Jewhenia Bondaruk (1922–ok. 1995) Prokop Bondaruk (1918–2001) - Instytut Pileckiego

The medal / Recipients

Jewhenia Bondaruk (1922–ok. 1995) Prokop Bondaruk (1918–2001)

Awarded in 2023.

Yevhenia and Prokop Bondaruk lived near Yevhenia's mother, Oksana Karpiuk, and provided shelter not only to the youngest members of the Polish Adamowicz family, but also to their parents and grandmother.

After marrying Prokop Bondaruk, Yevhenia lived close to her mother Oksana Karpiuk in Sieniawka, Volhynia. The Polish Adamowicz family had its farmstead in nearby Aleksandrówka. The Adamowiczs survived an attack launched by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (faction of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists) on Aleksandrówka in the night from 15 to 16 July 1943, and since then had been living in hiding. During the day, four of their children hid in the corn – a fact that did not escape Oksana’s attention. Towards the end of August, firing once again erupted in Sieniawka. Oksana found the children at nightfall. She hid not only the youngest members of the Polish family at her home, but also the elderly – the parents and the grandmother. Oksana was aided by both her daughter and son-in-law. Soon, the Adamowicz family decided to split up: the parents took the three youngest children and concealed themselves in a bunker hidden in a field, while Teresa (the oldest daughter) and the grandmother, Tekla, moved to the Bondaruks’ farm. It would be hard to imagine Yevhenia and Prokop’s terror when Banderites started searching through their farm buildings. As Teresa recalled:

“They walked over the hay and stuck it with their bayonets. But there was a beam near where we were hiding, and so they did not bayonet us.”

During the next raid on Aleksandrówka, the Banderites murdered Teresa’s parents and her three siblings. Not wanting to further put the lives of her granddaughter and the Bondaruks at risk, Tekla Adamowicz donned a traditional Ukrainian apron and skirt and somehow smuggled Teresa through to the Zamość region. In 1944, they were joined by Michał, Tekla’s husband, who had been saved by the Ukrainian Kyts family. Yevhenia and Prokop Bondaruk survived the war. They moved to Czerwonogród, where they lived until their deaths in the 1990s.

Excerpt from a ledger of an Orthodox parish in Ośmigowicze [now Osmyhovychi] with an entry confirming the marriage of Yevhenia Karpiuk and Prokop Bondaruk on 18 February 1938 (State Archives of the Volyn Region in Lutsk)
Prokop Bondaruk. Private archives of Viktoriia Taranko
Prokop Bondaruk, sitting first from the left, 1947. Private archives of Viktoriia Taranko
Prokop Bondaruk (third from the left) and Yevhenia Bondaruk (forth from the left), 1962. Private archives of Viktoriia Taranko
Prokop Bondaruk (first from the left) and Yevhenia Bondaruk (first from the left), 1962. Private archives of Viktoriia Taranko

 

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