescue operation that began in World War II and led to a lifelong friendship and beyond.
During the Holocaust, Jews in Ukraine were literally slaughtered by the German occupiers. Around 1.5 million of the 2.7 million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust. According to the University of Augsburg, 900,000 fled together with the Red Army, only 100,000 Jews survived the horror in hiding in the Ukraine. One of the survivors was Fanya Bass, who was hidden by Maria Blishchick, grandmother of Lesia Orshoko and Alona Chugai. Fanya Bass had been living in a forest for almost a year fleeing the Nazis, where she was found by the Blishchick family in 1943, reports the “Jewish News”. “They took her into their home and treated her like their own daughter,” Bass’ granddaughter Sharon Bass told the newspaper. If the Nazis found out the Blishchicks were harboring a Jewish girl, that would have been their certain death sentence.
Families stayed in touch after the World War
But Fanya Bass remained undiscovered until the end of the war. After the war she also emigrated to Israel and founded a family that now offers Maria Blishchick’s granddaughters a new home. The families stayed in touch over the years and when war broke out in Ukraine, Sharon Bass’s family felt obliged to help their Ukrainian friends. “We talked to each other several times, they were afraid and wanted to come to Israel,” Sharon Boss told the “Jewish News”. “We Jews say that if you do something good, it will come back to you at some point. I just felt it was my duty to help them and pay the debt,” Bass said. She and her family welcomed Lesia into their home in Kiryat Ono – a town just a few kilometers west of Tel Aviv. Meanwhile, Alona lives with Bass’ parents just a few minutes’ drive away in Petach Tikwa. Bini Guttmann, President of the European Union of Jewish Students, shared a photo of the two arriving in Tel Aviv.
Efforts to obtain permanent visas for Ukrainian women
However, it took a while before the two families could be reunited. It was unclear whether the two Ukrainians could have come to Israel immediately, although they had each worked in the country for five years as descendants of a “Righteous Among the Nations”. The honorary title “Righteous Among the Nations” is given to non-Jewish individuals who saved Jews from murder under Nazi rule – including Maria Blishchick. However, after the Bass family launched a public campaign and Sharon Bass contacted the Israel Interior Authority, Lesia Orshoko and Alona Chugai received two visas and arrived in Israel from Rivne in north-western Ukraine last week, leaving parts of the family behind.
Given the war, it is completely unclear how long Lasia Orshoko and Alona Chugai will remain in Israel. Sharon Bass and her family continue to support the two Ukrainians. “We’re trying to get permanent residency. Nobody knows if they’ll have anything to go back to.”