VLADIMIR ILIUK

Joachim Iliuk, together with his son Vladimir Iliuk, his daughter Felicja Soroko and her son Henryk lived in the village of Biała-Woda, Vilnius district. The family owned a small cattle farm and had business relations with Jurek Blacher, a resident of the nearby town of Michaliszki. When the Germans decided to move the Jews of Michaliszki to the Vilnius ghetto in 1943, Blacher fled and sought refuge on the Iliuk farm. With the help of his son Vladimir, his daughter Felicja and her 15-year-old son Henryk, Iliuk set up a well-disguised hiding place for Blacher in the farm's barn. Iliuk and his family devotedly took care of Jurek Blacher, they lived together until July 1944, when the Red Army liberated the area. When the war was over, the owners already considered Jurek one of the family. Iliuk and his family refused Blacher's offer of repayment, saying that they had simply obeyed their conscience and helped an acquaintance who was being persecuted by a common enemy. Blacher later left Poland and, in letters to Iliuk's grandson, acknowledged the help they had given him in his darkest hour.