Galina Gerasimchik grew up on her parents’ farm in the village of Szubków (now Shubkiv, Ukraine). She had two siblings, Klavdiya and Nikolay Gerasimchik.
In September 1942, Galina’s father Pavel Gerasimchik brought an endangered Jewish family to the farm. Isaak and Polina Khomut and their daughter had narrowly escaped the murder of all the Jews in neighboring Tuczyn (now Tuchyn) by the German occupiers. For 18 months, the Gerasimchik family hid the Khomuts in their barn. 14-year-old Galina Gerasimchik helped her father to take care of the Jewish family.
The Israeli Holocaust memorial center Yad Vashem honored Galina Gavrishchuk née Gerasimchik as Righteous Among the Nations in 1999.
The Gerasimchik family outside their house in Shubkiv after their liberation. Back row, right to left: the sisters Galina and Klavdiya, their mother Lyubov, two relatives, front row: foster-daughter Sinaida Shpak and Pavel Gerasimchik (seated). Source: Yad Vashem Archives, Jerusalem, 4577
