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The rural communities where Jews lived in eastern Galicia were largely agricultural. If there were 18 families in the village, half of them would earn their living solely from agriculture and the rest from petty trade. There were also Jews who owned estates and the remnants of estates which they had purchased from Polish nobles in the second half of the 19^th century and the first half of the 20^th century. In the eyes of the Ukrainian people, it was very natural to see Jews as estate owners. Relations between Jews, Ukrainians, and Poles were generally normal and even friendly. The same was true in the Radekhov district. One of the typical Jewish families in the area was the Tzvi (Heki) Krantz family from Vigoda [Wygoda]. This family was notable for its generosity, goodness, and self-sacrifice. These qualities were especially evident during the war years. Heki Krantz had six children, five daughters and one son: Zissel, Yetl, Ela, Gina, Joseph, and Nina. Unfortunately, no one from this family survived, and I have not been able to find even one photograph. Tzvi (Heki) Krantz owned a farm in Vigoda. Somehow, he managed to escape the Russian confiscation, and the farm remained in his hands until the Germans arrived. From then until the German-Russian war in 1941, his economic situation, relative to those times, was quite good. Many Jews were displaced from their homes immediately after the outbreak of the war. This home was always wide open to anyone who knocked on the door. Here is one of the many instances that reflect the generosity of this family's heart.

Two months after the German onslaught arrived, a young Jewish man from the nearby town of Leshnev [Leshniv] came to the house at night. Frightened and wounded over every part of his body, he said that during the Russian occupation of 1939-1941, he was a police officer at the Leshnev police station, along with many Ukrainians and Poles from that same place, something that was normal at that time. With the arrival of the Germans, the local Ukrainians began to persecute the Jews and collaborate with the Germans. The Ukrainian police (militia) in particular “excelled” at this. This was almost their entire method of operation. Among other things, they targeted this young man who served in the police during the Russian era, and they accused him of being a collaborator and informant for the Soviet NKVD. The Ukrainian police could arrest people for political reasons. The young man was arrested and severely tortured by the Ukrainian murderers. However, he managed to escape from their hands and found refuge with the Krantz family. Heki Krantz and his family received him with open arms. They fed and clothed him and hid him in their granary, undertakings that were considered dangerous because the Ukrainian militia often conducted searches for the purpose of robbery. The young man managed to hide in the house for several months until one day, when he was seen by chance, by a farmer from the town of Leshnev.

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It seemed that the farmer did not recognize him, but… a few days later, the Ukrainian militiamen appeared at night at Krantz's house, and after a vigorous search, discovered him and arrested him, but not before abusing the entire family. They led him in an unknown direction. Heki Krantz traveled furiously to Leshnev in the hope that he would be able to rescue him from the hands of the murderers in exchange for a decent ransom. After a few days of delay, he learned that in the meantime, the young man had been murdered. Despite the pleas of Leshnev Jews to cease his contact with the police in this matter and not put himself in a dangerous situation (dangerous from the point of view of the local Jews), he did not stop trying until the last glimmer of hope vanished. He even made an effort to bring him to the Jewish cemetery.

This house was always open to those who were persecuted who could not be in their own homes. Because of this, the house was always full to capacity. When the German Gestapo began to carry away Jews for forced labor, this house, isolated from the rest of the village, was the most convenient place to hide. When the “Aktions” began in September 1942 and when they learned that the city of Radekhov and the surrounding area were also in danger, Heki came up with the idea of sending girls to work in Germany in order to try to save them from the clutches of the Nazis. He did not make use of this plan for his daughters, who, based on outward appearances, could pass as Aryan. In this way, sending girls to Germany, several girls from this place managed to stay alive. Only his family did not survive. They were not so lucky.

In the last days before the Jews were deported to the ghetto, when economic hardships had reached their peak, the Krantz family shared a loaf of bread with anyone who entered the house. During the deportations to the ghetto and the Aktions, there were more than 20 people in the house. At the end of November or the beginning of December 1942, after being informed on, the Germans, accompanied by Ukrainians, attacked the house. Every living soul they found there at that moment, about 20 or so people, including Krantz's wife Chaya and four of his children, Zissel, Ela, Gina, and Nina, were brought to a nearby forest and shot dead. Chaim Suchman and his two sisters were also among these holy victims. Heki Krantz himself, his daughter, Yetl, a friend, and his son, Joseph, managed to hide until May 1943. In that month, they were found murdered in the fields in the village of Kulikov [Kulikiv]. Since no remnant of this family remains, it is imperative that we remember them here for the sake of future generations.

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