Church Rescue in Poland- Part 2

PART 1 PART 2 - See Below

PART 3

Polish Priests Recognized by Yad Vashem

1. Wojciech, Bartosik, Wawrzenczyce, Miechow, Kielce

Bartosik, Wojciech

See also Bukowski, Włodzimierz Bukowska, Helena Goetel, Jadwiga

The Reibscheid family—Marian Reibscheid, his wife, Rosa Reibscheid-Feliks, and their son, Edward (b. 1938)—were from Kraków. In 1940, having procured Aryan papers, they escaped from Kraków and moved to Wawrzeńczyce, a town in the area. The local priest, Wojciech Bartosik, was quite influential in the town; he was extremely welcoming toward them and helped them find their feet in their new location. The Reibscheids believed it was best for them to all be baptized. Bartosik obliged, while fully understanding that this was not a true baptism but merely a way to escape persecution. He also provided for their nonspiritual needs: food, respectable paid work for Marian, release from forced labor for Rosa, and even Polish parents’ names registered in his books for the Reibscheid's parents. July 1942 saw Jewish families transferred to the town by the Germans. This encroachment of the regime increased the danger for the Reibscheids. Wojciech found them a family to stay with. Włodzimierz Bukowski was a well-off Polish estate owner. He lived with his sister and his sister-in-law, Helena Bukowska. (Helena later moved to a different village nearby.) They received the Reibscheids warmly and provided for them. When need arose, the Jews hid, but most of the time they simply lived on the estate together with the Bukowskis. One day a local tailor by the name of Latał reported the Bukowskis for sheltering Jews.

It was September 1942, and the police were raiding the town, looking for Jews who might be hiding there. Someone tipped the Reibscheids off that people were out to get them. Rosa picked up little Edward and ran with him to the village that Helena Bukowska had moved to. Helena sent word to Marian’s workplace to warn him of the danger, and he was able to jump on a bicycle and escape to Kraków. Rosa and Edward spent the night hiding in the local church and returned to Helena’s home in the morning. They spent three days with her and then joined Marian in Kraków. From there, in 1943, they decided to move to Warsaw. In Warsaw, they were sent to Jadwiga Goetel, the wife of a famous Polish writer, who greeted them warmly and helped in every way she could. She found a position for Rosa as a seamstress and a job for Marian as an engineer. She kept them in her own home for three months, until they were able to find an apartment for themselves. Once the Warsaw Uprising broke out, Marian volunteered to fight and was killed in battle. Rosa and Edward were sent to a transit camp in Pruszków and were liberated from there by the Russians in January 1945. Rosa returned to Judaism, remarried, and moved to Israel with her new husband and son in 1948.

On January 14, 2014, Yad Vashem recognized Wojciech Bartosik, Włodzimierz Bukowski, Helena Bukowska, and Jadwiga Goetel as Righteous Among the Nations. File 12765

2. Brunon Boguszewski (Kraków) -- [Antoni Bradło, not then yet a priest]

See also Bradło Szczepan, Bradło Klara, Bradło Antoni Bradło Tadeusz and Kozioł-Bradło Franciszka

Bradło, Eugeniusz

In the autumn of 1942, Avram Einspruch and Benjamin Dereszewicz arrived at the home of Szczepan and Klara Bradło, a peasant couple who lived in the village of Lubcza, near Tarnow, asking for shelter for them and their relatives. The Bradłos, who were humble and simple folk, decided to save their Jewish neighbors. Together with their children, Tadeusz, Eugeniusz, and Franciszka, and even their little boy Antoni, they dug a large hideout under the floor of the hayloft, installed wooden bunks, and arranged a special hatch for serving food and removing waste. From the moment the thirteen Jewish refugees entered the hideout, the Bradłos looked after them devotedly. Since purchasing food for thirteen people would have aroused suspicion, the children took to grounding grains of rye themselves with a grindstone. Franciszka in particular, baked bread, cooked and washed the clothes of the refugees. The strain of hiding and caring for so many refugees took its toll on the mother, Klara, and until her death, she suffered from psychological ailments. In risking their lives for the Jewish refugees, the Bradłos, who were devout Catholics, were prompted by religious-humanitarian considerations only. In January 1945, after the Red Army liberated the area, the survivors – the three member of the Reich family, the six members of the Bochner family, the Dereszewicz couple, Avram Einspruch and Israel Hamel – left Poland.

Most of them continued corresponding with the Bradłos’ children, after the parents passed away. The Bradłos’ trials did not end with the refugees’ departure. At the end of the war, when their rescue venture became public knowledge, a gang of nationalist thugs accused the Bradłos of “betraying the homeland,” robbed the family, and demanded a ransom.

On February 6, 1986, Yad Vashem recognized Klara and Szczepan Bradło, their sons Antoni, Tadeusz and Eugeniusz, and their daughter, Franciszka Kozioł (née Bradło), as Righteous Among the Nations. File 3351

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004.

2. Stanisław Falkowski (Piekuty Nowe near Białystok)

Falkowski, Stanislaw

In January 1943, when the Germans entered the Warsaw ghetto and evacuated thousands of Jews, 14-year-old Josef-Arie Fajwiszys was put on a train to Treblinka. As the train drew near the camp, Fajwiszys jumped off, and began wandering through villages and fields in snow and freezing weather. Exhausted and starving, he reached the village of Piekuty Nowe, in the county of Wysokie Mazowieckie, in the Bialystok district where, at dead of night, he knocked on the door of Stanislaw Falkowski, the village priest. Although Josef-Arie told Falkowski that he was Jewish and that he had escaped from the transport, Falkowski gave him a warm reception, and arranged a hiding place for him in his courtyard near the church, where Fajwiszys stayed for four months. In due course, Falkowski arranged “Aryan” papers for him, which enabled him to register as a volunteer for work in Germany, where he remained until the Allied Forces liberated the area. After the war, Fajwiszys immigrated to the United States. In 1977, Falkowski was invited to Israel to plant a tree in the Avenue of the Righteous Among the Nations in Yad Vashem, Jerusalem. In saving Fajwiszys’ life, Stanislaw Falkowski was inspired by Christian love rooted in a deep religious faith, which overrode considerations of personal safety.

On October 20, 1977, Yad Vashem recognized the priest, Stanislaw Falkowski, as a Righteous Among the Nations. File 1175.

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004

3. Władysław Głowacki (Warsaw) 1901 - ?

Głowacki, Władysław

From October 1940 to August 1942, Władysław Głowacki exploited his position as priest of the Leszno Street church in the Warsaw ghetto, to provide a number of Jews, including Amelia and Rudolf Arcichowski, Aleksander Bender, Tadeusz Seidenbentel and his father, Maksymilian, with “Aryan” documents. Głowacki also sheltered Helena Łabędź in his apartment from the summer of 1942 until January 1945, when the area was liberated. Głowacki considered helping Jews as part of the struggle against the occupiers, and as both a patriotic and religious duty.

On October 28, 1982, Yad Vashem recognized Władysław Głowacki as Righteous Among the Nations. File 2359

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004

4. Marceli Godlewski (Warsaw) 1865-1945

Godlewski, Dr. Rev. Marceli

The original territory of the Warsaw Ghetto included two Catholic churches: the Holy Virgin on Leszno Street and the All Saints on Grzybowski Square. The first one was under the jurisdiction of the priest Puder, who aided many Jews and even let them dig a tunnel to the Aryan side from under the church floor. The second church was in the care of Dr. Rev. Marceli Godlewski. He was then 74 and had been vocally anti-Semitic most of his life in his work as both a priest and a publicist. When he found himself working within the ghetto, however, as one of his Jewish beneficiaries testified, “He said he had been wrong all his life, not having known any Jews personally. Now that he had met us up close, he turned into a true friend.” The parish buildings close to the church had been repopulated by Jewish families, about 100 people altogether. Approximately half of them were converts to Catholicism who were not well received by the other ghetto prisoners. In the eyes of the regime, however, they were the same as Jews and were treated accordingly. Godlewski took them into his fold, and then extended the same care to their Jewish neighbors, who included the Zamenhofs, relations of Ludwik Zamenhof (the creator of Esperanto), the Zilbers, and many others. Godlewski used the space of the church to create, with the support of the Caritas charitable organization and the social department of the Judenrat (Jewish council), a soup kitchen that served soup and bread daily to the ghetto inmates, primarily the children.

He also offered spiritual guidance and support indiscriminately, regardless of religious denomination, and was involved in creating the tunnel under the church on Leszno Street, which served for smuggling goods into and people out of the ghetto. Many prisoners believed and later testified that he had been instrumental in their survival.

On July 14, 2009, Yad Vashem recognized Marceli Godlewski as Righteous Among the Nations. File 9841

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004

5. Józef Gorajek (Wąwolnica near Lublin) 1908 -?

Gorajek, Józef

In 1942, after escaping from the Warsaw ghetto, Danuta Winnik and her seven-year-old son, Eugeniusz, arrived in the village of Niezabitow, in the Lublin district, where Józef Gorajek served as a Catholic priest. Despite her “Aryan” appearance and forged papers, the peasants suspected Winnik and her son of being Jewish. Gorajek, who took them under his wing, undertook to baptize the child, but before he could do so, a group of villagers protested, claiming that the child was Jewish. Gorajek, however, stuck by his assertion that the child was Christian. When Eugeniusz’s mother had to leave the village for a while, Gorajek took care of the child. The fact that the Winniks survived until the liberation without being betrayed or attacked by the local villagers was only thanks to the religious authority Gorakjek wielded among them. In endangering his life to help Winnik and her son, Gorajek was guided by sincere humanitarian and religious motives. After the war, Winnik and her son immigrated to the United States. Forty-five years later, Eugeniusz came to Poland to visit Father Gorajek. When he thanked him for all he had done on his behalf, Gorajek answered: “I do not need gratitude, but what I would like is to have a tree in Israel planted in my name.”

On June 19, 1989, Yad Vashem recognized Father Józef Gorajek as Righteous Among the Nations. File 4298

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004

6. Michał Kubacki (Salesian Father, Warsaw) 1896 -1978

Kubacki, Michał

In April 1943, during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, the Germans discovered where Halina Aszkenazy was hiding, and dispatched her on a transport leaving the city. After jumping off the train, Aszkenazy made her way, with tremendous difficulty, back to Warsaw, where she knocked on the door of Michał Kubacki, a director of the Christian charity “Charitas,” and priest of the Bazylika Church in the Praga suburb of Warsaw. Kubacki, who knew Aszkenazy’s mother and had promised in the past to help her and her daughter, welcomed Halina, and immediately provided her with false birth and baptism certificates. Aszkenazy hid in a room in the church for three months, during which time she became acquainted with Christian prayers and rituals. At one point, Aszkenazy was joined by an eight-year-old Jewish girl, who was later adopted, at Kubacki’s recommendation, by a Christian family. Kubacki, inspired by compassion and religious faith, also financed the upkeep of two young girls whose rescuers were unable to support them. After being provided by Kubacki with a German Kennnkarte (identity card), Aszkenazy left her hiding place, and after numerous ordeals, was liberated by the Red Army. After the war, Aszkenazy immigrated to Israel where she wrote her memoirs, including Kubacki’s role in saving her life, in a book entitled "I Wanted to Live".

On February 10, 1997, Yad Vashem recognized Michał Kubacki as Righteous Among the Nations. File 7482.

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004

7. Albin Małysiak (Kraków, now a bishop) (1917 - 2011)

Małysiak, Albin
Wilemska, Bronisława

During the occupation, Reverend Albin Małysiak and Sister Bronisława Wilemska helped five Jews. At that time, Sister Bronisława was the head of the Helcls Home for the Aged and Retarded in Kraków, where Reverend Albin was chaplain. In 1943, five Jews came to the home and stayed there as wards: Katarzyna Styczeń, 45; Helena Kachel, 50; Zbigniew Koszanowski, who was in his forties; Henryk Juański, who was in his thirties, and another man who was aged between 30 and 35. They were provided with forged papers, meals, and clothing. “We helped them for humanitarian reasons. Jesus Christ told us to love everybody,” wrote Reverend Albin in his testimony to Yad Vashem. In the spring of 1944, all the tenants of the Home, including the sisters, nurses, and secular staff, were deported by the Germans to Szczawnica Zdrój, Nowy Sącz district. The five Jews also went along to Szczawnica as if they were regular residents of the home. “Nearly all those living in the Home knew that Sister Wilemska and I were hiding Jews,” wrote Rev. Albin. Many of the residents of Szczawnica knew it too, but no one informed the authorities, despite the fact that there was a German police post in the neighborhood. Helena Kachel died in the fall of 1944. Soon afterwards, Katarzyna Styczeń also died. The men survived until the liberation in January 1945. Katarzyna’s daughter, Maria Rolicka, went to Szczawnica after receiving news of her mother’s death.

“I talked to the sisters and the Reverend father who helped my mother and the four other Jews,” she wrote. Reverend Albin told her that he and her mother had many “long talks and discussions. We used to walk in Górny Park in Szczawnica and discuss different problems of Jews, Poles, and humanity in general.” On November 21, 1993, Yad Vashem recognized Reverend Albin Małysiak as Righteous Among the Nations.

On April 25, 1995, Yad Vashem recognized Sister Bronisława Wilemska as Righteous Among the Nations. Files 5895, 5895a

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004

8. Stanisław Mazak (Szczurowice near Radziechów) 1906 - ?

Mazak, Stanisław (Father)

Mazak Stanisław, a Roman-Catholic priest, was the spirit behind the campaign to save a group of Jews from the village of Szczurowice, in the Radziechów county, in the Tarnopol voivodeship. In his sermons in the local church, Father Mazak would call upon the faithful to take part in saving the persecuted, trying to convince them to do what they could, even at the cost of self-sacrifice. And indeed, the much-admired Father Mazak’s flock responded to his appeal and extended their assistance to the Jews hiding in the area. Under Father Mazak’s influence, even farmers who did not personally hide Jews in their homes volunteered to help them, providing food and keeping their hiding places secret from their Ukranian nationalist neighbors. Mazak himself visited the hiding places, cheering up the Jewish fugitives, providing them with medicine as needed, all without asking for or receiving anything in return. In one case, the priest provided Sczarlota Wechsler / or Wechslier (= primo voto; Donatova- secundo voto), her husband Dr. Wechsler / or Wechslier and her four-year-old son with “Aryan” papers. Afterwards, he accompanied Szarlota and her son to Kraków, and after learning that the mother had been sent for forced labor to Germany (she was sent to Bavaria), moved her son to a Catholic children’s home in Warsaw, where his life was saved (Dr. Wechsler / or Wechslier, fought during the Warsaw uprising, unfortunately he perished (he jumped from a train and probably was shot to death).

In early 1944, Ukrainian collaborators learned of Father Mazak’s efforts to save Jews and sentenced him to death. After he was forewarned of the danger to his life, the priest managed to flee from his village. He hid out in the nearby city of Łopatyn, and after the war, moved to the town of Pszczyna located in the Silesian voivodeship.

On the 16th of February 1984, Yad Vashem recognized (Father) Mazak Stanisław, as a Righteous Among theNations. File 2788a

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004

9. Franciszek Orzechowski (Dobczyce near Kraków) 1915 - ?

Orzechowski, Franciszek

The members of the Glecer family, who fled from Krakow in 1941 to the nearby town of Dobczyce, knew Franciszek Orzechowski after having once rented an apartment from his uncle. Orzechowski was a young man who inspired their trust, and he soon became their close friend and confidant. After restrictions were imposed on Jewish travel, Orzechowski became the go-between for the Jewish family. Without asking for or receiving anything in return, he carried out various errands for them, such as buying food and medicine and getting doctors for them when members of the family fell ill. The Glecer family was eventually forced to reenter the Krakow ghetto, and they then renewed their contact with Orzechowski. In March 1943, during the liquidation of the ghetto, Rena Glecer and her mother escaped and Orzechowski found them a place to hide. In the summer of that year, Orzechowski made contact with a man who smuggled people across the border and he took Glecer and her mother into Slovakia, from where they made their way to Hungary and Romania and were saved. After the war, Glecer and her mother immigrated to Belgium, from where they made contact with Orzechowski. They helped him financially and invited him to visit them in their home.

On April 8, 1986, Yad Vashem recognized Franciszek Orzechowski as Righteous Among the Nations. File 3390

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004

10. Aleksander Osiecki (Brzeźnica near Dębica)

Osiecki, Aleksander

See also Musiał, Franciszek Stalmach, Jan Stalmach, Anna Stalmach, Adam

In 1940, Oscar and Fryda Haber were sent to a forced-labor camp in Pustkow, near Brzeznica, the village where they were born in the Debica county, in the Rzeszow district. Oscar, a dentist, had treated many of the people in his village, and he and Father Aleksander Osiecki, the local priest and one of his patients, had become fast friends. To help them, Osiecki issued Haber and his wife Christian birth and marriage certificates, which they used to obtain “Aryan” papers. In August 1942, when the Germans were about to liquidate the camp, the Habers decided to flee. The priest directed them to the home of relatives of his that lived in the nearby village of Jurkow, and they remained there, working on the farm until May 1943. Following information provided by informants, the Gestapo raided the village, but the Habers spotted them in time and managed to escape to the forest. At this point, Haber and his wife realized that they could no longer hide out in that village, and in their distress they turned to Franciszek Musiał, a Polish laborer who had worked alongside them on the farm and with whom they had become friendly. Musiał empathized with the Jewish fugitives’ suffering, and he took the Habers to the home of Jan and Anna Stalmach, his sister and brother-in-law, who lived with their son Adam in Tworkowa, a remote village, in the Brzesko county, in the Krakow district.

Motivated by pure altruism, the Stalmach family received the Habers warmly, and hid them in their home for a year and a half, providing them with all their needs until their liberation, without asking for or receiving anything in return. After the war, Fryda and Oscar Haber immigrated to the United States.

On August 21, 1990, Yad Vashem recognized Father Aleksander Osiecki, Franciszek Musiał, Jan Stalmach, his wife Anna Stalmach and their son Adam Stalmach as Righteous Among the Nations. File

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004

11. Andrzej Osikowicz (sometimes spelled Osikiewicz, Borysław) 1900 - 1943

Aided Jews in Boryslaw, Drohobycz and Lwow. Provided shelter and forged papers.

Recognized by Yad Vashen on August 8, 1995. File 6700

12. Jan Patrzyk (Lipinki near Gorlice)

Patrzyk, Jan (Father) Patrzyk, Barbara

Dr. Meir Ajzenberg, a Jewish doctor, and Jan Patrzyk, a priest, had become friends before the war when they both served in Medenice, near Drohobycz, in Eastern Galicia. During the occupation, Patrzyk was transferred to the village of Lipinki, in the Gorlice county, in the Krakow district, and Ajzenberg was deported with his family to the Drohobycz ghetto. In 1942, after losing his wife in an Aktion, Ajzenberg decided to try to at least save his 15-year-old daughter Judit. He turned to his friend Father Patrzyk, and smuggled the girl into his home. Patrzyk took the Jewish girl under his wing and obtained “Aryan” papers for her. She became a part of his family, and his sister Barbara Patrzyk cared for the Jewish girl as if she were her own sister. After the war, when Patrzyk discovered that his friend Meir Ajzenberg, the girl’s father, had perished, Judit remained under his care and continued her studies in the local high school. Only after a year, when an aunt of the girl was found, was she handed over to her, all without ever asking for or receiving anything at all in return. Judit eventually immigrated to Israel and, never forgetting the kindness she found in the home of Father Patrzyk and his sister Barbara, remained in touch with them for many years and sent them packages to help them out.

On September 4, 1979, Yad Vashem recognized Jan Patrzyk as Righteous Among the Nations. On September 4, 1991, Yad Vashem recognized Barbara Patrzyk as Righteous Among the Nations. File 1679.

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004

13. Jan Pawlicki (Zborów)

Pawlicki, Jan

See also Bogucki, Karol and Schüssel, Alfred

In 1942, after the massacres perpetrated by the Germans and Ukrainians against the Jews of Zborow, in the Tarnopol district, Menahem Doll and his wife, Anna, decided to flee with their daughter, Janina. Jan Pawlicki, the local priest, came to their aid, by providing them with false documents and transferring them to nearby Brzezany. While in Brzezany, Doll found work through a friend, Karol Bogucki, who passed the Dolls off as acquaintances of his. In 1943, the Gestapo, on the basis of a tip-off, arrested the Dolls. When Bogucki discovered what had happened, he hurried to the Gestapo and testified that the Dolls were Polish friends of his. After the Dolls were released, Doll found work as an accountant in a Polish office run by Dr. Alfred Schüssel. Although Schüssel knew that the Dolls were Jewish, he tried to help them to the best of his ability. Inter alia, he went to the population registry to testify that their papers were authentic. When the Dolls were re-arrested by the Gestapo, Schüssel used his ties with government officials to obtain their release. Schüssel also helped other Jews, among them the wife and the daughter of Shmuel Rita. With his help they were released from the prison in Brzezany, and then Schüssel helped to find hideouts for them. The Dolls were liberated by the Red Army in the summer of 1944, after which they immigrated to Israel, while their benefactors moved to an area within the new borders of Poland.

They later described their three benefactors as courageous people who, out of humanitarian considerations, risked their lives to help them in their time of need.

On April 29, 1969, Yad Vashem recognized Karol Bogucki and Jan Pawlicki as Righteous Among the Nations. On October 7, 1969, Yad Vashem recognized Alfred Schüssel as Righteous Among the Nations. File 523.

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004

14. Jan Poddębniak (Krężnica Jara near Lublin)

Poddebniak, Jan see also Janczarek, Władysław

“In September 1942, during the liquidation of the Lublin ghetto, 20-year-old Sara Bas and her 13-year-old sister, Lea, escaped from the ghetto after their entire family had perished. Since none of their Polish acquaintances were prepared to take them in, they roamed from village to village for about a month trying to find shelter, but in vain. At night, they hid in abandoned ruins and in Lublin’s old cemetery. In early November 1942, on the verge of despair, Władysław Janczarek, an old acquaintance of their father’s, noticed them and approached them cautiously, offering them help. Since Janczarek was unable to put the two girls up in his home, he arranged to meet with them next day and bring them two “Aryan” birth certificates of relatives of the same age, so that they could register for work in Germany. The two sisters, however, continued wandering around Lublin for several more months, until they found work in the home of a Polish woman. Since they were well known in their hometown, the sisters feared discovery and therefore decided to ask the nuns who worked in the local hospital for help. The nuns put them in touch with Jan Poddebniak, a priest, who advised them to register for work in Germany. Enlisting the help of the Chief Recruitment Officer, Father Poddebniak arranged for the two sisters to be sent to Germany, where they worked in a hospital for foreign workers until the area was liberated.

“Father Poddebniak made a point of sending them letters, to allay suspicion as to their identity. In helping the Bas sisters, Janczarek and Father Poddebniak acted out of humanitarian motives, which overrode considerations of personal safety. After the war, Lea immigrated to Israel and Sara to Belgium.

“On June 5, 1986, Yad Vashem recognized Władysław Janczarek and Father Jan Poddebniak as Righteous Among the Nations.

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004.

15. Jan Sielewicz (Worniany near Wilno), ?- 1943

Sielewicz, Jan

In late 1942, after the father Avraham Borodowski and son Arie were murdered at the Ponary murder site near Wilno (today Vilnius, Lithuania), the mother, Genia-Szeina (née Lurie), with her 13-year-old son Hirsz (later, Zwi Borodo) fled the Vilna ghetto for the surrounding villages in order to seek safety. A Polish acquaintance in one of the villages sent them to the priest Jan Sielewicz in the town of Worniany (Vilnius-Troki County, Wilno District), telling them that he was helping Jews and would also help them. The priest Sielewicz indeed took them under his protection and sent them to farm families in the surrounding towns and villages who needed working hands in exchange for food and lodging. Their employers did not know that they were Jews. However, when they were asked to register at the local police, both returned to Father Sielewicz for a temporary hiding until he could find them work and secure lodging elsewhere. In 1943, while a new hiding place was being sought for Genia and her son Hirsz, they learnt that the priest had died. The mother and her small son returned to wandering through villages and towns until the liberation by the Red Army in the summer of 1944. When he grew up, Hirsz Borodowski became a well-known opera singer in Israel, under the name of Zwi Borodo.

On January 26, 2000, Yad Vashem recognized Father Jan Sielewicz as Righteous Among the Nations. File 8755.

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004

16. Franciszek Smorczewski (Stolin, Polesie or Polesia) -- [Witold Stolarczyk, not then yet a priest] 1906 - ?

Smorczewski, Franciszek

See also Kijowski, Władysław, Kijowska, Maria

On Rosh Hashanah 5703 (September 11, 1942), during the Aktion in the Stolin ghetto, in the Polesie district, the Germans left a number of Jews and their families behind to run the local hospital. The Jews – Dr. Hersh Rotter (later Henry Reed), his wife, Ewa and their three-year-old son, Aleksander, Dr. Marian Poznanski, and his wife, Gina, Dr. Ernberg, a veterinarian, and his wife, Erna, and two Jewish nurses – were housed in the service quarters inside the hospital precinct. Since it was clear that sooner or later they would share the fate of the Jews in the ghetto, they began to plan their escape. Dr. Rotter turned to his friend, Franciszek Smorczewski, the local priest, who encouraged him to escape, supplied his wife with a Christian birth certificate, and began enlisting the help of local Poles to help the Jews in the hospital escape. The escape was planned for November 26, 1942. On the morning of that fateful day, a Polish girl warned the group that an SS detachment had arrived in Stolin. Toward evening, the Rotters escaped from the hospital to the home of a local Polish doctor, where Maria Kijowska, the wife of Władysław Kijowski, the forester, was waiting for them in a horse-drawn wagon. Kijowska took them to her home in the forest, where they hid for a few days, until her husband accompanied them to Stiepan and Agapa Mozol* (Ukraine), where the Jewish refugees stayed until February 1943, at which time they joined the partisans.

The other Jews who were left in the hospital were smuggled out in a similar fashion and found their way to partisan units in the forests. After the war, the survivors immigrated to the United States, while the Kijowskis moved to an area within Poland’s postwar borders.

On May 23, 1979, Yad Vashem recognized Franciszek Smorczewski and Maria and Władysław Kijowski as Righteous Among the Nations. File 1639.

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004

17. Adam Sztark (Jesuit Father, Słonim) 1907 - 1942

Sztark, Adam

Adam Sztark was 32 years old when, on the eve of the outbreak of the war, he was appointed as priest of the Catholic community in Zyrowice near Słonim (Nowogródek County, today Belarus) and rector of the Jesuit Church in Słonim. When the region was occupied by the Germans in the summer of 1941 and they began the murder of the Jews, he came out unequivocally in support of the Jews not only in his sermons from the pulpit, but also in his personal activity. When the Germans demanded a “contribution” on the Jewish community of Slonim, he collected valuables and money from his congregation in order to participate in this tax and thus demonstrated openly his and his flocks’ solidarity with their persecuted Jewish neighbors. He appealed to his congregation to help the Jews in their distress. He provided "Aryan" papers to Jews in hiding and sent Jewish children to hide with Christian families and in the orphanage. He personally took care to arrange for a Jewish orphan named Jerzy to hide in the home of a Polish gardener, one Józef Mikuczyn, and thanks to Adam’s efforts, the boy survived. Adam was an exemplary man who worked fearlessly out of his deep religious conviction that it was his duty to help the weak and the persecuted and to rescue people regardless of what ethnicity they were or what beliefs they adhered to. He did not differentiate between Christians and Jews, and for his attitude and work he paid with his life. In December 1942, when the last of the Jews of the Słonim ghetto were exterminated, the Germans also murdered Adam Sztark.

On January 15, 2001, Yad Vashem recognized Adam Sztark as Righteous Among the Nations. File 9178. Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004

18. Witold Szymczukiewicz (Rukojnie near Wilno) 1910 - ?

Szymczukiewicz, Witold

Catholic Institutions

Albertine Convent, Częstochowa
Rylski, Mieczysław
Pawłowska, Józefa

“Paula (b. 1923) and Hanna (b. 1922) Kornblum were sisters born to a respected family in Kałuszyn, a small town near Warsaw, Poland. Theirs was a family of millers. They had some means, and at the beginning of the war their father was able to hide a fair amount of money in the yard of his house and sew some into the girls’ clothes as well. However, no money could help the deteriorating position of the Jews in Poland, and it was suggested that the girls obtain Aryan identification and move to Warsaw to find work. With the help of a Polish family friend, they managed to do that, and they spent some time in Warsaw until the uprising in the ghetto broke out on April 19, 1943. While in Warsaw they met Mieczysław Rylski, a glass manufacturer from Częstochowa. Finding themselves out of a job and in danger because of the uprising, the girls approached him for help. They told him honestly that they were Jewish, but Rylski said that if they could get fake work permits, he would employ them. Not only that but they would also be able to stay in the factory. When the factory received a rationing of clothes, they could have first pick (winter was approaching, and their garments were quite inadequate for the upcoming cold). Indeed, that is what it happened for the next several months, until their presence in Rylski’s factory began to arouse suspicion. At this juncture Rylski reached out to the Albertine convent in the city, where he had some connections.

“He explained the situation to the mother superior, Sister Vita (nee Józefa Pawłowska), and she permitted the girls to move into the nuns’ house. It was a forty-five-minute walk away from the factory, and they made the trek every morning at seven o’clock and back every afternoon at four, when the factory closed. All of the nuns lived together in one room with ten beds, and all treated the girls very fairly. Sister Vita was particularly angelic to them, and she was the only one who knew they were Jewish. They kept up appearances by going to church every Sunday and learning their catechisms. They crafted a back story for themselves, posing as Polish orphans who had no relatives remaining. Once, in 1944, a Polish SS collaborator came looking for them at the convent, but they managed to convince him of the truth of their story. In January 1945, when Częstochowa was liberated, Paula and Hanna, uncertain what to do next, remained at the convent for several additional weeks, after which they decided to leave Poland and go to the United States.

“On January 21, 2014, Yad Vashem recognized Mieczysław Rylski and Józefa Pawłowska as Righteous Among the Nations. File 12731

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004.

Albertine Sisters (Sisters Servants of the Poor) (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Posługujących Ubogim Trzeciego Zakonu Regularnego św. Franciszka z Asyżu—Siostry Albertynki): Baworów, Bochnia, Brzeżany, Busko-Zdrój, Częstochowa, Drohobycz, Kielce, Kołomyja, Kraków (2 institutions), Kraków-Podbrzezie, Kraków-Prądnik Czerwony, LwówPersenkówka, Lwów-Zamarstynów, Mników, Opoczno, Przemyśl-Bakończyce, Rawa Ruska, Rząska, Sambor, Siedlce, Skarżysko-Kamienna, Śniatyn, Stanisławów, Sulejów, Tarnopol, Tarnów, Wołomin.

Sisters of the Angels (Zgromadzenie Sióstr od Aniołów—Siostry od Aniołów): Chylice, Wilno, Wisary.

Anglinikai, Lithuania

Zienowicz, Helena
Kukolewski, Jan
Kukolewska, Zofia

“Following Helena Zienowicz’s graduation from the Nazareth Nun’s high school in Vilna, she chose to live in the closed convent of the Wizytek order and work as a teacher in Rabka (near Krakow). She left the convent when her mother became ill and returned to Vilna. In September of 1941, Helena came upon three Jewish children: five-year old Renana Gabaj, ten-month-old Benjamin Gabaj, and four-year-old Wilinke Fink, who had problems with his eyesight. Abel Gabaj, a doctor from Butrimoniai in Lithuania, was the father of Renana and Benjamin. Jakub Fink, Wilinke’s father, was a friend of Dr. Gabaj. One day in September of 1941, Dr. Gabaj learned from a friend who worked as a policeman that a pogrom against the Jews of Butrimoniai was about to occur, and so the doctor decided to leave for Vilna. On the way out, the entire group of three adults and two children stopped for rest in Anglinikai (Lithuania), at Jan and Zofia Kukolewski’s home. There they learned that the ghetto was closed, which ruled out the possibility of hiding in Vilna. The Kukolewskis agreed to let the adults stay with them and the children found shelter a few days later with Helena Zienowicz. Initially, they were only supposed to stay with her for a few days, but because no other solution could be found, the children stayed under Helena’s care until the war ended. One of the children, Wilinke, stayed under her care even after the war.

“The older children did not speak Polish; they only spoke Yiddish and Lithuanian, thus complicating the situation further. Hiding three young children was not an easy task under the difficult conditions of the war. Helena lived in a small apartment without hot water or a toilet. She had to constantly obtain food and fuel for heat, not to mention that she was constantly living under the threat of discovery. Moreover, the children were often sick and they missed their parents. Helenapresented the fugitives as her brother’s children, obtained “Aryan” papers for them, and taught them to speak and sing in Polish. She took care of their every need and brought them up as if they were her own children. “With ‘mother’ I never felt any anxiety. She was afraid for me,” wrote Wilinke Fink (later Wilhelm Jozef Zienowicz) of Helena. Renana and Benjamin’s father, Abel Gabaj, survived the war and immigrated, with his children, to Israel.

“On August 5, 1992, Yad Vashem recognized Helena Zienowicz, Jan Kukolewski and his wife, Zofia Kukolewska, as Righteous Among the Nations. File 5257, 5257a

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004.

Antonian Sisters of Christ the King (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Antonianek od Chrystusa Króla Trzeciego Zakonu Regularnego św. Franciszka z Asyżu—Siostry Antonianki): Łódź.

Antonine Sisters (Sisters of Social Service of St. Anthony) (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Opieki Społecznej pod wezwaniem św. Antoniego—Siostry Antoninki): Wieluń.

Benedictine Convent, Vilna Colony, Poland

Benedictine Convent, Przemysl, Poland

Sister Kara – Aniela Kotowska
Sister Honorata – Irena Bielawska

Bielawska, Irena (Sister Honorata)
Kotowska, Aniela (Sister Klara)
Złamal, Bożena

“In October 1942, Bożena Złamal helped the Weitman family (father Abraham, mother Ela, son Jakob, and daughter Bilha) escape from the ghetto in Przemysl and find shelter on the Aryan side of town. Bożena contacted two Polish nuns – Aniela Kotowska (Sister Klara) and Irena Bielawska (Sister Honorata) - and asked them to help rescue a Jewish family. Both nuns, each from a different convent in Przemysl, agreed to hide the Weitmans. Abraham Weitman later wrote about Kotowska that she was “an angel in a human body,” emphasizing her goodness and compassion towards her wards. During the war, Bielawska (Sister Honorata) also hid a Jewish couple named Fuller as well as a five-year-old Jewish girl called Lila Rosenthal (later Lea Fried). Both nuns acted without reward, receiving only small sums of money from their charges that covered the cost of their food. After the war, the Weitmans emigrated to Sweden. The fate of the Fuller couple is unknown.

“On September 19, 1983, Yad Vashem recognized Irena Bielawska (Sister Honorata), Aniela Kotowska (Sister Klara), and Bożena Złamal, as Righteous Among the Nations. File 680.”

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004.

Benedictine Sisters (Order of St. Benedict) (Mniszki Zakonu Sióstr św. Benedykta—Siostry Benedyktynki): Lwów, Nieśwież, Przemyśl, Staniątki near Kraków, Wilno.

(Benedictine) Sisters of Our Lady of Loreto (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Matki Bożej Loretańskiej—Siostry (Benedyktynki) Loretanki): Warsaw.

Benedictine Missionary Sisters (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Benedyktynek Misjonarek—Siostry Benedyktynki Misjonarki): Łuck.

Benedictine Sisters of the Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament (Mniszki Benedyktynki od Nieustającej Adoracji Najświętszego Sakramentu—Siostry Benedyktynki Sakramentki): Lwów.

(Benedictine) Samaritan Sisters of the Cross of Christ (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Benedyktynek Samarytanek Krzyża Chrystusowego—Siostry (Benedyktynki) Samarytanki): Henryków, Niegów, Pruszków, Pruszków-Żbików.

Bernardine Sisters (Franciscan) (Mniszki Trzeciego Zakonu Regularnego św. Franciszka z Asyżu—Siostry Bernardynki): Borki-Łuków, Łowicz.

Sisters of the Family of Bethany (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Rodziny Betańskiej—Siostry Betanki): Lublin, Mełgiew, Międzylesie near Warsaw.

Carmelite Sisters (See “Sióstr Karmelitanek” Convent in the town of Sosnowiec). Mother Teresa-Janina Kierocińska was Mother Superior of the “Sióstr Karmelitanek” (Carmelite Sisters) Convent in the town of Sosnowiec.

Discalced (or Barefoot) Carmelite Sisters (Mniszki Bose Zakonu Najświętszej Maryi Panny z Góry Karmel—Siostry Karmelitanki Bose): Lwów (2 institutions), Przemyśl, Warsaw.

Carmelite Sisters of the Infant Jesus (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Karmelitanek Dzieciątka Jezus—Siostry Karmelitanki Dzieciątka Jezus): Sosnowiec.

Sisters of St. Charles Borromeo (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Miłosierdzia św. Karola Boromeusza—Siostry Boromeuszki): Łańcut, Przemyśl.

Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration (Mniszki Klaryski od Wiecznej Adoracji—Mniszki Klaryski): Kraków, Lwów, Nowy Sącz.

Catholic orphanage, run by nuns, in Częstochowa.
Urbańczyk Marian
Urbańczyk Wiktoria

“In the autumn of 1942, Ruth (Justa) and Shimon Asz tried to escape from the Częstochowa ghetto with their two-year-old daughter, Elżbieta (Elizabeth). After Shimon was shot and killed, his wife and daughter made their way to Dr. Tadeusz Ferens*, a Polish doctor. Ferens provided the mother with “Aryan” documents, which enabled her to volunteer for work in Austria, and arranged for little Elżbieta to stay in a Catholic orphanage, run by nuns, in Częstochowa. Shortly thereafter, Marian and Wiktoria Urbańczyk adopted Elżbieta, without knowing she was Jewish. Her true identity came to light, however, when, after being washed, her blonde hair suddenly turned black. Although shocked by the discovery, the Urbańczyks, overcome by compassion, decided to keep Elżbieta, and passed her off as a Polish orphan who had been driven out of the Zamość area, in the Lublin district. Even after they had to pay hush money to suspicious neighbors who threatened to report them to the Gestapo, the Urbańczyks did not change their minds. Elżbieta stayed on with the Urbańczyks after the war, since Elżbieta’s mother, who survived, was unable to trace her daughter. In 1946, Dr. Ferens succeeded in tracing her, and with a heavy heart, Marian and Wiktoria handed Elżbieta over to her mother, who immigrated with her to Venezuela. In 1966, Elżbieta visited Poland and met the Urbańczyks’ son, whose parents had meanwhile passed away.

“On February 10, 1997, Yad Vashem recognized Wiktoria and Marian Urbańczyk as Righteous Among the Nations.

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004.

Starczewska-Korczak, Genowefa

“During the war, Genowefa Starczewska was living in Czestochowa. In 1943, Zygmund Berkowicz asked Genowefa to help save his four-year-old daughter, Celina. Genowefa agreed. Frightened by the imminent liquidation of the so-called “small ghetto,” Zygmund informed Genowefa about his plans to escape. When he fled the ghetto, he put his child into Genowefa’s care. Genowefa’s husband had been murdered earlier by the Nazis, and she was a widow bringing up her ten-and twelve-year-old daughters alone. Since she could not possibly support three children, Genowefa put them all into an orphanage in Czestochowa that was managed by nuns. She brought the children back into her home at weekends and on holidays; on weekdays, she visited them at the institution and brought them meals. Genowefa’s daughters, Wanda and Tereza, knew that Celina was Jewish but they, nevertheless, treated her as a blood sister. In early July 1944, Genowefa was compelled to go into hiding because her neighbors began to suspect that Celina was Jewish. For six months, until the liberation of Czestochowa in January 1945, Genowefa never spent more than one night in the same place. After the liberation, Zygmund’s brother, Jack Berkowicz, and his wife Sophie, who had spent the occupation interned in the Hasag camp in Czestochowa, found Genowefa (later Mrs. Korczak). Celina’s parents, Guta and Zygmund, had perished in 1943, and they wanted to be the child’s guardians.

“Initially, Celina did not want to part with Genowefa. “She loved her Polish protector and her daughters and did not want to leave them,” wrote Jack and Sophie in their testimony to Yad Vashem. “[In April 1945] we succeeded in taking her with us. We brought her up as our own daughter.” Some time later, Jack, Sophie, and Celina immigrated to the United States, from where they maintained contact with Genowefa and her daughters.

“On May 14, 1984, Yad Vashem recognized Genowefa Starczewska-Korczak as RighteousAmong the Nations. File 2898

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004.

Chotomów Convent near Warsaw

Rothenburg-Rościszewski Witold
Rothenburg-Rościszewska Anna

“Before the war, Witold Rothenburg-Rościszewski, an attorney from Warsaw, was known for his anti-Jewish views, but after the German occupation, his attitude toward Jews underwent a radical change. He severed his ties with the antisemitic circles he had been involved with before the war, devoted himself to underground activity, and became an AK officer. Together with his wife, Anna, he helped Jewish refugees hide on the Aryan side of the city and provided them with forged documents. The Rothenburg-Rościszewskis supported needy Jews materially, found them hiding places, and saved them from the hands of various extortionists. Among the Jews who were helped by the Rothenburg-Rościszewskis were: Wacław Tajtlbaum, an attorney, and Helena Kuligowska. Thanks to Witold’s underground activity, and his familiarity with entrances to, and exits from, the ghetto via the law court in Leszno Street, Irena Sendlerowa*, a Żegota activist, was able to smuggle out Jewish children to the Aryan side of the city. In her subsequent testimony, Sendlerowa testified that Witold arranged for Jewish children to be sent to the Chotomów convent near Warsaw, and to acquaintances of his, and paid for their upkeep. In April 1943, the Germans arrested Rothenburg-Rościszewski and he was executed for his underground activities.

“On June 24, 1993, Yad Vashem recognized Anna and Witold Rothenburg-Rościszewski as Righteous Among the Nations. File 5309

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004.

Smólski, Władysław

“The occupation did not undermine the friendship between Władysław Smólski, a Polish author and playwright, and his many Jewish writer friends. On the contrary, he kept up contact with them and tried to help them to the best of his ability. As a member of Zegota (the Council for Aid to Jews) in Warsaw, he provided a number of Jews with forged documents, found them hiding places on the Aryan side of the city, and offered them financial assistance. Among the Jews he helped were: Bronisław Elkana Anlen, Tadeusz Reinberg, Wanda Hac, Janina Reicher, Janina Wierzbicka and Natalia Zwierzowa. Smólski’s youngest charge was Jolanta Zabarnik (later Nowakowska), the daughter of friends of his, who was five when she first arrived. At first, Smólski hid her in his home and with relatives, until he found her a safer place in a convent in Chotomow, near Warsaw. In risking his life to save Jews, Smólski, an unassuming man, was guided by humanitarian motives, which overrode considerations of personal safety or economic hardship. Smólski documented the saga of Zabarnik’s rescue in his book A Child’s Fate (Losy Dziecka), which was published in 1964.

“On July 13, 1982, Yad Vashem recognized Władysław Smólski as Righteous Among the Nations. File 2286

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004.

Convent in Czortkow

Prof. Mossiczy and wife
Mr. Trunkwalter

“When World War II broke out, Ephraim Salomon Margulies, his wife Speranza, and their daughter Johanna Miriam Renata lived in Stryj, Poland. On July 2, 1941, the Germans occupied the town. Ephraim Salomon Margulies was beaten by the Germans and died of his wounds five months later. Speranza and her daughter were incarcerated in the ghetto, which by 1942 held over 9,000 Jews. They survived the killing operations in September and October 1942 by hiding with eleven other people in a tiny hideout between the attic in the roof of a building. After the war, Speranza Margulies wrote an account of her wartime fate and described the cramped conditions in the small hiding place, and how her daughter wanted to kill herself and asked her mother for poison. Conditions were so bad that they decided that they were unable to return to the place in time of need, and therefore Speranza Margulies got her daughter a false identity as a Christian. In her testimony to Yad Vashem Johanna Margulies said that she converted to Christianity in 1942, but that she returned to Judaism after the war. After leaving the ghetto Johanna Margulies turned to a friend of her father. She stayed with this couple for ten days, but they feared that their Ukranian landlord would denounce them and therefore gave Johanna their daughter’s papers and accompanied her to the railway station. After they left her, Johanna Margulies was arrested, but the Polish policeman who interrogated her was a former student of her father’s friend, and he therefore let her go.

“Johanna travelled to Czortkow and went to Prof. Mossiczy, the father of a boy she had been in love with. The Mossiczys hid her for two months, but then they too became afraid, especially since the Germans carried out brutal killings of the Jews in the Czortkow ghetto. “I was desperate by this time”, Margulies told Yad Vashem, “and asked whether they knew of a priest who could help me”. With the help of the priest Margulies eventually came to a convent, where she stayed for the remainder of the war. After her daughter had left, another killing operation took place in Stryj, and Spernaza Margulies hid for a day in a cellar where conditions were even worse than in the attic. All her family and friends were taken away, and she decided to turn to an acquaintance of German descent who had been buying her valuables, but when she came to that woman’s home, the woman only laughed in her face. “I left her home thinking that I was going to be killed”, Speranza wrote in her account, “As I was in the hallway, I met a piano tuner who had tuned our piano and who had been my husband’s client. He asked why I was so desperate, and I told him everything. He asked me to enter his apartment”. The piano tuner, Mr. Trunkwalter, had an apartment in the same building. He left Speranza in his home and went out. When he returned, he said that the Germans were conducting a killing operation in the ghetto and suggested that she should stay at his place. In time of danger, she would hide in a big cupboard. Trunkwalter helped another Jewish couple, and the neighbors became suspicious and denounced him. When the police came, they searched the place but did not find Speranza who was sitting in the cupboard with poison she intended to take in case she was found. At another time, a neighbor asked for money in return for keeping silent. Trunkwalter did not want to pay, and fortunately, before the neighbor decided to go to the police, a bombing started, and everybody went down to the cellar. Shortly before liberation Germans conducted a search and found Speranza’s belongings, but the Red Army liberated Stryj and she was saved.

“On March 18, 1982, Yad Vashem recognized Prof. Mossiczy and his wife and Mr. Trunkwalter as Righteous Among the Nations. File 2262

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004.

Convent of the Felician Order (near Przemysl), Poland

Mother Superior

Covent in Izabelin (Near Warsaw)

Zelwerowicz, Aleksander
Orchoń-Zelwerowicz, Helena

“When the war broke out, Aleksander Zelwerowicz, a well-known Polish actor, was living in Warsaw with his daughter Helena (later Orchoń). At the end of August 1942, one of Helena’s pre-war friends, Helena Caspari, came to her with her eleven-year-old daughter, Hania. They had managed to flee the ghetto and were looking for shelter. The Zelwerowiczes’ apartment was already serving as a hiding place for Miriam Nudel (later Caspari). Nevertheless, Helena and her daughter were invited to stay with them for a few weeks, and then after that with some friends of the Zelwerowiczes. All the while, Helena was looking for a permanent hiding place for the Jews. In the end, it was possible to hide them in a convent located in Izabelin, near Warsaw, where they were able to wait out the rest of the war. Miriam stayed with Helena - who provided for all of her needs - until Warsaw was evacuated after the suppression of the Warsaw Uprising in October 1944. She moved in with Helena’s father, Aleksander, who was a delegate of the Central Relief Council in Sochaczew at that time. “Thanks to his help I survived all the period until the entry of the Red Army in January 1945,” wrote Miriam in her testimony to Yad Vashem. During the war, Helena also lent help to David Epstein, who after leaving the ghetto in November 1942 spent many nights at her apartment. After the war, Helena and Hania Caspari, as well as Miriam Nudel, left for Israel.

“David Epstein immigrated to England.

“On October 9, 1977, Yad Vashem recognized Aleksander Zelwerowicz and his daughter, Helena Orchoń-Zelwerowicz, as Righteous Among the Nations. File 1136

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004.

Convent of the Immaculate Sisters (Siostry Niepokalanki), Warsaw, Poland

Sister Maria Gorska
Górska, Maria

“During the German occupation, Sister Maria Górska, a member of the Ursuline Sisters convent, was an active participant in the convent’s effort to save Jewish children. Officially, Górska ran a soup kitchen for orphaned or abandoned children in central Warsaw. Unofficially, her job was to help Jewish children, by arranging for them to be smuggled out of the ghetto, and transferred to institutions belonging to the Ursuline Sisters, which had branches throughout occupied Poland. In performing these and other dangerous operations, Górska was inspired by Christian love and a sense of obligation to save human life. One of Górska’s tasks was to obtain “Aryan” documents for the Jewish children, protect those who looked Jewish, and hide them during German raids. Górska was in touch with Zegota (the Council for Aid to Jews), which supplied her with documents as necessary. Górska saved the lives of many Jewish children, who left Poland after the war. Górska’s activities form the theme of Dr. Rozenblum-Szymanska’s book Bylam tylko lekarzem (“I was only a doctor”).

“On October 27, 1997, Yad Vashem recognized Sister Maria Górska as Righteous Among the Nations. File 7668”

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004.

Convent(s) in Krakow

Choromańska Janina

“One day in the autumn of 1942, two men approached Janina Choromańska in Warsaw, introducing themselves as Poles who were interested in renting a room. Although they had “Aryan” papers, Choromańska realized they were Jewish refugees and, stirred by their plight, invited them to stay with her. Szamaj Silberman and Jakub Gurfein took up her offer, and stayed with her for several months, during which time Choromańska looked after them and helped them with their preparations for crossing the border into Hungary. Before they left, the refugees passed on her address to Meir Gliksman and Tuwie Fuehrer, whom Choromańska also sheltered in her home. Gliksman later also crossed the border into Hungary. When Fuehrer informed Choromańska that his niece, who was hiding in a convent near Kraków, was in danger, Choromańska, in a heroic operation, traveled to the convent, and brought her back with her. Uncle and niece stayed in her apartment in Warsaw for several months. After the war, Silberman, Gurfein, and Gliksman immigrated to Israel. Tuwie and his niece perished in unknown circumstances.

“On September 4, 1996, Yad Vashem recognized Janina Choromańska as Righteous Among the Nations File 7134

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004.

Kruczkowska, Jadwiga

“Anna Reich was nine when her parents and close family were murdered during the Aktion, which took place in 1942 in the town of Pilzno in the Kraków district. On the night preceding the massacre, Anna’s mother escaped with her daughter, and after arranging for Anna to stay with a Polish friend, returned to the ghetto where she perished. A few days later, the Polish friend sent Anna to stay with her aunt in Kraków. Since Anna had little chance of surviving in Kraków, the aunt Miriam asked Jadwiga Kruczkowska, a friend, who lived with her son, Adam, in nearby Wieliczka, to take Anna in. Jadwiga, whose husband, the famous Polish author, Leon Kruczkowski, was interned at the time in a prisoner of war camp, immediately agreed to shelter Anna in her home. After obtaining “Aryan” documents for Anna, Kruczkowska enrolled her at the local school, where she was put in the same class as her son. The fact that Anna looked Jewish made the rescue venture doubly dangerous. The above notwithstanding, Kruczkowska looked after Anna, whom she passed off as her niece, for a year, until 1943, when the aunt arranged for Anna to be admitted to a convent in a Kraków suburb. Anna stayed in the convent until January 1945, when the area was liberated. In risking her life to save Anna, Kruczkowska was guided by a selfless humanity and her friendship with Anna’s parents, which triumphed over adversity. After the war, Anna Reich remained in Poland, where aintained contact with Kruczkowska, her savior, until the latter’s death.

“On January 17, 1985, Yad Vashem recognized Jadwiga Kruczkowska as Righteous Among the Nations. File 3090

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004.

Ciesielski, Feliks
Ciesielska, Romualda

“Early on in the occupation, Romualda and Feliks Ciesielski who lived in Bydgoszcz with their nine-year-old son, were deported to Krakow, were they were assigned a shop and apartment that had been confiscated from their Jewish owners. Although they had no say in the matter, the Ciesielskis felt sorry for the Jews and decided they would do all they could to help them. As well as distributing food and clothes among needy Jews, the Ciesielskis let their shop be used as a temporary shelter for Jews, until they found a more permanent hiding place. Among the Jews helped by the Ciesielskis were Dr. Edmund Fiszler and his wife, Leonora, who stayed with them for several weeks, until they found a more permanent hiding place. The four members of the Horowicz family also found temporary shelter with the Ciesielskis. At Romualda’s suggestion, the Horowiczs’ daughter, Zofia, was hidden in a convent. In risking their lives to help Jews, the Ciesielskis were guided by humanitarian considerations, and expected nothing in return. In 1942, the Gestapo, alerted by informers, arrested the Ciesielskis. Romualda was interrogated, tortured, and sent to Auschwitz, where she continued helping Jewish prisoners. Her husband was interned in Mauthausen concentration camp where he perished.

“On March 2, 1967, Yad Vashem recognized Romualda Ciesielska and Feliks Ciesielski as Righteous Among the Nations. File 241

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004.

Ziemańska, Franciszka

“Franciszka Ziemańska worked in Krakow for the Kempler family as a guardian for their children, Bernard and Anita. When there were no more doubts about the Germans’ intentions towards the Jews, Bernard and Anita’s mother arranged that Franciszka be registered as the children’s mother using false documents. In the period of 1940 to 1944, the children moved around and even fell into the Gestapo’s hands a few times but were saved by Franciszka. One day, however, a Gestapo agent appeared at her apartment and inquired about the children. She answered that they were in the yard and the Gestapo agent replied that he would be back by evening for the children. Franciszka immediately ran out to the yard and took the playing children to Rozalia Natkaniec*, with whom they stayed for a few weeks. Later, Franciszka hid the children in her family village (without telling anyone that they were Jewish), in a convent, and in other hiding places until the day that they were caught and put in Plaszow, from where they were transported to Auschwitz and later to Ravensbrück. Everything that Franciszka had done for the two children she did for purely humanitarian reasons and without any compensation. The children survived the war, and afterwards they immigrated to Israel. Franciszka died in 1946.

“On May 2, 1985, Yad Vashem recognized Franciszka Ziemańska as Righteous Among the Nation

Convent in village of Ciężkowice, near Kraków.

Broszko, Aniela

“In September 1942, Zygmunt Warszawski escaped the liquidation of the Stanislawow ghetto together with his nine-year-old daughter, Rachel, and his sister, Julia. They were assisted in their flight by a local mother of two, Aniela Broszko, who supplied them with her own identity card and those of her husband and daughter. Immediately afterward, Aniela found refuge for the fugitives in the house of relatives who lived in a nearby village, but they were forced to leave shortly thereafter when their true identity became known. Aniela then found an alternative hideout and a job for Zygmunt in the village of Ciężkowice, near Kraków, while Rachel was placed in a local convent. After a while, Zygmunt was exposed as a Jew. He was arrested and sent to a concentration camp, but, nevertheless, survived the war. Rachel was expelled from the convent after her Jewish origins were discovered, but Aniela once again came to her aid, took her in, and hid her until the liberation. Julia Warszawska, today Sulczyk, also hid in Aniela’s apartment, but was subsequently forced to leave due to the neighbors’ suspicions. After Aniela had obtained “Aryan” papers for her, Julia traveled to Kraków, where she found work and remained until the liberation. Aniela received no recompense for her activities, from which she was not deterred even by her husband’s death at the hands of the Germans. After the war, Zygmunt, Rachel and Julia emigrated from the country. They continued to correspond with Aniela and sent her care packages.

“On October 26, 1981, Yad Vashem recognized Aniela Broszko as Righteous Among the Nations.

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004.

Convent in Lwow

Szymańska, Janina
Makuch-Szymańska, Barbara

“In October 1942, after the Germans had begun to liquidate the Sandomierz ghetto, in the Kielce district, Sara Glass (later Pasht) succeeded in transferring her 10-year-old daughter Malka to Janina Szymańska for safekeeping. Janina, a past acquaintance, lived with her daughter Barbara in the village of Mokrzyszow, in the Tarnobrzeg county, in the Rzeszow district. Szymańska and her daughter received the young fugitive warmly, introducing her to those who asked as a relative, and caring for her with love and genuine devotion. Despite the fact that Malka did not look Jewish, rumors began circulating in the village that Szymańska and her daughter were hiding a Jew in their home. Because of the threats and their fear for her fate, Barbara took Malka to a convent in Lwow, where she remained until the liberation of the city by the Red Army in July 1944. In another case, Szymańska exploited her position as an instructor in an agricultural school, and when she one day encountered a young Jewish boy, exhausted and starving after fleeing the Lwow ghetto, she brought him to the school where she worked. His name was Wolf Jakubczyk, and he remained in the school dormitory under an assumed identity, until the liberation in July 1944. Szymańska and her daughter also hid Sofia Preiss in their apartment for a few days, after which they found refuge for her with a relative in Lwow, where she remained until the liberation. In the spring of 1943, the Gestapo arrested Janina Szymańska on suspicion of involvement in underground activities and of helping Jews.

“A search of her belongings turned up false documents intended for Jewish fugitives. Szymańska was cruelly interrogated in jail and then sent to the Ravensbrueck concentration camp. She survived the camp, and eventually immigrated to Canada. Sara Glass also survived the camps and after the liberation, found her daughter Malka and they both immigrated to Canada. Despite the danger posedto their lives, Janina Szymańska and her daughter Barbara Szymańska saved Jewish lives out of purely altruistic motives, asking for and receiving absolutely nothing in return for their efforts.

“On June 28, 1979, Yad Vashem recognized Janina Szymańska and her daughter Barbara Makuch (née Szymańska) as Righteous Among the Nations.

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004.

Convent in Milanówek

Sikora Kazimiera

“Kazimiera Sikora became acquainted with the Jewish Wojdyslawski family from Łódz at the very start of the war when they arrived as refugees in Warsaw and rented an apartment near her. From that time a friendship grew between them that continued even after the Wojdyslawskis were moved to the ghetto and for a long time afterwards. In April 1943, when the ghetto was liquidated and the Jews were being sent to their deaths, Kazimiera came to the rescue of her friends. By this time, Zygmunt Wojdyslawski was already on the "Aryan" side of the city, but the rest of his family – his wife, his two twelve-year-old twin daughters, and his sister-in-law with her two small girls, aged seven and four – were all still in the ghetto. Kazimiera planned how to bring them out of the ghetto down to the smallest details. The first thing she did was to ready an apartment in which to hide them. She also took care of having forged "Aryan" documents waiting for them. Not only did she help to successfully take them out of the ghetto, but she continued to help them by instructing them on how to behave on the "Aryan" side: she taught the girls all the details of Christian customs, the prayers, conduct in church, confession before the priest etc. She was also their address for solving various problems that arose in living on the "Aryan" side. When the need arose to move to other apartments she would be there to help them. Kazimiera also arranged to transfer the girls, using assumed Christian identities, to a convent in Milanówek, where they remained until the end of the war.

“All the members of the Wojdyslawski family, who were looked after by Kazimiera, survived the war, and to a great extent thanks to her resourcefulness and devotion, and they remained grateful to her for all that she had done for them. At the end of the war when they left Warsaw, which was in ruins, to return to their own Łódż, she joined them and went to live with them. They stayed in touch with her for years and even long after they had emigrated from Poland.

“On February 10, 2002, Yad Vashem recognized Kazimiera Sikora as Righteous Among the Nations. File: 9515

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004.

Convent in Olsztyn, Warsaw, Poland

Convent in Otwok (near Warsaw) see Otwock convent orphanage Elżbiety)

Marchlewicz Bronisław

“Bronisław Marchlewicz from Otwock (Warsaw District) was a veteran police officer. During the occupation period, he served as the commander of the Polish “Blue Police" (named for the color of their uniform) and had connections with the Polish underground, the Home Army (AK). He was known for his fair treatment of both the Polish and the Jewish inhabitants of the city. Unlike many of his colleagues who collaborated with the German authorities, he endeavored in the framework of his complex job to help rescue Jews who arrived on the "Aryan" side from the local ghetto. While the ghetto still existed, Bronisław would turn a blind eye to Jews who came to market in order to purchase staples. He also released those who had been arrested and brought to the police station. He protected the Jewish woman, Zofia Eisenstadt, from Polish collaborators who tried to blackmail her. As a policeman in the city working under the direct command of the Germans and privy to classified information, he would warn Jews when deportations were about to take place. His involvement in the rescue of Jews increased after the liquidation of the ghetto in August 1942, particularly in the rescue of children. In this matter, he cooperated with the nuns of the St. Elizabeth convent (Zgromadzienie Sióstr Św. Elżbiety), under the guidance of Gertruda Marciniak*, the Mother Superior, who ran the Promyk orphanage where several Jewish children were being hidden. The Jewish child, Maria Osowiecka (later, Michèle Donnet), was brought to the police station at the time of the liquidation of the ghetto.

“Bronisław Marchlewicz entrusted her to the Polish woman, Aleksandra Szpakowska* and helped to bring the child to the convent. In addition, he arranged for another three Jewish children to be taken into the convent: Daniel Landsberg, Renata Noj and Salomea Rybak. Bronisław did not participate in the liquidation of the ghetto and ignored the command of his German superiors to shoot fleeingJews. He also forbade his Polish subordinates to participate in the plunder and pillage. After the liquidation of the ghetto, he knew of several Jews who were hiding in the city in Polish homes or under false identities and was in contact with them and warned them in times of danger. Among these were the members of the Fleising family who entrusted him with valuables for their subsistence during the war, knowing that they would receive the remainder back.

“On November 21, 2004, Yad Vashem recognized Bronisław Marchlewicz as Righteous Among the Nations. File 10414

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004.

Szpakowska, Aleksandra

“In August 1942, on the eve of the liquidation of the ghetto in Otwock (Warsaw District), five-year-old Maria Osowiecka (later, Michèle Donnet) and her mother, Anna (née Litewska), were evicted from the apartment they were renting after the landlord discovered that they were Jews. Maria’s mother tried desperately to find someone who would take her daughter in. She asked Aleksandra Szpakowska to rescue the girl, who in the meantime had been taken to the local police station. Following an exchange with the Polish police chief, Bronislaw Marchlewicz*, Aleksandra secured the girl’s release and took her home with her. Maria stayed there for a time, until Aleksandra obtained a Christian birth certificate for her from the community priest, Ludwik Wolski, who cooperated with her. After Maria learned the Christian prayers, Aleksandra, who declared herself the girl’s legal guardian, moved her, under an assumed identity as a Polish orphan, to the St. Elizabeth convent (Zgromadzienie Sióst Św. Elżbiety), under the guidance of Gertruda Marciniak*, the Mother Superior, who ran the Promyk orphanage where several Jewish children found refuge. She kept in touch with the girl and visited her frequently, and when danger loomed moved her to a different location. The girls’ parents were murdered, and at the end of the war her cousin, Hanna Kaminska, arrived and took her. During the occupation, Aleksandra, who was known in Otwock for her activity in aid of the needy and distressed, opened her home to other Jewish fugitives as well.

“On May 27, 2004, Yad Vashem recognized Aleksandra Szpakowska as Righteous Among the Nations.

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004.

Elżbietanki Sisters’ convent in the suburb of Żoliborz,

Mrozowski, Jan
Mrozowska, Halina

“In the summer of 1943, Halina Lewkowicz managed to escape together with her six-year-old son Ryszard during the liquidation of the Zawiercie ghetto in Upper Silesia. Their escape was made possible due to the assistance extended by Poles active in the underground, who moved her and her son to Warsaw, where they referred them to the apartment of Jan and Halina Mrozowski, both of whom were active in the AK (Armia Krajowa – Home Army). Lewkowicz and her son, who arrived without any money or papers, were warmly received by the Mrozowskis, who provided them with false papers, shelter and help. Within a short time, Mrozowska found work for Lewkowicz doing housework for her brother, while little Richard remained under the devoted care of the Mrozowskis. In time, Lewkowicz became active in the underground, functioning as a courier. In November 1943, she began working as a practical nurse in the Elżbietanki Sisters’ convent in the suburb of Żoliborz, where she remained during the Warsaw Uprising in August 1944 to care for the wounded brought to the convent, which had been turned into a field hospital. Jan Mrozowski, who was arrested during the uprising, was deported to a concentration camp where he perished. His wife and young Richard were deported to the Pruszków camp, and the child, whom she placed in the orphanage set up in the camp, was liberated in January 1945. Lewkowicz and her son remained in Poland. Jan and Halina Mrozowski saved Halina and Richard Lewkowicz without asking for or receiving anything at all in return, and their help was motivated by their patriotic duty and their desire to help those persecuted by a common enemy.

“On December 24, 1987, Yad Vashem recognized Halina Mrozowska and her husband Jan Mrozowski as Righteous Among the Nations. File 3751

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004.

Convent(s) in Przemysl

Bielawska, Irena (Sister Honorata)
Kotowska, Aniela (Sister Klara)
Złamal, Bożena

“In October 1942, Bożena Złamal helped the Weitman family (father Abraham, mother Ela, son Jakob, and daughter Bilha) escape from the ghetto in Przemysl and find shelter on the Aryan side of town. Bożena contacted two Polish nuns – Aniela Kotowska (Sister Klara) and Irena Bielawska (Sister Honorata) - and asked them to help rescue a Jewish family. Both nuns, each from a different convent in Przemysl, agreed to hide the Weitmans. Abraham Weitman later wrote about Kotowska that she was “an angel in a human body,” emphasizing her goodness and compassion towards her wards. During the war, Bielawska (Sister Honorata) also hid a Jewish couple named Fuller as well as a five-year-old Jewish girl called Lila Rosenthal (later Lea Fried). Both nuns acted without reward, receiving only small sums of money from their charges that covered the cost of their food. After the war, the Weitmans emigrated to Sweden. The fate of the Fuller couple is unknown.

“On September 19, 1983, Yad Vashem recognized Irena Bielawska (Sister Honorata), Aniela Kotowska (Sister Klara), and Bożena Złamal, as Righteous Among the Nations. File 2682

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004.

Convent in Rytwiany, Sandomierz, Kielce

Wiktoria and Stanisław Szumielewicz

“When World War II broke out, the Nisencwaig family from Staszow, Poland, numbered 18 members. Only two of them survived the Holocaust. This is the story of the survival of one of them. Eva Nisencwaig was 3 years old when Germany occupied Poland in 1939. Her family tried to endure the difficult situation of Jews as best as they could, but in the summer of 1941, Moshe and Hena Nisencwaig became aware of the imminent danger to their lives. They took the painful decision to part from their five-year-old daughter and to put her in the care of Polish friends, Wiktoria and Stanisław Szumielewicz, who had a farm in Ritviana. In her testimony to Yad Vashem, Eva Nisencwaig-Bergstein wrote: "I was only three years old when the war broke out and therefore my testimony cannot supply you with exact dates, but I can assure you that the course of events made an indelible impact on my memory, not to be erased for the rest of my life. Although I was physically a child, my happy childhood was as abruptly and unmercifully taken from me as was my entire family…. " The couple took the child in, presented the little girl as their niece, and eventually also took in Eva's two cousins. But the reunion with her cousins didn't last long. “First Janek and then his sister Lucy disappeared again. Eva, who had painfully grown used to her being with Szumielewicz, also had to leave. When a farm worker informed the Germans about the Jewish children at the Szumielewicz home, she was once again torn away from the now familiar surroundings and brought to a convent.

“Wiktoria Szumielewicz continued to watch from a distance, and when the convent was destroyed in a bombing, she took Eva back. To avoid detection, they moved from one place to another until liberation. After the war Eva stayed with the couple until her uncle, the only other survivor of her family, came to find her after the war. Both her parents had perished. Parting from the Szumielewiczes was very hard. " One day Wiktoria told me about an aunt in Canada…. She also said that my uncle Henryk had survived and was here in the house waiting to take me away. I did not want to hear about it and locked myself in my room until he finally left. I did not want to be a Jew again, now that my parents were dead. Uncle Henryk returned again…. I hardly recognized him. He looked like an old, defeated man…. He convinced me that my parents were waiting for me…. I was torn who to believe. I trusted Wiktoria but this was my own uncle…. I was nine years old and had to make a very important decision. Wiktoria insisted that she told me the truth and that Henryk was making up an outrageous story to get me away from her…. I decided to go to Krakow with my Uncle Henryk. I could not give up the flicker of hope that my parents are alive…." In 1947 Eva went to live with relatives in Canada. She never forgot Wiktoria and kept in touch with her until her death. Her eldest granddaughter is named after her rescuer. In 1974, when visiting Israel, Eva went to Yad Vashem and enquired about the possibility to have her rescuers honored as Righteous Among the Nations. It took her another six years to write down her detailed testimony.

“On August 28, 1981, Yad Vashem recognized Wiktoria and Stanisław Szumielewicz, as Righteous Among the Nations. A tree was planted in the Avenue of the Righteous.

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004.

Convent in Sosnowiec (See “Sióstr Karmelitanek” Carmelite Sisters Convent)

Convent in Staniatki (near Kraków),

Latawiec, Tadeusz
Latawiec, Józefa

“Tadeusz Latawiec and his wife Józefa lived in a residential building in Kraków that belonged to the Eckers. In 1940, the Eckers—husband, wife, and five-year-old daughter Janina—were expelled from Kraków to the ghetto in Wieliczka, where they remained until the ghetto was liquidated in August 1942. During the evacuation Aktion, Tadeusz Latawiec entered the ghetto and, at risk to his life, removed little Janina (with her parents’ full consent) and brought her to his apartment. From then on, Latawiec, a postal clerk, and his wife Józefa protected the Jewish girl, cared for her as lovingly and devotedly as they would their own daughter, and met all her needs for humanitarian motives and for no material reward. Mr. Ecker perished; his wife was sent to the concentration camp in Plaszów. Latawiec contacted her and occasionally brought greetings from her daughter until she was transferred to a different camp, never to return. In the spring of 1943, when the Latawieces’ neighbors identified Janina as the Eckers’ daughter her protectors moved her to an orphanage at a convent in Staniatki (near Kraków), for which they made monthly payments punctiliously. After the liberation, the Latawieces took Janina into their home and cared for her until 1949, when Jewish institutions arranged her resettlement in Israel.

“On January 17, 1985, Yad Vashem recognized Tadeusz Latawiec and is wife Józefa Latawiec as Righteous Among the Nations. File 3096

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004.

Convent in Turkowice see Convent of Turkowice (Hrubieszów County, Lublin District) See also Monastery in Turkovice

Convent in Wrzosów

Dąbrowska Julia Halina
Elżanowska Gabriela

“During the German occupation of Poland, Julia Halina Dąbrowska and her mother Gabriela Elżanowska rescued Maria Szpilfogel (née Rozenowicz), her daughter Elżbieta, as well as her parents, Karolina (Kajla) and Eliasz Rozenowicz. Julia Dąbrowska had been friends with Maria Szpilfogel and her sisters Teodora Zysman and Felicja Głowińska at school. As a young girl she would spend time at the Rozenowicz house in Pruszków near Warsaw after school and play with their daughters. Eliasz Rozenowicz, who traded in wood, treated Julia as if she was their fourth daughter. Julia continued to visit them every Saturday after she had had her own daughter, Danuta Maria, born in 1933. After the German invasion, the families stayed in touch until the Rozenowiczs were forced to move to the temporary ghetto in Pruszków. At the end of January 1941, when the Germans dismantled that ghetto, they were transferred to the Warsaw ghetto. In the fall of 1942, Maria Szpielfogel, her daugher Elżbieta and cousin Piotr Zysman (later, Świątkowski) escaped to the “Aryan” side and hid at Julia Dąbrowska’s apartment at 65 Al. Jerozolimskie, apt. 6. Julia helped the Rozenowicz parents to escape from the ghetto as well and took care of them when they were hiding first in the village of Wólka Korabiewicka (between Żyrardów and Skierniewice, Warsaw District) and later on in Milanówek near Warsaw. She stayed in contact with them and visited them. When Elżbieta fell ill, Julia organized surgery for her in the Mikołaj Kopernik Hospital in Warsaw.

“When the stay of Maria, Elżbieta and Piotr became too dangerous, she arranged another apartment for them. She also arranged for Elżbieta to stay in the convent in Wrzosów and helped to sell family jewels to support her wards. In order to save her friends, Julia, and her mother, Elżanowska, hid them, provided them with food and false documents and even paid off blackmailers from the fall of 1942 until the Warsaw Uprising of August 1944. Julia’s husband, who belonged to the Polish underground Home Army (AK) died during the Uprising. Occasionally, they also helped Teodora and Józef Zysman and Felicja and Henryk Głowiński, and their son Michał Głowiński. When the Głowińskis were no longer able to hide in the village of Radziłłów (Szczuczyn County, Białystok District), she took them in until new arrangements could be made for them. After the war, Julia Dąbrowska moved to Pomerania, where her father used to live and work before the war. The contacts between the two families thus became less frequent.

“On December 18, 2005, Yad Vashem recognized Julia Halina Dąbrowska and Gabriela Elżanowska as Righteous Among the Nations. File: 10665

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004.

Convent of the Sacred Heart (Ochronka im. Swietogo Serca) in Przemysl

Wąsowska-Renot
Eugenia (Sister Alfonsa)
Grenda, Anna (Sister Ligoria)
Sidełko, Rozalia Domicella (Sister Bernarda)
Juśkiewicz, Leokadia (Sister Emilia)

“During the occupation, 13 Jewish children - ten girls and three boys - found shelter at the residence of the Convent of the Sacred Heart (Ochronka im. Swietogo Serca) in Przemysl, run by Sisters Ligoria, Bernarda, Emilia & Alfonsa. The nun’s rescue operation began one day in July 1942, when they found an abandoned infant crying piercingly at the convent gate. Because Aktionen and deportations from the Przemysl ghetto were occurring at this time, additional Jewish children were taken to the convent - several directly by their parents, some by Catholic go-betweens such as Kazika Romankiewicz, and others placed at the convent entrance with a note attached to their clothing. As devout Catholics, the nuns rescued the Jewish children even though they were aware of the personal risk. The children received devoted and loving care and the nuns kept them fed and clothed despite the state of deprivation at the convent. As part of the nuns' precautions, the Jewish youngsters were not issued official ration cards and Sister Alfonsa unhesitatingly begged and solicited donations for the convent children. Notably, the four nuns had no missionary motive in their rescue effort and never attempted to convert their young wards. In November 1944, after Przemysl was liberated, the nuns, at their own initiative delivered the 13 Jewish children whom they had saved, to the Jewish committee that had been established in the town.

“After the war, Sister Alfonsa left the convent; renounced her vows, and emigrated to Australia. Under her new name, Eugenia Renot, she visited Israel, where most of “her” children - those who had settled in Israel - gave her an emotional reception. On October 26, 1980, Yad Vashem recognized Eugenia Wąsowska-Renot (Sister Alfonsa), as Righteous Among the Nations.

“On September 11,1986, Yad Vashem recognized Anna Grenda (Sister Ligoria), Rozalia Domicella Sidełko (Sister Bernarda), and Leokadia Juśkiewicz (Sister Emilia), as Righteous Among the Nations.

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004.

Convents in Warsaw

Bart, Jerzy
Bart, Zofia

“In December 1942, after one of the killing operations perpetrated against the Jews of Radom, Bracha Wakszlak (later, Bergman), 14, and her younger sister, Ester, were rescued from the ghetto by their cousin, Teofila (Toska) Wakszlak. She took them to Warsaw, where she was living under an assumed name with “Aryan” papers. For half a year she moved the two girls from one Polish family to another, supporting them financially but unable to find them a satisfactory haven. Finally, she placed the younger girl in a convent, while Bracha, the elder sister, aided by an acquaintance of her father, reached the Bart family. She did not know them, but they were willing to hide her in their home under an assumed name. The Bart household consisted of Jerzy and Zofia Bart, their two children, aged five and six, and the grandparents. A patriotic Polish family, they had connections with the Polish underground Home Army (AK). Jerzy, an electrical engineer by profession, worked for the Germans for his living, but he also worked with the underground, preserving the cultural treasures of the National Museum. The Barts made Bracha feel at home, like one of the family, and she lived with them in safety for a year, until Jerzy and Zofia were arrested by the Gestapo on April 7, 1944, and thrown into Pawiak, the central prison, located in the ghetto area. The underground was able to ransom Zofia, but Jerzy never returned. While both parents were incarcerated, Bracha looked after both the two children and the grandmother.

“Henryk, the grandfather, had been executed, probably due to his activities in the underground. Despite the suffering the family endured, Zofia agreed to go on sheltering Bracha. The most difficult trial came during and after the Warsaw Uprising in the summer and fall of 1944 when the Barts were forced to abandon their home and became fugitives, wandering from one village to another in search of a place to stay and means of subsistence. Yet even in these trying conditions they did not abandon Bracha but kept her with them and continued to treat her like a full-fledged member of the family. She stayed with them until the liberation in January 1945.

“On October 24, 2002, Yad Vashem recognized Jerzy and Zofia Bart as Righteous Among the Nations. File 9820

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004.

Woroniecka, Aniela Maria Elżbieta (Czartoryska)
Chmielewska, Róża

“Edward Reicher was born in Łódź, Poland, in 1900. He studied medicine in Warsaw, and took specialized training in skin diseases in Paris and Vienna. After he married Pola the couple settled in Warsaw where they had a daughter, Elżbieta. When the ghetto was established in Warsaw, the Reichers were forced to move into the crowded area. Realizing that the ghetto would eventually be liquidated, and the Jews murdered, Reicher managed to smuggle his wife and baby daughter out, and joining a work column of Jews, fled himself. Thus began their clandestine existence, moving from one place to another. At first, they were hidden by a Polish railway worker and his wife in return for a high sum of money, but eventually the couple changed their minds and the Reichers had to leave. They stayed underground, prey to Polish blackmailers, which made their situation untenable. Eventually, through prewar connections, Reicher established contact with Aniela Czartoryska Woroniecka, a member of one of Poland's aristocratic families, who was known for her kind heart and her willingness to help those in need. Woroniecka arranged for Elżbieta to be taken to a church orphanage. It was a tearful separation when the six-year-old child had to leave her mother and adjust to a new life in a convent school. She learned to conceal her identity and took on the prayers and customs of Christian life. Meanwhile, Woroniecka arranged for Pola to work as a housekeeper for her relatives.

“Finding a hiding place for Edward Reicher was the hardest challenge. He was placed with a family, but despite the money paid to them the wife soon changed her mind. Feeling sorry for Reicher, her husband, who worked for the railways, managed to find the Jewish refugee a job with the railway company. Although the former physician did his best to blend into the group of laborers, he soon fell under suspicion and had to leave. He spent some timewandering around, once again falling victim to blackmailers. Eventually he was left penniless, sleeping in deserted buildings, and eating whatever he could find. One night, a woman named Róża Chmielewska approached him. Chmielewska was actually a prostitute on the lookout for clients. Having lost all hope, Reicher confided in her and told her about his terrible fate. Chmielewska took Reicher to her home, a one-room apartment nearby. He took shelter in the apartment for several weeks, using a special hideout when his benefactor received her clients. Reicher soon regained his strength and then contacted his wife, who came to visit him. Chmielewska even gave him money so that he could buy something for Elżbieta. Sometime later, however, Chmielewska’s neighbors became suspicious, and Reicher had to find a new refuge. Pola turned once again to Woroniecka, who took him into her home. A hideout was prepared for him in a cupboard, in which he secreted himself whenever visitors came. Woroniecka’s mother had gone on an extended trip to visit relatives, but when she returned two months later, she insisted on ousting Reicher. He spent the remaining time until liberation in the home of one of Woroniecka’s acquaintances. After the war, the Reichers left Poland. They maintained contact with their rescuers and supported them financially. Dr. Edward Reicher died in Frankfurt, Germany in 1975. Elżbieta eventually settled in France.

“On December 27, 2011, Yad Vashem recognized Aniela Maria Elżbieta Woroniecka and Róża Chmielewska as Righteous Among the Nations. File 12293/1

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004.

Miśkiewicz, Bronisław
Miśkiewicz, Katarzyna

“Bronisław and Katarzyna Miśkiewicz lived in Warsaw with their daughter, Barbara, who was four years old when the occupation began. Bronisław worked in the Adamczewski & Co. soap factory where Hilary Laks, a Jewish chemical engineer, worked for the first few years of the occupation. Hilary, his wife, Janina (Tola), and their daughter, Romana, who was born in 1934, lived in the ghetto. In 1942, Bronisław took Romana out of the ghetto to a convent, where she stayed until the end of the war. At the same time, he and his wife offered Hilary shelter at their apartment, and he stayed there for 20 months while his wife hid elsewhere, also outside the ghetto. Hilary stayed in a small room at the back of the apartment where he arranged a hiding place in a closet into which he disappeared in times of danger. No one knew about Hilary except Katarzyna and a couple of their close friends. “During the whole time I was hiding here, they never asked for any money or reward,” Hilary wrote in his testimony. Bronisław died in Warsaw in 1960. His daughter immigrated to the United States and was joined by her mother in 1982. Hilary Laks, his wife and daughter all survived and immigrated to the United States.

“On March 5, 1984, Yad Vashem recognized Bronisław Miśkiewicz and his wife, Katarzyna Miśkiewicz, as Righteous Among the Nations.

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004.

Niemiec, Maria
Niemiec, Józef

“One day in 1942, Maria Niemiec showed up in her tiny apartment in Przemysl with six-year-old Teresa. She then told her four children that Teresa was now their sister. Teresa had been the only child of Shimon and Dziunia Licht, who knew Niemiec as the daughter of a woman that had worked in their household before the war. After they gave her their daughter, the Lichts used false papers to reach Warsaw. Teresa was received warmly by the Niemiec family who, despite their impoverished circumstances and overcrowded home, cared for her with warmth and kindness, telling neighbors that she was a relative. A friend of Niemiec, who lived nearby, was at the same time hiding a seven-year-old cousin of Teresa. The little boy carelessly revealed that he was Jewish, and the Germans took him away. Following the boy’s arrest, the Germans discovered his parents’ hiding place in Przemysl and murdered them all. Fearing that Teresa’s identity would also be discovered, Maria Niemiec took her to Warsaw, and using connections that her parents had, placed her in a convent where she remained until the liberation. Niemiec remained in Warsaw throughout the entire period, and without asking for or receiving anything in return, served as a go-between for Teresa and her parents. Only after the war ended, did Niemiec return home to her husband and children. Her efforts to save Teresa’s life during her time of need were motivated solely by loyalty and friendship. After the war, Teresa and her parents immigrated to the United States, and until Maria Niemiec’s passing, remained in close contact with her, sending her packages and medicines as needed.

“On June 8, 1986, Yad Vashem recognized Maria Niemiec and her husband Józef Niemiec as Righteous Among the Nations. File 3427

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004.

Sitkowska, Helena
Sitkowski, Andrzej

“When the war broke out David and Bronislawa Kozak lived in Czestochowa with their two daughters Dobra Jenta (later Marion Miliband) and Hadassah. Shortly after the German occupation the family business was confiscated, and when the ghetto was established in April 1941, the Kozaks had to leave their home and move into the ghetto. In the fall of 1942 Bronislawa and the two girls were smuggled out of the ghetto by a former employee of the family business. With the help of Cecylia Kozak, the girls' aunt, they managed to reach Warsaw, where Bronislawa, using a false identity, found work as a maid with a Christian family. Her daughters were placed in a convent near Warsaw. A few months later, however, the convent authorities became nervous about keeping two Jewish girls. The girls’ aunt was able to place Marion in another convent, and with the help of a friend established contact with his neighbor, Helena Sitkowska, who was willing to take in five-year-old Hadassah.

“Sitkowska was a widow who lived in a quiet suburb of Warsaw with her father, her ten-year-old daughter, Magda, and 15-year-old son, Andrzej. In their testimony Hadassah and Marion said that "Although food must have been in very short supply, the house had an air of pre-war comfort about it". Hadassah was not allowed to leave the house or to go to school, but the family, and especially Andrzej, taught her to read. In July 1944, shortly before the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising, looking for a safer place for her relatives, Cecylia Kozak brought Marion to Sitkowska.

“Sometime later Bronislawa joined her daughters. Despite the difficult times, the constant danger and fear, especially after Andrzej left home to join the insurgents, Sitkowska took good care of her three wards. Their aunt Cecylia, who had been their outside contact and support, was killed during the uprising, and they were now totally dependent on their benefactor's protection. After thesuppression of the uprising, when the Warsaw residents were driven out of the city, Sitkowska had to leave and join the column of refugees. She did not abandon the Kosaks and they went with her. After reaching Kielce, Sitkowska continued to look after her three charges, providing them with clothes and money. She arranged for them to move in with relatives, where they stayed until January 1945, when the area was liberated. Bornislawa and her daughters had survived, but David Kozak, the girls' father, had been murdered during the Holocaust. The Sitkowskis were Polish patriots who considered saving Jews a humanitarian duty and an integral part of their struggle against the German occupier. After the war, Kozak and her daughters emigrated to the United States and to England, where they remembered the Sitkowskis’ kindness for many years. "There is a uniqueness about the history of this family in that we have formed firm bonds of friendship which survived the war", wrote Marion and Hadassah in their testimony many years later. Marion Kozak settled in the United Kingdom, her two sons, David and Ed Miliband, became senior leaders of the Labor Party.

“On June 29, 1995, Yad Vashem recognized Helena Sitkowska and her son, Andrzej Sitkowski, as Righteous Among the Nations. In February 1996 Andrzej Sitkowski, joined by Marion Kozak Miliband and Hadassah Kozak came to Jerusalem and a ceremony was held at Yad Vashem in honor of the Sitkowskis. File 6527

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004.

Byszewska, Helena
Byszewska-Choynowska
Anna Gostkiewicz
Jadwiga Szulińska, Maria
Kolbińska, Wiktoria

“In 1942, Krystyna Lew escaped from the Warsaw ghetto together with her eight-year-old daughter, Beata, her son, Marek, and her sister, Helena Pocimak. Armed with “Aryan” papers, which they had obtained from a Polish acquaintance, the fugitives appealed for help to Helena Byszewska, her sisters Jadwiga Gostkiewicz and Maria Szulińska, and Wiktoria Kolbińska. Before the war, the four had maintained a business relationship with the Lew family, which in the course of time had evolved into sincere friendship. When they learned of the distress of their Jewish friends, the women immediately undertook to help them. Helena took Marek into her apartment, and subsequently found refuge for Krystyna and her daughter, as well as a hideout elsewhere for Helena Pocimak. The women set up a joint fund, from which 150 złotys were allocated monthly to Krystyna and Helena Byszewska. In due course, the janitor’s daughter began to suspect that Beata was Jewish, and fearing denunciation Helena decided to transfer her to a convent. Helena’s daughter, Anna, taught Beate the rudiments of the Catholic faith, and the child was sent to a convent, where she remained until the end of the war. Helena also tried to save Krystyna’s husband, who had escaped from Treblinka together with a Jewish doctor by the name of Lipiński, but to no avail. Jadwiga, Maria and Wiktoria were of constant assistance to Helena and Anna, and in times of danger hid the fugitives in their homes.

“They were motivated solely by humanitarian considerations and sincere affection, which withstood the vicissitudes of the time. After the war, Krystyna immigrated to Israel together with her children and sister. For many years thereafter she corresponded with Helena Byszewska, to whom she owed her life.

“On November 6, 1986, Yad Vashem recognized Helena Byszewska, Anna Byszewska-Choynowska, Jadwiga Gostkiewicz, Maria Szulińska and Wiktoria Kolbińska as Righteous Among the Nations. File 3506

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004.

Convent in Zoliborz

Węckowski, Kazimierz

“During the war, Dr. Kazimierz Węckowski, a widower, worked as a physician in Warsaw. The very moment the Nazis began persecuting Jews he “actively entered the fight, rendering help, by advice and deed, to numerous sections of the Jewish population,” wrote Ela Rosenblatt in her testimony to Yad Vashem. She emphasized that Węckowski could be “characterized by his deep concern about the difficult situation of the Jews in Poland... and by his will to cooperate and render assistance.” In order to avoid their requisition by the Germans, Węckowski adopted and managed the clinics of his friend, Dr. Jan Rosenblatt. It was at these clinics that he was able to help and shelter his Jewish acquaintances. “Many a time, he used to put the patch on his arm and enter the ghetto, to visit his acquaintances and friends.” There he got in touch with the young members of the Betar organization. The latter took advantage of his private apartment, staying there overnight. Some others were able to earn money, since Węckowski, as head physician of the social insurance service in the Praga neighborhood in eastern Warsaw, could arrange jobs for them. Because of his position, Węckowski was able to hospitalize an incurable Jewish boy, whose stay in a hideout was no longer possible since he could have exposed the place and the people who were sheltering him. Węckowski also helped Dr. Rosenblatt’s wife. Ela Rosenblatt remained alone with two daughters, Hanka and Mirka, because her husband was drafted in 1939 into the Polish army.

“Węckowski helped them leave the ghetto just before it was sealed and settled them in the countryside near Warsaw. Some time later, he escorted them to Grochów, where they lived with Węckowski’s brother’s family. Later on in the war, Węckowski put the girls in a convent in Żoliborz and rented a little room for their mother. After the war, Ela Rosenblatt moved to Israel. She passed away in 1951, at the age of 45. Mira Rosenblatt was killedduring the Warsaw uprising. Hanna Rosenblatt left for Israel, too, from where she maintained contact with Węckowski.

“On June 4, 1989, Yad Vashem recognized Dr. Kazimierz Węckowski as Righteous Among the Nations. File 4260

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004.

Daughters of the Purest Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Zgromadzenie Córek Najczystszego Serca Najświętszej Maryi Panny— Córki Najczystszego Serca NMP (sercanki bezhabitowe)): Kolno, Nowe Miasto nad Pilicą, Otwock, Sitnik, Skórzec, Warsaw (two institutions), Wilno.

Sisters of Divine Providence (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Opatrzności Bożej—Siostry Opatrznościanki): Międzyrzec Podlaski, Przemyśl, RZeszów, Skole, Sterdyń.

Sisters Shepherds of Divine Providence (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Pasterek od Opatrzności Bożej—Siostry Pasterki): Lubartów, Lublin.

Dom Serca Jesusowego Convent, Skorzec Village, Siedlce Region (east of Warsaw), Poland

Mother Superior Bronislawa Beta Hryniewicz
Sister Stanislawa Jozwikowska

“Jóźwikowska, Stanisława Hryniewicz, Beata-Bronisława In the summer of 1942, 11-year-old Estera Faktor and her five-year-old sister, Batia, escaped from the Warsaw ghetto and wandered through fields and villages until they arrived at the Kaluszyn ghetto, where they were reunited with their brother Janek, and sisters, Halina and Regina. A few days before the liquidation of the ghetto and the deportation of its inhabitants to Treblinka, all five Faktor children escaped from the ghetto. For safety’s sake they decided to split up, and Estera and little Batia wandered from one village to the other, introducing themselves as Christians, and eventually in December 1942 reached the village of Czerniewjew. The villagers were suspicious of them and took them to the police, but Estera and Batia stood their ground and with the help of an elderly poor widow were able to convince their interrogators that they were Polish girls. They were put in the homes of two families in the village of Skorzec. The family that took Batia complained that they were unable to feed her, and their complaint was heard by the nun Stanisława Jóźwikowska. Taking pity on the girls, Stanisława consulted with the Mother Superior, Beata-Bronisława Hryniewicz, who next day arranged for her to be transferred to the Dom Serca Jesusowego (Sacred Heart) convent in Skorzec, without at first knowing they were Jewish. Batia was very sick, and the nuns took loving care of her and nursed her. In September 1943 the two girls began going to school in the village.

“The school prinicipal asked them for their birth and baptism certificates and insisted on receiving them. Estera had no choice but to inform the nuns of their true identity. The nuns, far from abandoning them, were more concerned than ever for their well-being, particularly Mother Beata-Bronisława and Sister Stanisława, who perceived helping Jews as a sacred duty. To ensure Estera’s safety, the nuns decided that she too should live in the convent. This involved great danger since German soldiers had taken over some of the convent’s rooms. No one but the two nuns were aware of the real identity of the two girls. After the war, the convent transferred the Faktor sisters to the care of the Jewish community in the nearby city of Siedlce, where they were reunited with their sister Regina. Halina and Janek did not survive and were murdered. When members of the Jewish Committee heard Estera and Batia’s story, they raised money to buy a present for the two nuns, but Mother Beata refused saying: “I simply did my Christian duty, without any thought of reward.” Even after their immigration to Israel, the Faktor sisters kept up ties with the two nuns who had saved their lives.

“On August 31, 1994, Yad Vashem recognized Sister Stanisława Jóźwikowska, Mother Beata-Bronisława Hryniewicz as Righteous Among the Nations. File 6166

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004.

Jóźwikowska, Stanisława
Hryniewicz, Beata-Bronisława

“In the summer of 1942, 11-year-old Estera Faktor and her five-year-old sister, Batia, escaped from the Warsaw ghetto and wandered through fields and villages until they arrived at the Kaluszyn ghetto, where they were reunited with their brother Janek, and sisters, Halina and Regina. A few days before the liquidation of the ghetto and the deportation of its inhabitants to Treblinka, all five Faktor children escaped from the ghetto. For safety’s sake they decided to split up, and Estera and little Batia wandered from one village to the other, introducing themselves as Christians, and eventually in December 1942 reached the village of Czerniewjew. The villagers were suspicious of them and took them to the police, but Estera and Batia stood their ground and with the help of an elderly poor widow were able to convince their interrogators that they were Polish girls. They were put in the homes of two families in the village of Skorzec. The family that took Batia complained that they were unable to feed her, and their complaint was heard by the nun Stanisława Jóźwikowska. Taking pity on the girls, Stanisława consulted with the Mother Superior, Beata-Bronisława Hryniewicz, who next day arranged for her to be transferred to the Dom Serca Jesusowego (Sacred Heart) convent in Skorzec, without at first knowing they were Jewish. Batia was very sick, and the nuns took loving care of her and nursed her. In September 1943 the two girls began going to school in the village.

“The school prinicipal asked them for their birth and baptism certificates and insisted on receiving them. Estera had no choice but to inform the nuns of their true identity. The nuns, far from abandoning them, were more concerned than ever for their well-being, particularly Mother Beata-Bronisława and Sister Stanisława, who perceived helping Jews as a sacred duty. To ensure Estera’s safety, the nuns decided that she too should live in the convent. This involved great danger since German soldiers had taken over some of the convent’s rooms. No one but the two nuns were aware of the real identity of the two girls. After the war, the convent transferred the Faktor sisters to the care of the Jewish community in the nearby city of Siedlce, where they were reunited with their sister Regina. Halina and Janek did not survive and were murdered. When members of the Jewish Committee heard Estera and Batia’s story, they raised money to buy a present for the two nuns, but Mother Beata refused saying: “I simply did my Christian duty, without any thought of reward.” Even after their immigration to Israel, the Faktor sisters kept up ties with the two nuns who had saved their lives.

“On August 31, 1994, Yad Vashem recognized Sister Stanisława Jóźwikowska, Mother Beata-Bronisława Hryniewicz as Righteous Among the Nations. File 6166.

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004.

Dominican Sisters Convent in Kolonia Wilenska (near Vilna), Poland

Mother Superior Anna Borkowska* (Krytyna Bykowska)

Borkowska, Anna
Ostreyko, Jordana
Roszak, Cecylia Maria
Neugebauer, Imelda
Bednarska, Stefania
Adamek, Malgorzata
Frackiewicz, Helena-Diana

“In 1941, during the German occupation, Anna Borkowska (Sister Bertranda), mother superior of a Dominican convent in Kolonia Wilenska, about 15 kilometers from Vilna, together with six other nuns, helped save a group of Hashomer Hatza‘ir members looking for a hiding place in the area. Through the mediation of Jadwiga Dudzic, a representative of the Polish Scouts, Borkowska offered them temporary shelter in the convent. Among the fifteen Jews taken into the convent by the nuns were many who later became members of the underground in the Bialystok, Warsaw, and Vilna ghettos, such as Arie Wilner, Aba Kowner, Israel Nagel, Chuma Godot, Chajka Grosman, and Edek Boraks. Borkowska (who was affectionately known as “Mother”) did all she could to ensure the safety of the Jews in her care. In the winter of 1942, a group of young activists left the convent and returned to the ghetto in order to organize an underground resistance cell. During their stay, the young activists had, with the knowledge and agreement of Borkowska and six other nuns, turned the place into a hive of activity for the Jewish underground. Aba Kowner was subsequently to relate that the first manifesto calling for a ghetto revolt was drawn up in the convent. After leaving the convent, the members of the underground maintained close ties with Borkowska, their “mother,” who visited them in the ghetto, helped them obtain weapons, and brought them their first hand grenades.

“After rumors that Jews were hiding in the convent reached the ears of the Gestapo, Borkowska was interrogated, and the convent shut down. The ties between the surviving members of the underground and Borkowska continued after the war, until her death. They even invited her to visit them in Israel, but due to ailing health, she was unable to take up their offer. On March 29, 1984, Yad Vashem recognized Anna Borkowska and the nuns Imelda Neugebauer, Stefania Bednarska, Malgorzata Adamek, Jordana Ostreyko, Helena-Diana Frackiewicz and Cecylia Maria Roszak as Righteous Among the Nations. File No. 2682 Borkowska's helping hand was never forgotten by the Zionist pioneers who had immigrated to Israel after the war, but only in 1984 was contact with her reestablished. By that time, she was 84 years old and living in a small apartment in Warsaw. The same year Yad Vashem awarded the title of Righteous Among the Nations to Anna Borkowska and six nuns of her convent, and Abba Kovner planted a tree in her honor in the Avenue of the Righteous on the Mount of Remembrance. Abba Kovner traveled to Warsaw to present Anna Borkowska with the medal. "Why do I deserve this honor?" asked Borkowska, to which Kovner answered: "You are Anna of the angels". He went on to explain: "During the days when angels hid their faces from us, this woman was for us Anna of the Angels. Not of angles that we invent in our hearts, but of angels that create our lives forever." File 2862.

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004.

Felician Convent

Zagrodzka, Julia (Sister Kantalicja)

“Stanisław Gabriel Stammer Cichocki was born in Lwów (today Lviv), Poland, on August 5, 1937. His biological father was Polish and completely uninvolved with the family. Stanisław’s mother, Felicja Apisdorf, later married Chaim Stammer, who like her was an active member of the Communist movement. When the Germans reached Lwów, the family escaped to rejoin Felicja’s parents in Sadowa Wisznia, where they owned a house. Soon enough, a ghetto was established in Sadowa Wisznia, and the Apisdorf-Stammer family was forced to move there. When that happened, an acquaintance by the name of Julia Zagrodzka reached out to Felicja. She was a mother in the local Felician convent and known there as Sister Kantalicja. This woman was a very distant relative of Stanisław’s estranged biological father. She offered to hide the boy should things take a turn for the worse, which indeed they did. After the family spent ten months in the ghetto, it was liquidated. By hiding in the local mill, Felicja, Chaim, and Stanisław managed to escape the terrible fate that befell their entire family. Felicja used her underground Communist connections to get in touch with Sister Kantalicja. Stanisław was sent to the convent, where he was instructed to pretend he did not know the one Jewish girl he recognized from Sadowa Wisznia, Niusia Gutman, who had received the same instructions. The children did not speak of their origins, but they were never forced to pray or convert to Christianity.

“There were about twenty Jewish children hidden at the convent, all known to Sister Kantalicja, who went on to become the mother superior. In winter 1944 the convent moved to Otwock, bringing all the refugee children along. Meanwhile, Felicja, Stanisław’s mother, first hid in Rzeszów. She was then sent by her Communist organization to Germany and Austria, and she was one of the few members of the Red Orchestra espionage organization to survive the war. In 1946, Felicja returned to claim her son. They remained in Poland, and Stanisław was sent to school, but he didn't like the Communist propaganda which naturally put a strain on his relationship with his mother. In 1957 he chose to immigrate to Israel. He remained in touch with the sisters from the convent.

“On November 23, 2016, Yad Vashem recognized Julia Zagrodzka (Sister Kantalicja) as Righteous Among the Nations. File 13352

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004.

Dominican Sisters (Zgromadzenie Sióstr św. Dominika—Siostry Dominikanki): Biała Niżna near Nowy Sącz, Chorzów, Kielce, Wilno, Zurów near Rohatyn.

Dominican Sisters (cloistered) (Mniszki Zakonu Kaznodziejskiego—Siostry Dominikanki (klazurowe)): Kolonia Wileńska near Wilno.

Dominican Missionary Sisters of Jesus and Mary (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Dominikanek Misjonarek Jezusa i Maryi— Siostry Dominikanki Misjonarki): Warsaw and vicinity.

(Grey) Sisters of St. Elizabeth (Silesia) (Zgromadzenie Sióstr św. Elżbiety Trzeciego Zakonu Regularnego św. Franciszka z Asyżu—Siostry Elżbietanki (śląskie) (szare)): Otwock.

Felicjanki Sisters (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Św. Feliksa z Kantalicjo Siostry)

Klepacka, Maria

“During the occupation, Lidka Taubenfeld (born in Lwów, at- 05/10/1932) known also as- Ilana Feldblum; moved with her family from the town of Radom to Przemyśl, where her father passed away. Although, Taubenfeld and her cousin (named Lena Gross) had been provided with “Aryan” documents by their parents (after Lena’s parents have perished), Lidka’s mother realized the importance of finding them a safe shelter.

“In 1942, by a coincidence, Lena’s mother had a chance to encounter with Maria Klepacka; who arrived to Przemyśl in order to save friend’s daughter. Unfortunately, the little girl was killed by the Germans, two days before Klepacka’s arriving. Afterwards, Klepacka agreed to hide the two girls (Lidka and Lena) in her apartment, and to teach them the basic tenets of Catholicism; all that, in order to prepare them for admission to a convent orphanage, where they would be safe. In October or November 1942, Klepacka took the two girls into her one-roomed apartment in Kraków (21 Kopernika street), where they were soon joined by other refugees; among them, were the Sternbach couple (Mr. Aleksander Sternbach and his wife). A half year later, Taubenfeld and Gross were transferred to a convent belonging to the Felicjanki Sisters (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Św. Feliksa z Kantalicjo (Siostry Felicjanki) under assumed identities (2 Kopernika street). In late 1942, after Taubenfeld’s mother perished, a relative undertook to pay the convent fees.

“After he was perished, the children were expelled from the convent, by the Mother Superior (she claimed, that she is receiving a threat letter, on hiding Jewish children). The little girls new only the address of Klepacka’s house, therefore they have decided to return to their previous shelter (Klepacka, continued look after them, like they were her own daughters). Due, to the lack of space in Klepacka’s apartment, she decided to return to the wealthiest among the refugees, in order to lookfor themselves a new shelter; since, her first duty was to take care of the two girls, who were in great poverty (her decision was motivated from a moral and humanitarian aid, she new that the girls don’t have any source of payment in order to pay the convent fees). Thanks to the other refugees, Klepacka heard about organization, which was donating funds for hiding Jews. After Klepacka’s request was received; the organization agreed to pay the convent fees. Afterwards, Taubenfeld and Gross were sent back to the convent where they have stayed till January 1945, until the Red Army liberated the area. Throughout the occupation, and for two years after the liberation, Klepacka kept a close contact with the girls and looked after all their needs, without expecting anything in return. In 1949, Taubenfeld immigrated to Israel where she continued to keep-up ties with her savior; while Gross, married and stayed in Poland.

“On the 30th of January 1972, Yad Vashem recognized Maria Klepacka as a Righteous Among the Nations.

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004.

Felician Sisters (Sisters of St. Felix of Cantalice) (Zgromadzenie Sióstr św. Feliksa z Kantalicjo Trzeciego Zakonu Regularnego św. Franciszka z Asyżu—Siostry Felicjanki): Chełm, Dobranowice near Wieliczka, Kraków, Lwów (3 institutions), Otwock, Przemyśl (2 institutions), Pustomyty, Sądowa Wisznia, Staniątki, Warsaw (2 institutions), Wawer near Warsaw, Widawa.

Updated November 7, 2021

Church Rescue in Poland- Part 2

PART 1

PART 2 - See BelowPART 3

See Also Rescue by Religious Organizations

Polish Priests Recognized by Yad Vashem

Catholic Institutions

PART 2 - See Below

PART 3