Church Rescue in Poland - Part 3

PART 1

PART 2

PART 3 - See Below

See Also Rescue by Religious Organizations

Franciscan Sisters, Laski, Warsaw, Poland

Franciscan Sisters of Mary Family, Warsaw, Poland

Had more than 100 houses

Mother Provincial Sister Matylda Getter*

Getter, Matylda (Mother Matylda)

“Matylda Getter (Mother Matylda) was head of the Franciscan order “Mary’s Family” (Zgromadzenie Siostr Rodziny Marii), in the Warsaw district. In her capacity as Mother Superior, Matylda ran a number of children’s homes and orphanages in the locality, where she hid many Jewish children during the occupation. In 1942-1943, Mother Matylda contacted the workers of “Centos,” an organization which arranged care for orphans and abandoned Jewish children in the Warsaw ghetto. Many of these children, after being smuggled out of the ghetto, were sent directly to Matylda’s institutions. Although we do not know exactly how many Jewish children were saved by the institutions of “Mary’s Family,” we do know that about 40 Jewish girls – including Wanda Rozenbaum, Margaret Frydman, and Hanna Zajtman – found refuge in the Pludy branch alone. All 40 survived. Mother Matylda was fond of saying that it was her duty to save those in trouble. Spurred on by her religious faith, she never demanded payment for her services, although some parents, and a few relatives, paid for their children’s upkeep. Despite the fact that most of the Jewish children were baptized while in the institutions, they all reverted to Judaism after the liberation.

“On January 17, 1985, Yad Vashem recognized Matylda Getter as Righteous Among the Nations File 3097.

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

Popowski Stanisław
Popowska Maria
Taborska-Popowska Hanna

“Professor Stanisław Popowski, a physician, was a well-known expert in children’s diseases. During the occupation, he was the head of the children’s municipal hospital in Warsaw and was active in an underground organization of democratic and socialist doctors that helped save Jews that fled from the ghetto to the Aryan side of the city. In saving Jewish children, Popowski collaborated with Matylda Getter* (see: Getter, Matylda), the mother superior of a Franciscan convent in the area. Popowski’s wife Maria and his daughter Hanna, a young girl at the time, were active partners in the rescue efforts Popowski initiated, and the Popowski family hid Jews, most Warsaw physicians, in their home for varying periods. Among the Jews helped by the Popowski family were pediatrician Dr. Henryk Brokman, Janina Sterling, daughter of Seweryn Sterling, a celebrated doctor and public figure, Professor Ludwik Hirszfeld, a well-known microbiologist, his wife Hanna, a pediatrician, and Bianka Perlmutter, the daughter of a family of physicians that had been friendly with the Popowski family. Perlmutter, who had gone to school with Hanna Popowska, was smuggled out of the ghetto during the large-scale deportation in the summer of 1942, and the Popowskis hid her in their home, where she was treated with warm devotion, as if she were a member of the family. After a few months, "Aryan" papers were arranged for her and she was taken to the orphanage run by the Franciscan sisters, where she remained until the liberation.

“The Popowskis also obtained “Aryan” papers for Perlmutter’s father, but he was wounded during the Warsaw Uprising in the summer of 1944, and after he was taken to hospital, the fact of his being Jewish was exposed by an informer, and he was murdered by the Germans soon before the liberation. In helping the persecuted Jews, the Popowskis was acting in accordance with the dictates of their conscience, believingthat the weak must be helped, regardless of race or creed, even if one must risk one’s life to do so. On April 28, 1989, Yad Vashem recognized Dr. Stanisław Popowski and his wife Maria Popowska as Righteous Among the Nations.

“On December 30, 1993, Yad Vashem recognized their daughter Hanna Taborska (née Popowska) as Righteous Among the Nations. File 4166

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

(Franciscan) Sisters of St. Elizabeth (Cieszyn) (Zgromadzenie Sióstr św. Elżbiety Trzeciego Zakonu Regularnego św. Franciszka z Asyżu—Siostry Elżbietanki (cieszyńskie)): Cieszyn.

Franciscan Sisters Servants of the Cross (Laski) (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Franciszkanek Służebnic Krzyża—Siostry Franciszkanki Służebnice Krzyża): Laski near Warsaw, Zakopane, Zulów.

Franciscan Sisters of the Suffering (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Franciszkanek od Cierpiących—Siostry Franciszkanki od Cierpiących): Kozienice, Łuck, Wilno.

Franciscan Sisters of the Family of Mary (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Franciszkanek Rodziny Maryi—Siostry Franciszkanki Rodziny Maryi): Anin near Warsaw, Beresteczko, Białołęka Dworska near Warsaw (2 institutions), Brwinów (2 institutions), Brzezinki, Dubno, Dźwiniaczka near Borszczów, Grójec, Izabelin near Warsaw, Kołomyja, Kostów, Kostowiec, Krasnystaw, Łomna near Turka, Lwów (3 institutions), Maciejowice near Warsaw, Mickuny near Wilno, Międzylesie near Warsaw (3 institutions), Mirzec, Mszana Dolna near Rabka, Nieborów near Łowicz, Nienadowa, Ostrówek near Warsaw, Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, Pistyń, Płudy near Warsaw, Podhajce, Pustelnik, Puźniki near Buczacz, Raków, Sambor, Soplicowo near Warsaw, Szymanów, Turka, Warsaw (5 institutions), Wilno, Wołkowysk, Wola Gołkowska.

Franciscan Missionary Sisters of Mary (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Franiszkanek Misjonarek Maryi—Franciszkanki Misjonarki Maryi): Radecznica, Zamość.

Holy Name of Jesus Convent in Suchedniow.

Kaczyńska, Maria
Talikowski, Roman
Rosolinska, Adela (Sister Serafia)
Jankowska Kornelia (Sister Kornelia)

“Zdzisław Przygoda and his wife, Irena (nee Mizne), lived in Warsaw. Przygoda was an engineer. With the establishment of the ghetto, the Przygodas went to live with Irena’s parents. There, in June 1942, they had a daughter whom they named Joanna - Joasia. In July 1942 the deportations from the Warsaw ghetto to Treblinka began. Roman Talikowski, who owned a glove store on Nowy Swiat and had been a business colleague of Irena’s father, a leather merchant, helped Zdzislaw and Irena escape the ghetto. Talikowski who had often smuggled food and goods to Irena’s parents in the ghetto, had become a true friend to Zdzisław and Irena: He helped them smuggle Joanna out, found an official job for Zdzisław with a Polish contracting firm, and obtained a work pass for him, without which life on the Aryan side would have been impossible. The place Roman had arranged for the Przygodas was in the home of Maria Kaczyńska, whose house was a twenty-minute ride away from the center of Warsaw, in a sheltered wooded area outside of Milanowek. Two other women were already hiding there, one of whom may have been Jewish. Irena Przygodas and her little daughter spent eleven months sheltered at Kaczynska’s home. Zdzisław was away most of the time but kept in touch with his wife and daughter. On May 22, 1943, German soldiers came to the house and conducted a search. They killed Irena Przygoda and another woman.

“For an unknown reason they did not touch Kaczyńska herself, nor little Joanna. Irena’s Jewish identity apparently did not become known, and she was buried together with the other murdered woman in the local cemetery in a grave, which bore a cross. When Zdzisław arrived at Kaczynska’s home, he found Joasia crawling on the floor, holding her dead mother’s bra, in which Irena had hidden jewels she had been given when she had left the Warsaw ghetto. Zdislaw took Joasia and brought her to Irena’s sister Alicja and her husband, Mieczysław Dortheimer, who were hiding with false papers in Tarnów. Zdzislaw himself joined the underground and managed a factory in Radom, where he hid Jews and escaped POWs under the floor of a warehouse. He arranged a job for Mieczysław Dortheimer in Suchedniow after the ghetto in Tarnow was liquidated. Joasia lived with Alicja and Mieczysław in Suchedniow until they were arrested. In Janaury 1944 Joasia was brought to the Holy Name of Jesus convent in Suchedniow. There are different versions about the circumstances of her arrival. The nuns said that it was a German who brought her along with a small suitcase. A document in the convent’s archive states that she was brought by a woman. The Mother Superior of the convent was Sister Serafia (Adela Rosolinska). She chose one of the nuns, Sister Kornelia Jankowska, to care for Joanna. The sisters knew that the child was Jewish, and while there were 79 other children living in the convent’s orphanage, Joanna – probably the only Jewish child – was cared for separately, living with Sister Kornelia in her quarters. Everyone loved Joanna at the convent—she was a pretty and intelligent child. She survived until the end of the war and was collected from the convent in 1945 by an acquaintance of her father’s. After the war, Joasia was brought out of Poland to Germany, and was adopted by Mieczysław & Alicja Dortheimer who immigrated with her to Australia in 1948. Sisters at the convent said that Sister Kornelia remembered Joanna until the end of her life and was always anxious to know what became of her.

“On July 9, 2013, Yad Vashem recognized Maria Kaczyńska, Roman Talikowski, Sister Serafia Adela Rosolinska, and Sister Kornelia Jankowska 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.

House in Pludy, Poland

Sister Agniela Stawowiak, Mother Superior (1895-1960) Recognized as Righteous Among the Nations September 3, 2018. File 13752.

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

Home in Milanowek

Sister Louisa

Home in Vislana

Mother Superior Pea Lesniewska

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

Walerian and Anastazja Sobolewski
Maria Wierzbowska

“Inka Grynszpan was born in Warsaw on July 31, 1939, to Tadeusz and Halina (née Zylberbart). The next year, the family was incarcerated in the ghetto, where they stayed until March 1943, not long before the ghetto uprising. Before being taken to Umschlagplatz, Halina and Tadeusz managed to hide four-year-old Inka in a sewage pipe. There she was discovered by some workers employed by Walerian Sobolewski. The workers somehow knew to take the little girl to the home of Wanda Bruno-Niczowa, a Polish teacher and acquaintance of her parents, who was also hiding her cousins’ child. When Walerian’s wife Anastazja heard that a pretty little girl was being hidden there, she decided try and adopt Inka, as she and her husband were childless. At Niczowa's home in Żoliborz, they finally met the blue-eyed, blonde-haired beautiful Inka. They were determined to look after her, but as she was dressed in rags, she drew unwanted attention from onlookers as they travelled home by wagon. The Sobolewskis made an effort to speak loudly about their "cousins sending their daughter to the doctor" dressed in an embarrassing way. Luckily, they were not denounced and got home safely. After a while, a Russian neighbor told Anastazja that she suspected that Inka was Jewish. This was very dangerous, so the Sobolewskis asked Niczowa to formally register Inka (under the name of Joanna Kwiecińska) at the G.

P. Baudouin Home for Infants in Warsaw. The papers obtained from the home allowed the Sobolewskis to keep up the pretense of having legally adopted a Polish child. In 1943, Walerian was arrested and incarcerated in Pawiak Prison, which was extremely stressful and frightening to his wife, but he survived and returned home. In 1944, the Sobolewskis moved to Miłanówek with their adopted daughter and beloved dog, to live with their relatives. One day, a German officer came by the house, which terrified little Inka, but he endedup holding her and giving her a chocolate bar because the blonde child reminded him of his own. Inka grew up with the Sobolewskis until the 1960s. After the war, the family lived very comfortably, thanks to Walerian’s business enterprise. However, after Walerian was arrested for alleged sabotage, and Anastazja suffered fatal heart attack in 1958, someone revealed the truth to Inka about her adoption. This news set her searching for her blood relatives via advertisements and the Israeli embassy. When she discovered a family of cousins by the name of Prusak, Inka left Walerian and continued her life with her relatives. The Baudouin Home provided sanctuary to more refugees than just Inka. During the war, its head, Maria Wierzbowska, took in many Jewish children. As Irena Sendler*, who was responsible for the saving of children in Żegota, later testified, the Baudouin Home was one of a network of homes serving not only as an orphanage, but also as a transition point for children while Aryan papers were being created for them. Once the documents were ready, Wierzbowska would contact one of the neighboring monasteries, letting the nuns know it was time to come and collect the children. One of these monasteries was in Turkowice, next to Lublin, where over 30 children from Baudouin found shelter and thus survived. Sendler wrote: "Upon their arrival at the Baudouin Home the children were often ill, starved, terrified, after horrible experiences. They found in the staff of the Home support and total care: medical, material, and parental. For some of them, the Home was a place of temporary yet safe refuge; for some war orphans it became their own home; but to all it was salvation from the death to which the occupants had sentenced them." Among the children taken in by Maria Wierzbowska and her staff were Michał Głowiński, Katarzyna Meloch-Jackl (both of whom were transferred to Turkowice), and Barbara Guz-Schmid, who survived there until the end of thewar.

“On July 19, 2006, Yad Vashem recognized Tadeusz and Anastazja Sobolewski and Maria Wierzbowska as Righteous Among the Nations. File 10890/1

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

Oblate Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Oblatek Serca Jezusa—Siostry Oblatki Serca Jezusa): Częstochowa.

Order of St. Ignatius of Loyola, Pruzana, Poland

Sister Marianne
Sister Dolorosa* (Gendwefa Czubak)

Czubak, Genowefa, Sister Dolorosa

“In February 1942, Dr. Olga Goldfajn was summoned to a convent in the town of Pruzana, in the Polesia district, in order to attend to Genowefa Czubak, a nun who was taken ill. From that day, a bond evolved between the Jewish doctor and the nun. When the situation in the Pruzana ghetto deteriorated, Czubak hid Goldfajn in her convent cell, without the Mother Superior’s knowledge. After hiding in Czubak’s cell for about a month, Goldfajn’s presence was discovered, and she was sent back to the ghetto, while Czubak was severely reprimanded. In January 1943, when the Germans destroyed the Pruzana ghetto, Dr. Goldfajn managed to escape from the transport. Having nowhere else to go, she returned to the convent, where once again she was turned away by the Mother Superior. Czubak, unable to accept the Mother Superior’s decision, dressed Goldfajn in a nun’s habit, and left the convent – her home for 18 years – together with her. The two women wandered through the surrounding villages, staying in farmers’ houses, and living off donations. Somehow or other they survived until the area was liberated in July 1944 by the Red Army. After the war, Dr. Goldfajn emigrated to France, while Czubak, who was not allowed back into the convent, moved to Lodz.

“On June 27, 1980, Yad Vashem recognized Genowefa Czubak as Righteous Among the Nations. File 1851

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

Order of St. Joseph’s Heart Convent (Sw. Jozefa Serca), Przemysl, Poland (southern Poland)

Sister Alfonsa* - Eugenia Wasowska
Sister Ligornia* - Anna Grenda
Sister Bernarda* - Rozalia Sidelko
Sister Emilia* - Leokadia Juskiewicz

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. File 1929

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

Order of the Immaculate Conception Boarding School, Warsaw, Poland

Sister Wanda Garczynska

Chaste Sisters Nunnery in Warsaw

Garczyńska, Wanda (Sister)

“Sister Wanda Garczyńska was the prioress of the Chaste Sisters Nunnery in Warsaw, which served as a shelter for many Jews, especially children, during the war. One of these children was Lilian Lampert, who was admitted into the Nunnery’s boarding school with the help of pre-war acquaintances of her parents. “I was treated exactly like the rest of the children, which profoundly influenced the whole of my adolescence. I was still learning to play the piano,” Lilian wrote in her testimony to Yad Vashem. Lilian spent vacations in Szymanow, where the Sisters ran a boarding school for older girls. At a certain point, the Sisters decided to move her there permanently, since Szymanow was a long way from Warsaw and therefore safer. She was then able to see her mother, who had managed to procure “Aryan” papers. Sister Wanda also helped Roza and Józef Pytowski, who turned up in Warsaw with nowhere to stay after escaping from the Piotrkow Trybunalski ghetto. Their daughter, Franciszka, asked Sister Wanda for help, and she found them a place to stay with two old women that were in touch with the Nunnery. The frightened women suspected that the Pytowskis were Jewish, but Sister Wanda did her best to allay their suspicions. “She took care of my mother as if she was her own mother. She taught her how to behave naturally during services in the nunnery chapel as well as in the courtyard, where joint evening prayers were conducted every day,” wrote Roza and Józef's daughter, Maria.

“She never regretted having sheltered a Jewish girl and allowing her to join services. Probably, she was eager to tell that everything rested on her conscience, that everyone might come and pray in his own way, to his own God.”

“On March 7, 1983, Yad Vashem recognized Wanda Garczyńska as Righteous Among the Nations. File 2396/2

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

Catholic Boarding School for high school girls in Szymanow, Poland

Sister Irenea
Sister Brigida
Sister Teresa
Sister Deodata
Sister Blanka
Sister Bernard
Father Skalski

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

St. Anthony’s Convent (Świętego Antoniego) in the village of Ignaców,

Reszko, Marianna
Mistera, Joanna

“In August 1942, during the liquidation of the Minsk Mazowiecki ghetto in the Warsaw district, three girls – Irena Romano, Frania Aharonson, and Miriam Saadia – escaped. After wandering through the area, the three reached St. Anthony’s Convent (Świętego Antoniego) in the nearby village of Ignaców, where they were welcomed by Marianna Reszko, the mother superior. Although she realized they were Jewish refugees, Reszko took them in, and put them to work as kitchen hands and maids. Joanna Mistera, a nun who was also let in on the secret, looked after them devotedly and watched out for their safety, especially when Germans visited the convent. The three Jewish girls stayed in the convent until September 1944, when the area was liberated by the Red Army, and after the war, immigrated to Israel.

“On October 27, 1985, Yad Vashem recognized Marianna Reszko and Joanna Mistera as Righteous Amomg 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.

Saint Ursula’s Convent in Kraków

Kruszelnicka, Malwina
Kruszelnicka, Helena

“Before the war, Felicity Tendler lived with her parents, Anna (née Eck) and Edward, in Lwów. They were a happy family; Edward practiced medicine in Lwów and nearby Tumacz. Felicity was very small and has very few memories of her prewar life. One thing she remembers fondly is her mother feeding her a piece of buttered challah. When the Nazis occupied Lwów, Edward Tendler contacted Helena Kruszelnicka, a friend who was also acquainted with Anna’s physician brother, Leon Eck. Kruszelnicka lived with her 75-year-old mother Malwina, and worked as a secretary. Edward persuaded Kruszelnicka to take in little Felicity. There was no financial arrangement involved; the arrangement was made only through the bonds of friendship. Before departing, Edward gave Kruszelnicka the address of his niece in Melbourne, as well as that of Anna's sister in Denver, Colorado. He would never see his daughter again; he perished in the Janowska camp. Felicity stayed hidden in Helena and Malwina’s basement in Lwów from 1941 until 1943. She never allowed out, and there was little food. False papers were obtained for her under the name of Krystyna Torosiewicz and later, Krystyna Kruszelnicka. In 1943, Helena took Felicity to the Saint Ursula’s Convent in Kraków, where she joined the boarding school. For the remainder of the war, she remained at the convent, without contact with anyone she knew. When the other children went home for the holidays, she was looked after by the nuns.

“She was frightened and felt imprisoned, but she was safe and survived the war, despite its interminable dangers. She remembers how one night, two German soldiers came to the convent looking for Jewish children and got very close to her, but fortunately did not discover her. After the war, Helena retrieved Felicity from the convent, and they settled in Kraków. Their living conditions were harsh. When Felicity’s aunt, Olga Snyder, came from America to take thegirl back with her, Helena was not prepared to give her up. Eventually, Helena adopted Felicity. She seemed to have always wanted her own child, but asked that Felicity call her “Aunty,” never “Mother,” and often spoke of Felicity’s birth parents, showing her photos of them and encouraging her to follow her father’s path in choosing medicine as her profession. When Helena passed away, Felicity was only seventeen. The communist regime in Poland was getting more severe, and Felicity was unable to get a visa to join her aunt in the United States. She did, however, manage to get to Australia, where her father’s niece lived. Despite the painful memories of the war, when she found out that she could honor the memory of Malwina and Helena Kruszelnicka, Felicity gave her testimony to Yad Vashem.

“On July 28, 2008, Yad Vashem recognized Malwina and Helena Kruszelnicka as Righteous Among the Nations. File 11406

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

St. Elizabeth Convent (Zgromadzienie Sióstr Św. Elżbiety) see Convent of St. Elizabeth

Saint Magdalena Convent, Warsaw, Poland

Sister Bernarda

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

Saint Roch Hospital, Warsaw (see Antonia Kaczoroska)

Sisters of the Gratification of the Most Holy Countenance (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Wynagrodzicielek Najświętszego Oblicza—Siostry Obliczanki): Częstochowa, Lublin, Miedzeszyn near Warsaw, Wilno, Zielonka.

Sisters of the Most Holy Name of Jesus Under the Protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary Help of the Faithful (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Najświętszego Imienia Jezus pod opieką Najświętszej Maryi Panny Wspomożenia Wiernych—Siostry Imienia Jezus): Klimontów, Suchedniów, Wilno.

Sisters of the Most Holy Soul of Christ the Lord (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Najświętszej Duszy Chrystusa Pana—Siostry Duszy Chrystusowej): Kraków, Kraków-Azory, Kraków-Skotniki, Zielonka near Kraków.

Sisters Servants of Jesus (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Sług Jezusa—Siostry Sługi Jezusa): Bychawka near Lublin, Kielczewice, Lublin, Tarnów.

Sisters (of Charity) of St. Joseph (Zgromadzenie Sióstr (Miłosierdzia) św. Józefa—Siostry Józefitki): Łaszczów, Mielec, Narajów, Skałat, Sokal, Smanczykowczyki, Stryj, Tarnów, Trzesówka, Zamość.

Sióstr Karmelitanek (Carmelite Sisters) Convent in the town of Sosnowiec.

Kierocińska Teresa-Janina

“Mother Teresa-Janina Kierocińska was Mother Superior of the “Sióstr Karmelitanek” (Carmelite Sisters) Convent in the town of Sosnowiec. At her initiative and instructions, some local Jews were hidden in the convent. Among them were a Jewish woman, Pinkus, and her granddaughter, who was “christened” Marysia Wilczyńska. They stayed at the convent until the area was liberated in January 1945. Teresa Jworska, a Jewish girl who escaped the liquidation of the Sosnowiec ghetto, stayed with the nuns until after the war, when her mother came to reclaim her. In 1943, a Jewish baby was brought to the convent. At Kierocinska’s express instructions, the nuns took care of the little baby, passing him off as a Polish orphan called Jףzef Bombecki. It was only after the war that the child discovered his Jewish origins. Mother Teresa-Janina also sheltered Andrzej Siemiątkowski, whose mother, a convert to Christianity, had perished in Auschwitz. The survivors of the Sosnowiec convent later remembered Mother Teresa-Janina as someone of exceptional humanity whose love of mankind was rooted in her deep religious faith.

“On February 19, 1992, Yad Vashem recognized Teresa-Janina Kierocińska as Righteous Among the Nations. File 5110

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

Siostr Nazaretanek” (Nazarene Sisters) in Laski Warszawskie, Waraw, Poland

Jaroszyński, Józef
Jaroszyńska, Halina
Jaroszyńska, Klara
Furmanik, Maria

“In August 1942, during the liquidation of the Radom ghetto in the Kielce district, Jakob Lotenberg, his wife, Karola, and their eight-year-old daughter, Anita, fled to Warsaw. With the help of an acquaintance, Anita was taken in by Józef Jaroszyński, a teacher, and his wife, Halina, a former senior lecturer at the technical college. When Anita’s parents subsequently turned up, Jaroszyński told them that although he supported the emigration of Jews from Poland, he was against their liquidation. The Jaroszyńskis agreed to shelter Karola in their apartment and found a hiding place for Jakob in a rented cellar in the Bielany suburb of Warsaw. During raids or visits by friends, Anita and her mother moved into the cellar until it was safe to return. In due course, Anita was sent to a home for the blind, run by the “Siostr Nazaretanek” (Nazarene Sisters) in Laski Warszawskie, where the Jaroszyńskis’ daughter, Klara, worked as a nun. Klara introduced Anita as a relative of hers, whose father worked as a pilot for the Polish Army-in-Exile. Before leaving for the convent, Maria Furmanik, a close friend of the Jaroszyńskis, who lived with them, drilled Anita in the Christian prayers. Later, Maria visited Anita in the convent, and took her out for walks through the local parks. The Jaroszyńskis, meanwhile, continued to supply Anita with clothes, textbooks, and stationery, without expecting anything in return.

“On the eve of the Warsaw Uprising in the summer of 1944, the Jaroszyńskis sheltered Anita’s parents until they arranged accommodation for the entire family with friends in the village of Bukowina Tatrzanska, in the Tatry Mountains, in the county of Nowy Targ, where they remained until the area was liberated in January 1945. In risking their lives to help the Lautenbergs, the Jaroszyńskis and Furmanik were inspired by their religious faith, which commanded them to come to the help of thosein trouble. In due course, the survivors immigrated to Israel where they kept up a correspondence with their saviors.

“On February 18, 1981, Yad Vashem recognized Halina and Józef Jaroszyński, their daughter Klara, and Maria Furmanik, 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.

Nazarene Nuns (Siostry Nazaretanki) in Komańcza, in the county of Sanok, in the Rzeszów district.

Górecki, Piotr
Górecka, Agnieszka
Thiel-Górecka, Jadwiga
Landowski, Józef

“Landowska, Zofia In the spring of 1942, Zofia Landowska obtained a forged pass enabling her to enter the Warsaw ghetto and smuggle six-year-old Chana Grabina out to the Aryan side of the city. For some weeks, Zofia hid the little girl in the apartment she shared with her husband, Józef. The Landowskis, who were underground activists, obtained “Aryan” documents for Chana and looked after her. When Chana’s presence was discovered by neighbors, the Landowskis quickly transferred her to a home for abandoned children run by Nazarene Nuns (Siostry Nazaretanki) in Komańcza, in the county of Sanok, in the Rzeszów district. Since the home was not too safe, either Landowski, at the nuns’ advice, took Chana to stay with his sister, Agnieszka Górecka, who lived with her husband, Piotr, and their daughter Jadwiga, in the town of Chojnice, in Pomerania. The Góreckis gave Chana a warm reception and passed her off as a relative. In risking their lives to save Chana, the Góreckis were guided by humanitarian considerations only. Chana Grabina, (alias Anna Mackowicz) stayed with the Góreckis until 1951 and went on to become a Doctor of Polish Philology in Poland.

“On November 12, 1995, Yad Vashem recognized Agnieszka and Piotr Górecki, their daughter, Jadwiga Thiel-Górecka, and Zofia and Józef Landowski as Righteous Among the Nations. Files 6826, 6826a

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

Seraphite Sisters (Sisters (Daughters) of Our Lady of Sorrows) (Zgromadzenie Córek Matki Bożej Bolesnej; Zgromadzenie Córek Najświętszej Maryi Panny od Siedmiu Boleści—Siostry Serafitki): Drohobycz, Jarosław, Nowy Targ, Pysznica, Stryj. Norbertine

Sisters of Charity” (Szarytki), Warsaw.

Pietkiewicz Maria

“Sister Maria Pietkiewicz belonged to the order of “Sisters of Charity” (Szarytki) in Warsaw. In the 1930s she established the children’s convent at 365 Grochowski Street, which housed a kindergarten, elementary school, and boarding school. She served as the institution’s Mother Superior until 1956. In 1942-1943, a girl named Róża Górska was brought to the convent and was received by Maria. The girl’s real name was Ilona Fajnberg. Her mother, Blima Chaja Fajnberg, had removed her from the ghetto and placed her in the custody of a Polish woman. However, the woman was afraid of the consequences of being discovered hiding a Jewish child, and brought Ilona to the convent. Only Maria knew that she was Jewish, a secret she kept until the day of her death. Róża recalls her with great love. In her testimony Róża notes that Maria was an educator who loved children and that she was particularly attached to her and protected her, as she was an orphan and no one from her family ever visited her. Róża herself did not discover that she was Jewish until the 1980s. She wanted to show her gratitude for Maria’s compassion in rescuing her by having her recognized as Righteous Among the Nations.

“On August 18, 2004, Yad Vashem recognized Maria Pietkiewicz as Righteous Among the Nations. File: 10168

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

Sisters of Common Work of Immaculate Mary (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Wspólnej Pracy pod wezwaniem Niepokalanego Poczęcia Najświętszej Maryi Panny—Siostry Wspólnej Pracy): Warsaw.

Sisters of Maria’s Family, Otwock, Pludy (near Warsaw), Poland

Mother Superior Anna Borkowska (Bykowska), Poland

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

Michaelite Sisters (Sisters of St. Michael the Archangel) (Zgromadzenie Sióstr św. Michała Archanioła—Siostry Michalitki): Godowa, Miejsce Piastowe, Przytyk, Radom, Wysoka Głogowska, Wysoka Strzyżowska.

Pallottine Sisters (Missionary Sisters of the Catholic Apostolate) (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Misjonarek Apostolstwa Katolickiego—Siostry Pallotynki): Nowogródek, Rajca.

Passionist Sisters (Sisters of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ) (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Męki Pana Naszego Jezusa Chrystusa—Siostry Pasjonistki): Janów Lubelski, Kielce, Stopnica.

Resurrectionist Sisters (Sisters of the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ) (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Zmartwychwstania Pana Naszego Jezusa Chrystusa—Siostry Zmartwychwstanki): Częstochowa, Lwów, Mir, Stara Wieś near Węgrów, Warsaw (4 institutions), Warsaw-Żoliborz, Wejherowo.

School Sisters of Notre Dame (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Szkolnych de Notre Dame—Siostry Notre Dame): Lwów (2 institutions), Mikuliczyn.

Sisters of the Order of the Lady Immaculate (Niepokalanki), Warsaw, Szymanow, and Niepokalanow, Poland

Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy (Magdalene Sisters) (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Matki Bożej Miłosierdzia—Siostry Magdalenki): Częstochowa, Derdy, Kraków, Lwów, Rabka, Radom, Walendów, Warsaw, Warsaw-Grochów, Wilno.

Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Niepokalanego Poczęcia Najświętszej Maryi Panny—Siostry Niepokalanki): Buraków, Jarosław, Koźle, Nowy Sącz, Słonim, Szymanów, Warsaw, Wrzosów.

Sisters of Mary Immaculate (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Maryi Niepokalanej—Siostry Maryi Niepokolanej): Katowice, Zgoda.

Sacré Coeur Sisters (Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus) (Zgromadzenie Najświętszego Serca Jezusa SacréCoeur—Siostry Sacré Coeur): Lwów.

Sisters Servants of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Służebnic Najświętszego Serca Jezusowego Trzeciego Zakonu Regularnego św. Franciszka z Asyżu—Siostry Sercanki): Brody near Lwów, Krosno, Przemyśl-Błonie, Radomsko, Rymanów Zdrój, Zakopane.

Sisters of the Robe of Jesus (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Westiarek Jezusa—Siostry Westiarki Jezusa)

Sisters (Ladies) of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Zgromadzenie Panien Ofiarowania Najświętszej Maryi Panny—Siostry Prezentki): Kraków, Ujazdy near Rzeszów, Wilno. 271

Sisters of Resurection Convent Mir (Stołpe County, Nowogródek District, today, Belarus).

Bartkowiak, Euzebia

“On the morning of Sunday, August 16, 1942, someone knocked on the gate of the Sisters of Resurrection convent in the town of Mir (Stołpe County, Nowogródek District, today, Belarus). Opening the gate, one of the nuns who resided in the convent was astounded to see a man slip in right past her. Oswald Rufajzen (Shmuel Rufeisen, later, Brother Daniel) had escaped from the police station adjacent to the convent. Oswald had come to Mir from Wilno posing as a Pole. His fluency in German caught the attention of the local German police chief, who made him his interpreter, and took a liking to him. Oswald took advantage of this to inform the Jews of Mir that the date of their liquidation was approaching and helped many of them to escape into the forest, providing some of them with weapons. After Oswald was denounced and arrested, he told the amazed police chief during his interrogation that he was a Jew and that had acted to save his fellow brethren. After getting over the shock of the surprise visitor, the nun who had opened the gate realized that she recognized the man, and knew that he was a fugitive. She took Oswald to the Mother Superior, Euzebia Bartkowiak, who decided to hide him in the loft of the convent’s granary. After Mass she convened the four sisters of the convent to decide what to do with the uninvited guest. Two of the sisters were against letting him stay, but the Mother Superior vehemently rebuffed their opposition and made a decision of conscience to allow him to remain.

“Euzebia, originally from Poznan, had established the Sisters of Resurrection convent in 1936, and was an unusual character. She was a rare combination of strength, warmth, tolerance, and curiosity about people. She and Oswald developed an extraordinarily warm relationship, as a result of which he was sheltered in the convent until the end of 1943. When the searches in the area intensified and the risk of the Germans discovering him increased, he decided to leave rather than be the cause of harm to the sisters. He set out for the forest on December 2, 1943, accompanied by Euzebia. She parted from him in tears, saying, “Come back to us if you run into difficulties. Do not hesitate to return.” Oswald converted to Christianity during his stay in the convent and afterward became a Carmelite monk in Haifa, known as Brother Daniel.

“On June 24, 2002, Yad Vashem recognized Euzebia Bartkowiak 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.

Sisters (Ladies) of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Zgromadzenie Panien Ofiarowania Najświętszej Maryi Panny—Siostry Prezentki): Kraków, Ujazdy near Rzeszów, Wilno. 271

Sisters Servants of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Mariówka) (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Służek Najświętszej Maryi Panny Niepokalanej z Mariówki—Siostry Służki): Bychawa, Chomotów, Czyżów, Drzewica, Grodno, Jeżewo, Lisków, Łomża, Mościska, Nowe Miasto nad Pilicą, Warsaw.

Sisters (Sisters of St. Norbert) (Zakon Norbertanek—Siostry Kanoniczki Regularne Zakonu Premonstratensów—Siostry Norbertanki): Imbramowice.

Sisters Servants of the Blessed Virgin Mary Immaculately Conceived (Stara Wieś) (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Służebniczek Najświętszej Maryi Panny Niepokalanie Poczętej ze Starej Wsi—Siostry Służebniczki Starowiejskie): Brzeżany, Chotomów, Chrostów, Częstochowa, Grodzisko near Leżajsk, Jasionów near Brzozów, Końskie, Kopyczyńce, Kraków-Prądnik Czerwony, Lesko, Łaźniew, Łódź, Lublin, Miechów, Piotrków Trybunalski, Róża, Rzepińce, Stara Wieś, Staromieście near Rzeszów, Szynwałd, Tapin, Tarnopol, Tarnów, Turkowice, Wola Rzędzińska.

Sisters Servants of the Virgin Mother of God Immaculately Conceived (Dębica) (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Służebniczek Bogarodzicy Dziewicy Niepokalanie Poczętej—Siostry Służebniczki Dębickie): Proszówki near Bochnia.

Sisters Servants of the Mother of the Good Shepherd (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Służebnic Matki Dobrego Pasterza—Siostry Pasterzanki): Białystok, Częstochowa, Piaseczno.

Sisters of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Zakon Nawiedzenia Najświętszej Maryi Panny—Siostry Wizytki): Wilno.

Sisters of St. Teresa of the Child Jesus (Zgromadzenie Sióstr św. Teresy od Dzieciątka Jezus—Siostry Terezjanki): Luboml, Włodzimierz Wołyński.

Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Miłosierdzia św. Wincentego a Paulo—Siostry Miłosierdzia—Siostry Szarytki): Białystok, Budzanów, Czerwonogród near Zaleszczyki, Góra Kalwaria, Ignaców near Mińsk Mazowiecki, Kalwaria Zebrzydowska near Kraków, Kielce, Klarysew near Warsaw, Kraków, Kurozwęki, Lwów, Przeworsk, Radom, Supraśl, Szczawnica, Warsaw (8 institutions), Werki near Wilno, Wilno. 272

Sisters Szarytki of the municipal hospitals in Warsaw and Otwock, Poland

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

Sisters of Urszula, Zakopane

Wionczek, Mieczysław

“During the war, Mieczysław Wionczek lived with his family in Warsaw. He was a student at the underground Warsaw University. In 1941, he met a young Jewish woman who was known during the occupation as Teresa Czarkowska. In 1942, Mieczysław and Teresa were married. In order to remove any suspicions regarding Teresa’s origins, the wedding was held in the St. Jan Cathedral. All of Mieczysław’s family, as well as Teresa’s family, who were then in hiding, attended the wedding. After the wedding, Mieczysław’s mother held a wedding reception in her home, which removed any possible doubts that the German authorities might have had. One of the people that the newlyweds Mieczysław and Teresa helped during the war was Krystyna Prutkowska, then nineteen years old. They offered her work as a maid. “It was clearly a pretext to take me, a nineteen-year-old girl, under their protection. I received money monthly for my expenses,” wrote Krystyna Prutkowska. She added that the Wionczeks were aware of her origin. “Until this day I am full of the highest admiration for those people, no longer alive... This great impulse of the heart testifies... to a notable moral attitude,” emphasized Krystyna. In 1943, when Teresa’s niece Antonina Dworakowska fell ill with polio, Mieczysław helped her parents find a room for her in the Sisters of Urszula convent in Zakopane, where the girl received the required aid. After the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising in August 1944, Mieczysław and the nuns in this convent also hid his wife, who was by then nine months pregnant, as well as Antonina’s parents.

“After the war, Mieczysław, and his wife Teresa and their daughter Katarzyna, settled in Mexico. Later, Teresa’s mother joined them. Antonina and Krystyna remained in Poland. “The friendship between our families was warm also after the war and continues until today,” wrote Antonina in her testimony.

“On January 2, 1995, Yad Vashem recognized Mieczysław Wionczek asRighteous 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.

Studite Order, Eastern Galicia, Poland

Ursuline Sisters (Siostry Vrszulanki Szare), Warsaw-Powisle, Poland, and provincial convents

Bishop Albin Malysiak*

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

Ursuline Sisters of the Agonizing Heart of Jesus (Grey Ursulines) (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Urszulanek Serca Jezusa Konającego—Siostry Urszulanki Serca Jezusowego (szare)): Brwinów, Czarna Duża, Milanówek, Ołtarzew, Radość, Sieradz, Suchedniów near Radom, Warsaw (3 institutions), Wilno, Zakopane.

Ursuline Sisters of the Roman Union (Unia Rzymska Zakonu św. Urszuli—Siostry Urszulanki Unii Rzymskiej): Częstochowa, Kołomyja, Kraków, Lublin, Lwów, Rokiciny Podhalańskie (near Rabka), Stanisławów, Tarnów, Warsaw, Włocławek, Zakopane.

Helcls Home for the Aged and Retarded in Kraków, Poland

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.

Father Jozep Kazimierz Gach
Father Felix Gloech*
Father Klemens Szeptyckyj (1869-1950), Lvov, Poland
Father Zyczynski*
Sister Bernarda
Sister Emilia
Sister Maria Gorska*
Sister Aniela Kotowska-Klara
Sister Ligoria

Sister Bogumila Makowska*

“Makowska, Zofia-Bogumiła Blas, a Jewish woman, managed to escape from the Zamosc ghetto in the Lublin district, carrying her two-year-old daughter in her arms. She came to the home of a Polish acquaintance, Maria Pawalec, who agreed to take the Jewish child. After someone informed the authorities, German policemen visited Pawalec’s home, and fearing the child’s identity might be discovered, she placed her in a basket, tied a small bag with a cross on it around her neck, and added a note bearing the name Wanda and stating that she had been baptized. Pawalec left the basket at the gate of the local convent, where there was also a home for orphans and foundlings. The nuns took in the baby. The nun, Zofia-Bogumiła Makowska, who knew the child was Jewish, never revealed her true identity to anyone, and looked after her until the end of the war. When the staff of the “Coordination Committee” learned the whereabouts of the child, they moved her to a Jewish institution, and she later immigrated to Israel. Wanda, afterwards known as Tamar Lavi, later succeeded in locating Makowska, who had rescued her, and kept in touch with her for many years.

“On September 21, 1993, Yad Vashem recognized the nun Zofia-Bogumiła Makowska 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.

Otwock Convent Orphange

Małkiewicz, Ludwika (Sister)
Bykowska, Krystyna (Sister)
Cygler, Władysława

“Raizel Noy of Otwock, near Warsaw, gave birth to her daughter Ruth in September 1939, after the German occupation began. In August 1942, during the large deportation of Jews from Warsaw, the Noys managed to escape from the ghetto with their young daughter. Maks Noy, Raizel’s husband, worked in a labor camp run by a German contracting company in the nearby town of Karczew; Raizel and her daughter wandered in the vicinity with no hope of finding shelter. Because she looked Jewish, Raizel experienced constant tension and fear of the lurking dangers that she and her daughter faced. Aware that the likelihood of her survival was dwindling, Raizel decided to spare no effort at least to save Ruth. At his workplace, Noy made contact with Ludwika Małkiewicz, a Catholic nun who taught at the Otwock convent orphanage and asked her to rescue his daughter. Małkiewicz consulted with Krystyna Bykowska, the mother superior, and the two agreed to admit the girl. In coordination with Małkiewicz and Bykowska, Ruth was left in the convent corridor one night, and when she began to cry—alone and in the dark—the nuns came out and brought her inside. Little Ruth was placed with the Polish children and the nuns cared for her devotedly. Sisters Małkiewicz and Bykowska performed this act of rescue as a human duty flowing from their deep religious faith and sought no recompense for it even though it endangered their lives.

“Maks Noy eventually escaped from his labor camp and he and Raizel found shelter in Praga, Warsaw, in an apartment they rented from Władysława Cygler. Although Cygler knew they were Jews, she prepared a hideout for them in case of danger and sheltered them from inquisitive neighbors. The only person who knew their address was Sister Małkiewicz, who, in the summer of 1944—five weeks before Praga was liberated—brought Ruth to them because a child in the orphanage had made denunciation threats.After the war, the Noys emigrated to the United States but stayed in touch with the two nuns, and in 1981 Raizel Noy invited Ludwika Małkiewicz to a reunion in Jerusalem.

On December 14, 1981, Yad Vashem recognized Sister Krystyna Bykowska, Sister Ludwika Małkiewicz, and Władysława Cygler as Righteous Among the Nations. File 2186

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

Magdalena Grodzka-Guzkowska

“Magdalena Grodzka-Guzkowska (née Rusinek) was 15 years old when she joined the Polish Underground against the Germans. In 1943, she met Jadwiga Piotrowska, later recognized by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations, and joined her in rescuing Jewish children from the Warsaw Ghetto. Magdalena collected the children, cared for them, and escorted them to their places of refuge with Polish families or in convents. She displayed enormous dedication and love, although she was placing her own life at serious risk. Before bringing the children to their hiding places, she taught them Christian customs in an effort to disguise their Jewish identity. One such rescue activity saw Magdalena save the life of a six-year-old Jewish boy called Adas, who had been severely injured by local thugs. Magdalena took the boy for medical care at the hospital, and then moved him to a hiding place in a monastery. She also saved the life of five-year-old Wlodzio Berg. In spring 1943 his parents managed to smuggle him out of the ghetto and bring him to an elderly couple. Someone denounced the family, and a new place had to be found for the child. Magdalena brought him to a safe place. She brought him food every day, as well as colors with which to draw pictures. Eventually he was brought to a convent in Otwock. Wlodzio Berg, now called William Donat, survived the Holocaust, and requested that Yad Vashem recognize his rescuer as Righteous Among the Nations.

“Alexander Donat, Wlodzio-Wlodek-William’s father, described the family’s fate in a book - The Holocaust Kingdom. He tells his readers how they prepared their son for life on the Aryan side: “We had two weeks to prepare the child psychologically and materially. New shoes were necessary. Lena had, in the interim, been teaching Wlodek the Catholic prayers. ‘Now remember’, she told him, ‘you have never lived in the Ghetto, and you must never use the word Ghetto. You’re not a Jew... We were bitterly awareof the tragic spectacle of a mother teaching her only child to disavow his parents, his people, his former life… We also had only two weeks to engrave on our hearts and minds the image of our only child. We tried not to let Wlodek feel the pain the impending separation was causing us…” Wlodzio remembers the weeks he stayed alone in the hiding place. His rescuer told him to stay in his room, not to make noises and not to go near the window. She would leave him bread and jam, colors, and paper boats to keep him busy. In order to ease the loneliness and the terrible fear the child must have felt all alone while the ghetto was going up in flames, she told him that there were good spirits watching over him. Within the terror that surrounded him, Magdalena was the reliable support he had. This notion was expressed in the account he gave after the war: “Magda took care of everything”. A ceremony honoring Magdalena Grodzka-Guzkowska from Poland as Righteous Among the Nations was held at Yad Vashem on 6 January 2009. It was a most moving meeting between rescuer and survivor: Ms. Grodzka-Guzkowska flew in from Poland and survivor William Donat came especially from New York to pay tribute to the woman who had saved his life. The ceremony was also attended by a group of educators from Lodz, Poland, who had come to Jerusalem for a seminar at Yad Vashem’s International School for Holocaust Studies. Stefan and Maria Magenheim On 28 September 1939 the Germans occupied Warsaw, and a year later a ghetto was established confining what used to be the biggest Jewish community in Europe into a small, crowded area. Between 22 July and September 1942, some 300,000 Jews were deported from the Warsaw ghetto to the Treblinka death camp. In January 1943, another 6,000 Jews were deported. In the coming months the ghetto inhabitants lived with the knowledge of the imminent liquidation of the ghetto, while the Jewish resistance movements prepared for the inevitable assault. In March1943, the parents of five-year-old Wlodziu Berg understood that if they wanted to save their son, they would have to part from him and give him to Aryan friends. They asked several Polish friends to take the child, but since hiding a Jew – even a small child – was punishable by death, people were afraid to take him. The desperate parents turned to Stefan Magenheim, who used to work with Wlodziu's father on the publication of a daily Polish newspaper. He and his wife Maria, an elderly couple with no children of their own, were the only ones who agreed to take the child. It was not an easy decision to make, and after the war Maria Magenheim wrote "I knew that whatever I decided, I would be taking full responsibility..." The child was smuggled out of the ghetto and brought to the home of Stefan and Maria Magenheim. They opened their door and their hearts to this little boy, who had never been separated from his parents before. They tried hard to comfort the terrified child and to comfort him. "Uncle Stefan" would read him stories from children's books and "Auntie Maria" would put on little skits to entertain him. They would also take him for walks in the streets of Warsaw. The neighbors were told that he was the son of friends who had been arrested by the Germans, but they lived in constant fear that the lively talkative boy would divulge his true identity. Three weeks after Wlodziu's arrival at the Magenheim home, they were betrayed. It is believed that one of the neighbors denounced them. A szmalcownik (pejorative term for Poles who extorted money from hiding Jews) arrived at the Magenheim apartment flanked by two policemen. Maria gave him some money, but it was clear that they had to move the child to a safer place. With the help of Magdalena Grodzka-Guzkowska (recognized as Righteous Among the Nations) he was brought to an orphanage near Otwock, where he remained for two years. During that period, Maria would come to the orphanage whenever she could,bringing Wlodziu cakes and other delicacies. Wlodziu 's parents both survived the Holocaust and were reunited with their son. They changed their last name to Donat, immigrated to the United States, and Wlodziu became William. The story of Wlodzio-William's rescue is described in the appendix of "The Holocaust Kingdom", a poignant memoir written by his father, Alexander Donat. Stefan Magenheim passed away in 1950. His wife Maria passed away in 1966.

“On 24 February 2009 Stefan and Maria Magenheim were recognized by Yad Vashem 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.

Sister Kulynycz Stephania Olga Olszanecka
Sister Zygmunta (Johanna Retter)
Sister Julia Sosnowska
Sister Wanda

Promyk Orphanage see also St. Elizabeth convent

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.

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 Ignaców

Gawrych Jan
Gawrych Aleksandra
Gawrych Jadwiga

“Jan Gawrych lived with his wife and their four children in a small house adjacent to the Wólka Czarnińska estate near the town of Stanisławów, which is close to Mińsk Mazowiecki in the Warsaw district. The estate and the section of forest belonged to an ethnic German (Volksdeutsche) woman, and Jan Gawrych worked there as the forester. In 1940, as soon as the Jews of Stanisławów were interned in a ghetto, Jan and his wife came to the aid of their Jewish acquaintances, and although they realized they were risking their own lives, they supplied them with food inside the closed and guarded ghetto. In 1942, when the young girl, Fryda Szpinger, escaped from the ghetto in Mińsk Mazowiecki, which was about to be liquidated, she went straight to the home of the Gawrychs, who did not hesitate to accept her unconditionally into their home. They treated her kindly, gave her help, and told anyone who asked about her identity that she was a family relative. In September 1942, the Stanisławów ghetto was liquidated and its inhabitants were taken to the extermination camp in Treblinka. Three of them – Chaskiel Papier, Tirca Zylberberg, and Moshe Aronson - escaped from the transport and after wandering through fields and villages, arrived at the home of Jan and Aleksandra Gawrych, who at great risk took them in too and gave them food and lodging. Although she was still very young, Jadwiga, the Gawrych’s daughter, actively participated in her parents’ rescue efforts.

“She shopped for food in different shops, to conceal the fact that they were buying large quantities to feed those hiding in their home. On March 8, 1943, after someone informed on them, German policemen raided the Gawrych’s home. The Jews hiding there tried to escape, but except for Szpinger, they were all shot to death. The Gawrych home was burned down, Jan was arrested and transferred to the Gestapo in Mińsk Mazowiecki, where he was tortured and murdered. The only one of the hiding Jews to survive was Szpinger, who managed to flee the massacre, and after wandering through the neighboring villages found shelter in a convent in Ignaców, where she remained until the liberation of the area by the Red Army in the summer of 1944. After the war she immigrated to Israel. On October 17, 1999, Yad Vashem recognized Jan and Aleksandra Gawrych as Righteous Among the Nations.

“On May 3, 2001, Yad Vashem recognized their daughter, Jadwiga Gawrych, as Righteous Among the Nations. File 8669

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 High School, Urszulanki Sisters

(Koczorowski, Zygmunt; Koczorowska, Jadwiga; Dobrolubow, Barbara)

“In 1942, when the Germans deported the Jews from the village of Szreniawa to the nearby Krakow ghetto, the Sznajders tried to find a hiding place with Christian farmers in the village. However, the only member of the family who managed to find a hiding place was 16-year-old Genia Sznajder, who was taken in by Barbara Dobrolubow, an old school friend of hers who, together with her family, looked after Sznajder devotedly, without expecting anything in return. A few weeks later, the Dobrolubows decided to send her to relatives of theirs in Warsaw, where no one knew her, on the assumption that, with her Aryan looks, she had a better chance of surviving there. In Warsaw, Sznajder was taken in by Zygmunt and Jadwiga Koczorowski, Dobrolubow’s uncle and aunt, who looked after her, obtained “Aryan” documents for her, and registered her at a convent high school belonging to the Urszulanki Sisters. The Koczorowskis kept up loving contact with Sznajder, who stayed in the home run by the sisters until the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising in August 1944. After the suppression of the Warsaw Uprising in late summer 1944, Sznajder was sent to Germany with the other children of the home, and Koczorowski was sent to a concentration camp. After the war, they met up again in Warsaw, and Sznajder stayed with the Koczorowskis until she finished her studies. In 1954, Sznajder immigrated to Israel.

“On January 29, 1992, Yad Vashem recognized Barbara Dobrolubow and Jadwiga and Zygmunt Koczorowski 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 Krakow

Wojnarowicz, Zygmunt
Wojnarowicz, Elżbieta

“In the summer of 1942, Mr. Seifter managed to get his eleven-year-old daughter, Felicia, out of the Kraków ghetto and arranged for her to stay with Zygmunt and Elżbieta Wojnarowicz, who owned a farm in the village of Wawrzeńczyce, in the county of Miechów, in the Kraków district. The Wojnarowiczes gave Felicia a warm welcome and looked after her devotedly without expecting anything in return. About a year later, she was transferred, as Elżbieta Smoleń, to a convent, for her own safety. The Wojnarowiczes also sheltered Marian Rozmaryn, an engineer, and his wife, Regina, whom they also looked after devotedly. In June 1943, members of the Gestapo burst into the farm, shot Rozmaryn and his wife dead and arrested Zygmunt Wojnarowicz, who was sent to Auschwitz, and later to the Dora camp, from which he never returned. After the war, Felicia Seifter (later Ela Manor) immigrated to Israel.

“On September 8, 1999, Yad Vashem recognized Elżbieta and Zygmunt Wojnarowicz as Righteous Among the Nations. File 8687

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?

“Maria Bochenek, nee Iwańska and Bronisław Bochenek In 1941, immediately after the German occupation of Lwow, Maria and Bronisław Bochenek decided to help their Jewish acquaintances who had studied at the university with Maria before the occupation. After the ghetto was sealed off, the Bocheneks brought food to David Riesel, a Jewish doctor, and his family. Maria also gave her birth certificate to a Jewish woman named Zuzanna Głowiczower, which made it possible for her to move to Warsaw. Bronisław, who was forced to flee because of his left-wing opinions, settled in Krakow, where he was later joined by Maria. The Bocheneks continued their good work in Krakow, offering shelter to Riesel, his wife, Lea, and their six-year-old daughter, Felicja, who had escaped from the Lwow ghetto. Since the Bocheneks were on the Gestapo’s “wanted” list, Felicja was transferred to a local convent, while her parents fled to Warsaw. The Bocheneks themselves also fled to Warsaw, after first finding an apartment in Lwow for the three members of the Amscislawski family, who also sought refuge with them. The Bocheneks likewise sheltered Professor Józef Feldman, who was being hounded by the Gestapo, first in their Krakow home and later in their Warsaw home. In Warsaw, the Bocheneks helped Professor Henryk Głowiczower, Zuzanna’s husband, who was already in Warsaw under an assumed identity. Throughout the occupation, the Bocheneks saw to all the needs of their Jewish acquaintances who sought refuge with them.

“They took special care of Lea Riesel, who was in the throes of a nervous breakdown, and her daughter, Felicja, who had been taken ill at the convent and required hospitalization. In undertaking these selfless acts of courage, the Bocheneks were guided by an unwavering sense of loyalty to their friends. After the war, the survivors kept up contact with the Bocheneks, never forgetting how they had come to their aid in times of need.

“On February 28, 1985, Yad Vashem recognized MariaBochenek and Bronisław Bochenek as Righteous Among the Nations. File 3130

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

Szarytki Convent

Wróblewska-Wiewiórowska,

“Zofia Before the outbreak of the Second World War, Zofia Wiewiórowska (née Wróblewska), in her forties, had grown up in Częstochowa where she had many Jewish friends. She stayed in touch with them after the family moved to Łuck (Volhynia District), and later to Poznań, following her separation from her husband in 1935. She was a teacher by profession and had three children: Aleksander who served in the Royal British Air Force during the war; Hanna, in her twenties, who had graduated from medical school; and Wojciech, a teenager. Expelled from Poznań in the fall of 1939 by the Germans, she briefly stayed in Częstochowa, where her sister Janina Sebyłowa lived. After Zofia’s daughter’s wedding, she moved to Warsaw, living at 28 Fabryczna Street. In February 1942, Zofia began working as a manager in the hospice and shelter for women at 93 Leszno Street, which was a part of the Municipal Women’s Home under the auspices of the Division of Social Services. The hospice was located close to one of the entrances to the Warsaw ghetto at Żelazna Street. Together with her immediate superior, Kazimiera Szarowaro*, Zofia Wiewiórowska helped to arrange short and long-term stays at the shelter for women who had escaped from the Warsaw ghetto, especially in the summer of 1942, during the Warsaw ghetto Jews to Treblinka. While some were placed with trusted families and institutions, others continued to stay at the shelter. While some of them had false identity papers, Zofia was well aware that they were Jewish.

“Among those who turned to Zofia for help in the fall of 1942 was a pianist, Niusia (Anna) Wolfowicz. Niusia and her daughter Irena had survived the liquidation of the ghetto in Żelechów (Garwolin County, Lublin District) on September 30, 1942, and had moved to Warsaw. When Irena went to Częstochowa to look for her boyfriend, Hendel Cygler (later, Kazimierz Łaski), she visited Alina Sybyłówna, a friend from school and Zofia Wiewiórowska’s niece who gave her Zofia’s Warsaw address. Zofia placed Niusia Wolfowicz in one of the rooms of the small hotel that was part of the hospice. She had false identity papers in the name, Anna Sierczyńska, but due to her looks, she stayed inside until August 1944, when the Warsaw Uprising broke out. Hendel Cygler escaped from the ghetto in Częstochowa in April 1943, and Zofia arranged an original birth certificate for him under the name of Kazimierz Łaski and a birth certificate for Irena under the name of Teodozja Lewandowska. These documents allowed them to apply for official identity cards. Zofia organized a place to stay for Hendel Cygler in the basement at 62 Chłodna Street and put him in touch with Sister Bernarda, who found him work in a vegetable garden. Zofia also arranged work for Irena Wolfowicz and eventually likewise put her in touch with Sister Bernarda, who found Irena a place in the orphanage run by the Szarytki Convent. Irena stayed at the orphanage during the Warsaw Uprising of 1944 and found her fiancé shortly after the liberation. During the Warsaw Ghetto Revolt, some Polish women who stayed at the shelter threatened its staff with denunciation. Zofia Wiewiórowska successfully avoided the danger by threatening them with internment in a German work camp. Among other Jews who were hidden at the shelter was Zofia Władimierowa Łukaszewicz, who presented herself as a White Russian émigré. Zofia Wiewiórowska and her colleague, Kazimiera Szarowaro*, organized private tutorials for her so that she could make a living teaching French and German. Other Jews who were hidden in the hospice were: Irena Drwęska-Ruszczyc, Miss Szapiro, Maria Fisher who worked as a nurse in the hospice infirmary.

“On March 7, 2005, Yad Vashem recognized Zofia Wróblewska-Wiewiórowska as Righteous Among the Nations. File 10433

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

Galus, Bronisława Róża

“Sister Bronisława Róża Galus was one of the nuns teaching in the orphanage in the convent of Turkowice (Hrubieszów County, Lublin District) where 30 Jewish children were kept in hiding. Sister Róża taught a group of boys, including several Jewish boys who had taken refuge there under false Christian identities, inter alia Michał Głowiński and Ludwik Brylant. She knew that they were Jewish and was aware of their fears that their Christian friends might inform on them and cause their death. Sister Róża displayed warmth towards her Jewish pupils, surrounded them with love and protected them. Głowiński, who was not yet 10 years old and who was to become a professor at Warsaw University, recounts in his biography how after two of his Polish classmates picked on him and threatened to deliver him to the Germans, he sought the help of Sister Róża. He came to her at his wit's end, trembling with fear. She hugged him, calmed him down, offered him a slice of bread and butter and promised him that she would make sure that nothing happened to him, and this was indeed the case. In his biography, Michał Głowiński indicates that of all the nuns who looked after the Jewish children in the Turkowice convent, three of whom have been recognized as Righteous Among the Nations, Sister Róża exceeded them all in her devotion and sensitiveness, because she knew that the Jewish children felt threatened even there and she took them under her personal protection.

“On March 4, 2001, Yad Vashem recognized Bronisława Róża Galus as Righteous Among the Nations. File 9020

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

Polechajłło, Aniela (Sister Stanisława)
Manaszczuk, Antonina (Sister Irena)
Romansewicz, Józefa (Sister Hermana)

“The Turkowice convent, in the Hrubieszow county, in the Lublin district, was one of the largest children’s convents in Poland, known for having provided asylum for Jewish children during the occupation. Some arrived in the convent from the immediate surroundings, but most were sent there from distant Warsaw by the Council for Aid to Jews (Żegota). The efforts to save children were spearheaded by the mother superior of the convent, Aniela Polechajłło, known as Sister Stanisława. She collaborated with Jan Dobraczyński*, the head of the department for abandoned children in Warsaw city hall and an active Żegota member. Polechajłło was an educational role model, and she inspired her students with her own spirit of tolerance. Helped by nuns Antonina Manaszczuk (Sister Irena) and Józefa Romansewicz (Sister Hermana), she received the Jewish children warmly and never forced any to accept the Catholic religion. The three nuns worked to save Jewish children in full cognizance of the danger they had taken on themselves. A number of German soldiers were always stationed in the convent, some of whom knew that Jewish children were hiding in it but were willing to turn a blind eye because of their sympathy for the nuns. The Żegota chose to send children of particularly Jewish appearance there due to the convent’s remote location in a forest far from any central roads.

“Whenever Żegota activists came across children difficult to hide because of their appearance, they would inform the Turkowice convent and nuns Romansewicz and Manaszczuk would set out on the long journey to Warsaw to rescue them. All the boys and girls brought to the Turkowice convent were saved, and not a single case of a Jewish child being denounced or handed over to the German authorities is known. Those saved by the three nuns have very fond memories of them and the convent – of how they caredfor them with kind devotion and without any discrimination, motivated only by their conscience and religious faith.

“On November 15, 1989, Yad Vashem recognized Mother Superior Aniela Polechajłło (Sister Stanisława) and nuns Antonina Manaszczuk (Sister Irena) and Józefa Romansewicz (Sister Hermana) as Righteous Among the Nations. File 4394

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 Warsaw Poland

“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.

Preker, Teresa

“Teresa Dobrska, later Preker (Prekerowa), met Alina Wolman in 1940. The two girls became very close friends and Dobrska helped Wolman’s family as best she could. After the Wolman family was imprisoned in the Warsaw ghetto, Dobrska would smuggle food into the ghetto for them. At a fairly early stage, Dobrska convinced Wolman to escape over to the Aryan side of the city and she arranged for her a job and a place to live. At the beginning of the large-scale deportation from the ghetto, Dobrska and other friends smuggled Wolman’s brother and parents out of the ghetto. Until the war ended, Dobrska kept in touch with Wolman and came to her assistance when she needed help. In September 1941, Dobrska found a little abandoned Jewish child crying on her doorstep. She took the child in and cared for her in her parents’ home, and after dressing her and teaching her how to behave like a Polish child, brought her to a convent. During the war, Dobrska married “Mieczysław Preker and moved into the Skolimow estate near Warsaw, where she hid a Jewish man who used the name Jan Zieliński from January until August 1943. Everything Preker did to save Jews was motivated purely by altruism, for which she neither asked for nor received anything at all in return.

On March 4, 1985, Yad Vashem recognized Teresa Preker (née Dobrska) as a Righteous Among the Nations. File 3147

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

Rytel, Zygmunt

“During the occupation, Zygmunt Rytel, a journalist by profession, was active in the Socialist Fighting Organization (Socjalistyczna Organizacja Bojowa—SOB) in Warsaw. Rytel produced forged papers, printed underground publications, and maintained an indirect relationship with the Jewish National Committee that operated on the Aryan side of the city. Rytel helped Jews who escaped from the ghetto and, as a courier for the members of the Jewish National Committee, provided them with the financial support and the documents they needed and placed them in housing and jobs. Rytel also helped to move Jews from place to place—sometimes accommodating Jewish fugitives in his own apartment—and kept them in contact with each other. Three of the Jews whom Rytel assisted were Sonia Wisznia and her two daughters, Rina and Szulamit. After they fled from the ghetto, he concealed them in his home, provided them with money and “Aryan” papers, and arranged housing for them. Rytel also helped his friend Bruno Rotman and his two daughters, who had fled from Lwów to Warsaw. He arranged an apartment and a job for Bruno, placed the older daughter in the residence of a nursing school, and enrolled the younger daughter in a convent. Rytel also helped a number of Jews who contacted him for assistance in living on the Aryan side and served them as an address in case of trouble. His motives in saving Jews were solely humanitarian and did not involve material reward.

“On January 24, 1967, Yad Vashem recognized Zygmunt Rytel as Righteous Among the Nations. File 315

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

Wochelska, Leokadia
Wochelska, Maria

“Leokadia Wochelska lived in Warsaw with her sister Maria and her niece Halina. She worked as a dressmaker for a living. In 1942, the priest Marian Pirożyński turned to her with a request: to hide a Jewish child. Leokadia agreed and accepted the three-year-old Teresa, whose mother, Stefania Kowalska, was hiding with the help of Aryan papers. Soon rumors began to spread amongst the neighbors about the two sisters hiding a Jewish girl. The two sisters were forced to take Teresa to a convent, “with an aching heart,” as Stefania recollected in her testimony. Teresa cried awfully and did not want to part with her guardians. Leokadia and Maria did not think much about it and finally said to each other: “With God’s help, what will be of the child will be of us,” and they took her back with them. “For all of these years they cared for her as their own child. For the life of my child, they put up the highest stake - their own safety, their lives and the life of their niece. It was noble and unselfish help,” wrote Stefania in her testimony. After the war, Stefania found Leokadia and Maria as well as her daughter, Teresa. “With heartache I had to part with the child. The child was also very attached to us and returned to her mother crying,” wrote Leokadia Wochelska. Stefania and her daughter eventually immigrated to Israel.

“On April 27, 1992, Yad Vashem recognized Leokadia Wochelska and her sister Maria Wochelska, as Righteous Among the Nations. File 5252

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

Wawer Convent, suburb of Warsaw

“Before the war, Frajdla Składkowska owned a leather-processing factory in Warsaw. After the occupation of Warsaw, Zenon Szenfeld helped the Składkowskis by offering to hide their assets and valuables for them. When the Składkowskis were interned in the ghetto, Zenon and his wife, Marianna, smuggled in food parcels for them. In July 1942, they helped the Składkowskis and their daughter, Aliza, as well as Skłladkowska’s brother, Jacob Pinczewski, escape to the Aryan side of the city, where they provided them with forged documents and financial aid. After putting them up for a short while, the Szenfelds arranged for the refugees to stay with Maria Szmidt, Marianna’s mother. After the authorities were alerted by an informer, however, the Składkowskis moved in with Czesław and Maria Car, where they hid until May 1943, while the Szenfelds continued to look out for their safety. Again, the danger of discovery forced them to move, this time to the home of Janina Szymańska. Thanks to the “Aryan” documents in her possession, Frajdla found work in a factory, while her daughter, who fell ill, was transferred to the nearby Wawer convent. In due course, her husband and brother moved in with Anna Szwerkowska and Irena Rudkowska, her sister, in Anin, near Warsaw, where they remained until September 1944, when the area was liberated.

“After the war, the survivors immigrated to the United States. On January 11, 1982, Yad Vashem recognized Zenon and Marianna Szenfeld, Maria Szmidt, Maria and Czesław Car, Janina Szymańska, Anna Szwerkowska and Irena Rudkowska 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.

Reiter, Johanna

“In 1943, Mirla Kajler managed to escape from the Warsaw ghetto with her four-year-old daughter, Felicia. When Kajler realized that she had no chances of surviving with her daughter, she went to a Catholic convent in Wawer, an eastern suburb of Warsaw, and approached the mother superior, Sister Zygmunta, alias Johanna Reiter, begging her to admit her daughter to the home for abandoned children run by the sisters of the convent. When Sister Zygmunta found out that the girl was Jewish, she looked after her devotedly, protected her, and watched out for her safety during the periodic interrogations conducted by the Germans, in an attempt to discover Jewish children hiding there. In risking her life to save Felicia, Johanna Reiter was guided by Christian love and compassion. After the war, Felicia was returned to her mother, and the two moved to France, where they kept up contact with Sister Zygmunta until her death.

“On March 19, 1986, Yad Vashem recognized Johanna Reiter (Sister Zygmunta) as Righteous Among the Nations. File 3359

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

Anužis, Ignas
Anužienė, Elena
Anužis, Česlovas
Anužienė, Elena

“Ignas and Elena Anužis were residents of Kaunas who went to live in Wilno (today, Vilnius) after the annexation of Lithuania to the USSR in mid-1940. Before the 1917 revolution, Ignas had served as an officer in the Czarist army of the Russian Empire. Subsequently he dealt in trade and under the German occupation, he worked as a cashier. His wife Elena gave private music lessons. In 1943, the couple gave shelter to Hasya Grin (later, Geselevich), a young Jewish woman from the town of Širvintai (Ukmergė District). Hasya had been hiding under a false identity with Polish nuns. The nuns feared that her true identity had been discovered and for this reason they sent her to the Anužis family. Hasya hid for several months in their two-room apartment in the old city of Wilno. Even though she had identity papers with a Lithuanian name, she left the house only in cases of emergency such as, for instance, when she learned of impending searches. In such cases, Hasya would travel to Kaunas to Česlovas Anužis, her benefactors' son, and would stay with him and his wife Elena for a few weeks. Česlovas and Elena had a baby and Hasya played the role of a "cousin" who had come to help the young parents take care of the infant. Once the danger was past, Hasya would return to Wilno. Hasya learned that Ignas and Elena had helped two more Jewish girls who had escaped from the Vilna ghetto by obtaining forged identity cards and sending them to an acquaintance in Lida, Belarus.

“When the front drew near to Wilno, the rescuers decided to leave Lithuania because they feared that the Soviets would take revenge on Ignas who was identified with the White Russians who had fought in the past against the Bolsheviks. Hasya also left the city and until its liberation on July 14, 1944, she stayed in a rural area near the border with Latvia under a false identity. When she returned to Wilno, she did not find anybody from herbenefactors' family. In time, Hasya immigrated to Israel and only in the 1990s, on a visit to the U.S.A., did she locate Anužis' descendants in Detroit.

“On August 7, 2000, Yad Vashem recognized Ignas and Elena Anužis and Česlovas and Elena Anužis as Righteous Among the Nations. File 2/9026/1

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

Mantel-Kłosińska,

“Maria Dr. Maria Mantel was the wife of a Polish officer of Jewish ancestry, who was murdered at Katyn in the massacre of Polish prisoners of war. Mantel, who lived in Warsaw and ran a private medical clinic in her home, invited her mother-in-law, Karola Mantel, 70, who until then had been hiding in various places in and around the city, to come live with her. Despite the danger to her life, Dr. Mantel took care of her mother-in-law, nursed her and provided for all her needs. Because of the many patients that visited the clinic in the house, Dr. Mantel feared that the elderly woman’s identity would be revealed. After a few months, Dr. Mantel moved her mother-in-law to an institution run by priests in the city of Minsk-Mazowiecki, where she remained until the Red Army liberated the area in August 1944. In 1943, Mantel also hid Erwin Aleksandrowicz, an old-time acquaintance, in her apartment. He, like Mantel’s mother-in-law, had also been forced to wander from one hiding place to another. Mantel also found a hiding place for Zofia Janiszewska and Franciszka Mantel.

“On October 18, 1995, Yad Vashem recognized Maria Mantel-Kłosińska as Righteous Among the Nations. File 6693

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

Janczarek, Władysław / 3386
Poddebniak, Jan / 3386a

“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.

Górecki, Piotr
Górecka, Agnieszka
Thiel-Górecka, Jadwiga
Landowski, Józef
Landowska, Zofia

See Nazarene Nuns (Siostry Nazaretanki) in Komańcza, in the county of Sanok, in the Rzeszów district.

Kaczorowska Antonina

“In the summer of 1942, Józef Kamiński, a priest, turned to Antonina Kaczorowska, asking her to look after Marian Marzynski, a five-year-old orphan. After Kaczorowska, a matron at Warsaw’s Saint Roch hospital, who lived on the hospital premises, agreed the orphan was brought to her apartment. Although she soon discovered that Marian was a Jew who had been smuggled out of the local ghetto, Kaczorowska decided to look after him. Kaczorowska obtained “Aryan” documents for Marian, whom she passed off as a relative. Inspired by her religious faith to look after the persecuted, Kaczorowska took good care of Marian without expecting anything in return. Marian stayed with Kaczorowska for eight months, after which a place was found for him in an orphanage run by a convent in the village of Łaźniew, near Warsaw, where he stayed under an assumed identity until April 1945. Throughout his stay at the orphanage, Kaczorowska came to visit him and brought him clothes and candies. After the war, his mother traced him and reclaimed him. Marzynski immigrated to the United States where he kept up a regular correspondence with Kaczorowska.

“On November 16, 1989, Yad Vashem recognized Antonina Kaczorowska as Righteous Among the Nations. File 4460

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

Kielan, Franciszek
Kielan, Maria
Rybicka-Kielan, Krystyna
Jaworowska-Kielan, Zofia

“During the occupation, Franciszek and Maria Kielan lived in Warsaw with their daughters, Krystyna, and Zofia. One day in 1942, Krystyna got to know Janina Prot, a new girl in her class, from Warsaw. In due course, as the two became friends, Janina told Krystyna that she was Jewish, and that she had left her parents, who were hiding in a nearby town, and had come to Warsaw on her own, believing that she had a greater chance of surviving there. Stirred by her friend’s plight, Krystyna and her sister, Zofia, decided to ask their parents to shelter Janina. Despite the danger, the parents agreed and took Janina into their home without expecting anything in return. Later, the Kielans arranged for Janina to stay with acquaintances in a village (Zduńska Dąbrowa), where she helped with the housework, but she was soon sent back to the Kielans, after the village authorities began suspecting her true identity. One day in 1942, Prot was joined by Romana Laks (later Kaplan) who also turned up on the Kielans’ doorstep after her hiding place on the Aryan side of the city became too dangerous. For several months, the Kielans and their two daughters sheltered both Janina and Romana until Romana found a place in a convent near Warsaw, where she remained until the area was liberated by the Red Army. After suffering terrible hardships during the Warsaw Uprising in the summer of 1944, Prot stayed with the Kielans until the area was liberated.

“After the war, the two survivors immigrated to the United States where they were followed, several years later, by Zofia and Krystyna Kielan. Survivors and saviors remained friendly for many years. On January 2, 1991, Yad Vashem recognized Maria and Franciszek Kielan and their daughter, Krystyna Rybicka-Kielan, as Righteous Among the Nations.

“On May 19, 1999, Yad Vashem recognized their daughter, Zofia Jaworowska-Kielan, 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.

Sosnowska, Julia

“In April 1943, Julia Sosnowska, a nun, noticed a toddler in a tattered and torn dress, crawling out of the sewer near the border of the Warsaw ghetto. Shocked by the spectacle, Julia picked up the child who was in a state of near exhaustion, and, guided by Christian love, took her back to her room in the house that she shared with other nuns. Julia discovered that the foundling had tried to escape from the ghetto, but being too weak to stand, had only managed to crawl as far as the sewer opening. Julia washed the girl, fed her, and looked after her devotedly until October 1943, when she placed her in an educational establishment in Ignaców, near Mińsk Mazowiecki, in the Warsaw district. The little girl, registered as Krystyna Olejnik in the “Aryan” documents sister Julia obtained for her, remained in the institution until the area was liberated by the Red Army. After the war, she was officially adopted by a Polish family, and stayed on in Poland under the name of Krystyna Kalata.

“On May 12, 1996, Yad Vashem recognized Julia Sosnowska as Righteous Among the Nations. File 7117

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

Kemblińska, Meta
Truchanowicz, Zygmunt
Truchanowicz, Maria

“Halina Trachtenberg was 14 years old when she fled from the Warsaw ghetto in 1942, at the initiative and with the help of Meta Kemblińska, whose Jewish husband had died before the war. Kemblińska also helped Jadwiga Trachtenberg, Halina’s stepmother, and Zofia and Sabina Zander, Jadwiga’s mother and sister, escape from the ghetto. Kemblińska, who lived in the town of Staporkow, near Kielce, arranged for the four Jewish refugees to stay with Zygmunt and Maria Truchanowicz who lived in the Praga quarter of Warsaw. In due course, after Kemblińska obtained “Aryan” documents for them for which she herself paid, she arranged for Zofia Zander to move in with her, while Sabina was sent to a convent near Warsaw. Halina stayed with the Truchanowiczes, until the area was liberated in September 1944. In risking their lives to save her, the Truchanowiczes were guided by humanitarian motives, which overrode considerations of personal safety or economic hardship. Kemblińska, who saw helping persecuted Jews as a moral duty, devoted all her energy and money to this worthy cause. After the war, Halina and Sabina immigrated to Australia, while Zofia Zander, who was liberated in January 1945, stayed with Kemblińska, until the latter’s death in 1958. Jadwiga Trachtenberg died under unclear circumstances.

“On July 7, 1997, Yad Vashem recognized Meta Kemblińska and Maria and Zygmunt Truchanowicz as Righteous Among the Nations. File 7679

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

Note: there were at least 190 convents in Poland that offered help and asylum to Jewish children.

Religious Orders of Women Who Rescued Jews in Poland

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.

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 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.

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.

Daughters of Divine Love (Zgromadzenie Córek Bożej Miłości—Córki Bożej Miłości): Kraków-Pleszów, Kraków-Wola Justowska. 269

Daughters of Mary Immaculate (Zgromadzenie Córek Maryi Niepokalanej—Córki Maryi Niepokalanej): Hrubieszów, Kielce, Końskie, Lida, Radom, Rawa Mazowiecka, Wiszniew near Wołożyn, Warsaw.

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.

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.

(Franciscan) Sisters of St. Elizabeth (Cieszyn) (Zgromadzenie Sióstr św. Elżbiety Trzeciego Zakonu Regularnego św. Franciszka z Asyżu—Siostry Elżbietanki (cieszyńskie)): Cieszyn.

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.

Franciscan Sisters Servants of the Cross (Laski) (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Franciszkanek Służebnic Krzyża—Siostry Franciszkanki Służebnice Krzyża): Laski near Warsaw, Zakopane, Zulów.

Franciscan Sisters of the Suffering (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Franciszkanek od Cierpiących—Siostry Franciszkanki od Cierpiących): Kozienice, Łuck, Wilno.

Franciscan Sisters of the Family of Mary (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Franciszkanek Rodziny Maryi—Siostry Franciszkanki Rodziny Maryi): Anin near Warsaw, Beresteczko, Białołęka Dworska near Warsaw (2 institutions), Brwinów (2 institutions), Brzezinki, Dubno, Dźwiniaczka near Borszczów, Grójec, Izabelin near Warsaw, Kołomyja, Kostów, Kostowiec, Krasnystaw, Łomna near Turka, Lwów (3 institutions), Maciejowice near Warsaw, Mickuny near Wilno, Międzylesie near Warsaw (3 institutions), Mirzec, Mszana Dolna near Rabka, Nieborów near Łowicz, Nienadowa, Ostrówek near Warsaw, Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, Pistyń, Płudy near Warsaw, Podhajce, Pustelnik, Puźniki near Buczacz, Raków, Sambor, Soplicowo near Warsaw, Szymanów, Turka, Warsaw (5 institutions), Wilno, Wołkowysk, Wola Gołkowska.

Franciscan Missionary Sisters of Mary (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Franiszkanek Misjonarek Maryi—Franciszkanki Misjonarki Maryi): Radecznica, Zamość.

Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Najświętszej Rodziny z Nazaretu—Siostry Nazaretanki): Częstochowa, Kielce, Komańcza, Nowogródek, Olsztyn, Warsaw.

Missionary Sisters of the Holy Family (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Misjonarek Świętej Rodziny—Siostry Misjonarki Świętej Rodziny): Białystok, Prużana. 270

Canon Sisters of the Holy Spirit (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Kanoniczek Ducha Świętego de Saxia—Siostry Duchaczki): Biskupice, Busko-Zdrój, Chmielnik, Kraków, Leżajsk, Lublin, Pacanów, Zabłocie.

Sisters of the Robe of Jesus (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Westiarek Jezusa—Siostry Westiarki Jezusa)

Sisters of the Gratification of the Most Holy Countenance (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Wynagrodzicielek Najświętszego Oblicza—Siostry Obliczanki): Częstochowa, Lublin, Miedzeszyn near Warsaw, Wilno, Zielonka.

Sisters of the Most Holy Name of Jesus Under the Protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary Help of the Faithful (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Najświętszego Imienia Jezus pod opieką Najświętszej Maryi Panny Wspomożenia Wiernych—Siostry Imienia Jezus): Klimontów, Suchedniów, Wilno.

Sisters Servants of Jesus (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Sług Jezusa—Siostry Sługi Jezusa): Bychawka near Lublin, Kielczewice, Lublin, Tarnów.

Sisters (of Charity) of St. Joseph (Zgromadzenie Sióstr (Miłosierdzia) św. Józefa—Siostry Józefitki): Łaszczów, Mielec, Narajów, Skałat, Sokal, Smanczykowczyki, Stryj, Tarnów, Trzesówka, Zamość.

Michaelite Sisters (Sisters of St. Michael the Archangel) (Zgromadzenie Sióstr św. Michała Archanioła—Siostry Michalitki): Godowa, Miejsce Piastowe, Przytyk, Radom, Wysoka Głogowska, Wysoka Strzyżowska.

Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy (Magdalene Sisters) (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Matki Bożej Miłosierdzia—Siostry Magdalenki): Częstochowa, Derdy, Kraków, Lwów, Rabka, Radom, Walendów, Warsaw, Warsaw-Grochów, Wilno.

Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Niepokalanego Poczęcia Najświętszej Maryi Panny—Siostry Niepokalanki): Buraków, Jarosław, Koźle, Nowy Sącz, Słonim, Szymanów, Warsaw, Wrzosów.

Sisters Servants of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Pleszew) (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Służebniczek Niepokalanego Poczęcia Najświętszej Maryi Panny z Pleszewa—Siostry Służebniczki Pleszewskie (Wielkopolskie)): Czersk nad Wisłą, Piotrków Trybunalski, Przesmyki, Warsaw, Włodzimierzów.

Sisters of Mary Immaculate (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Maryi Niepokalanej—Siostry Maryi Niepokolanej): Katowice, Zgoda.

Sisters Servants of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Mariówka) (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Służek Najświętszej Maryi Panny Niepokalanej z Mariówki—Siostry Służki): Bychawa, Chomotów, Czyżów, Drzewica, Grodno, Jeżewo, Lisków, Łomża, Mościska, Nowe Miasto nad Pilicą, Warsaw.

Sisters Servants of the Virgin Mother of God Immaculately Conceived (Dębica) (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Służebniczek Bogarodzicy Dziewicy Niepokalanie Poczętej—Siostry Służebniczki Dębickie): Proszówki near Bochnia.

Sisters Servants of the Blessed Virgin Mary Immaculately Conceived (Stara Wieś) (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Służebniczek Najświętszej Maryi Panny Niepokalanie Poczętej ze Starej Wsi—Siostry Służebniczki Starowiejskie): Brzeżany, Chotomów, Chrostów, Częstochowa, Grodzisko near Leżajsk, Jasionów near Brzozów, Końskie, Kopyczyńce, Kraków-Prądnik Czerwony, Lesko, Łaźniew, Łódź, Lublin, Miechów, Piotrków Trybunalski, Róża, Rzepińce, Stara Wieś, Staromieście near Rzeszów, Szynwałd, Tapin, Tarnopol, Tarnów, Turkowice, Wola Rzędzińska.

Sisters of Common Work of Immaculate Mary (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Wspólnej Pracy pod wezwaniem Niepokalanego Poczęcia Najświętszej Maryi Panny—Siostry Wspólnej Pracy): Warsaw.

School Sisters of Notre Dame (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Szkolnych de Notre Dame—Siostry Notre Dame): Lwów (2 institutions), Mikuliczyn.

Sisters (Ladies) of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Zgromadzenie Panien Ofiarowania Najświętszej Maryi Panny—Siostry Prezentki): Kraków, Ujazdy near Rzeszów, Wilno. 271

Sisters Servants of the Mother of the Good Shepherd (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Służebnic Matki Dobrego Pasterza—Siostry Pasterzanki): Białystok, Częstochowa, Piaseczno.

Sisters of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Zakon Nawiedzenia Najświętszej Maryi Panny—Siostry Wizytki): Wilno.

Seraphite Sisters (Sisters (Daughters) of Our Lady of Sorrows) (Zgromadzenie Córek Matki Bożej Bolesnej; Zgromadzenie Córek Najświętszej Maryi Panny od Siedmiu Boleści—Siostry Serafitki): Drohobycz, Jarosław, Nowy Targ, Pysznica, Stryj. Norbertine

Sisters (Sisters of St. Norbert) (Zakon Norbertanek—Siostry Kanoniczki Regularne Zakonu Premonstratensów—Siostry Norbertanki): Imbramowice.

Pallottine Sisters (Missionary Sisters of the Catholic Apostolate) (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Misjonarek Apostolstwa Katolickiego—Siostry Pallotynki): Nowogródek, Rajca.

Passionist Sisters (Sisters of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ) (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Męki Pana Naszego Jezusa Chrystusa—Siostry Pasjonistki): Janów Lubelski, Kielce, Stopnica.

Resurrectionist Sisters (Sisters of the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ) (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Zmartwychwstania Pana Naszego Jezusa Chrystusa—Siostry Zmartwychwstanki): Częstochowa, Lwów, Mir, Stara Wieś near Węgrów, Warsaw (4 institutions), Warsaw-Żoliborz, Wejherowo.

Sacré Coeur Sisters (Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus) (Zgromadzenie Najświętszego Serca Jezusa SacréCoeur—Siostry Sacré Coeur): Lwów.

Sisters Servants of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Służebnic Najświętszego Serca Jezusowego Trzeciego Zakonu Regularnego św. Franciszka z Asyżu—Siostry Sercanki): Brody near Lwów, Krosno, Przemyśl-Błonie, Radomsko, Rymanów Zdrój, Zakopane.

Oblate Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Oblatek Serca Jezusa—Siostry Oblatki Serca Jezusa): Częstochowa.

Sisters of the Most Holy Soul of Christ the Lord (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Najświętszej Duszy Chrystusa Pana—Siostry Duszy Chrystusowej): Kraków, Kraków-Azory, Kraków-Skotniki, Zielonka near Kraków.

Sisters of St. Teresa of the Child Jesus (Zgromadzenie Sióstr św. Teresy od Dzieciątka Jezus—Siostry Terezjanki): Luboml, Włodzimierz Wołyński.

Ursuline Sisters of the Agonizing Heart of Jesus (Grey Ursulines) (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Urszulanek Serca Jezusa Konającego—Siostry Urszulanki Serca Jezusowego (szare)): Brwinów, Czarna Duża, Milanówek, Ołtarzew, Radość, Sieradz, Suchedniów near Radom, Warsaw (3 institutions), Wilno, Zakopane.

Ursuline Sisters of the Roman Union (Unia Rzymska Zakonu św. Urszuli—Siostry Urszulanki Unii Rzymskiej): Częstochowa, Kołomyja, Kraków, Lublin, Lwów, Rokiciny Podhalańskie (near Rabka), Stanisławów, Tarnów, Warsaw, Włocławek, Zakopane.

Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul (Zgromadzenie Sióstr Miłosierdzia św. Wincentego a Paulo—Siostry Miłosierdzia—Siostry Szarytki): Białystok, Budzanów, Czerwonogród near Zaleszczyki, Góra Kalwaria, Ignaców near Mińsk Mazowiecki, Kalwaria Zebrzydowska near Kraków, Kielce, Klarysew near Warsaw, Kraków, Kurozwęki, Lwów, Przeworsk, Radom, Supraśl, Szczawnica, Warsaw (8 institutions), Werki near Wilno, Wilno. 272

Religious and Monastic Orders of Men Who Rescued Jews

The following list does not include male diocesan clergy.

Albertines (Bracia Albertyni, Zgromadzenie Braci Albertynów Trzeciego Zakonu Regularnego św. Franciszka Serafickiego Posługujących Ubogim—albertyni): Przemyśl, Kraków, Warsaw.

Benedictines (Mnisi Reguły św. Benedykta (OSB)—benedyktyni): Tyniec. Bernardines (bernardyni) or Franciscans (franciszkanie): Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, Kraków, Lwów, Tarnawica Polna near Tłumacz, Radecznica.

Camaldolese (Kongregacja Eremitów Kamedułów Góry Koronnej (EC)—kameduli): Bielany near Warsaw.

Capuchins (Zakon Braci Mniejszych Kapucynów (OFMCap)—kapucyni): Drohobycz, Horodno (Polesie voivodship), Kraków, Lublin, Nowe Miasto nad Policą, Warsaw. Carmelites (Zakon Braci Najświętszej Maryi Panny z Góry Karmel (OCarm)—karmelici): Bołszowce near Rohatyn, Kraków, Wilno.

Cistercians (Zakon Cystersów (OCist)—cystersi): Mogiła near Kraków.

Dominicans (Zakon Braci Kaznodziejów (OP)—dominikanie): Czortków, Lwów. Franciscans (Conventuals) (Zakon Braci Mniejszych Konwentualnych (OFMConv)—franciszkanie konwentualni): Grodno, Niepokalanów, Warsaw.

Franciscans (Reformed) (Zakon Braci Mniejszych (OFM), Prowincja Matki Bożej Anielskiej—franciszkanie reformaci): Przemyśl-Panewniki, Sadowa Wisznia. Franciscans (not identified) (franciszkanie): Łagiewniki near Łódź, Limanowa, in/near Kraków, in/near Warsaw.

Jesuits (Towarzystwo Jezusowe (SJ)—jezuici): Albertyn near Słonim, Janówka near Tarnopol, Lwów, Nowy Sącz, Otwock near Warsaw, Słonim, Stara Wieś, Tarnopol, Turkowice near Hrubieszów, Warsaw (various priests), Wilno.

Marians (Zgromadzenie Księży Marianów Niepokalanego Poczęcia Najświętszej Maryi Panny (MIC)—marianie): Bielany near Warsaw, Warsaw.

Congregation of St. Michael (Zgromadzenie św. Michała Archanioła (CSMA)—michalici): Struga near Warsaw, Miejsce Piastowe.

Oblates of Mary Immaculate (Zgromadzenie Misjonarzy Oblatów Maryi Niepokalanej (OMI)—oblaci): Okopy near Rokitno.

Orionists (Małe Dzieło Boskiej Opatrzności (FDP)—orioniści): Warsaw.

Pallotins (Stowarzyszenie Apostolstwa Katolickiego (SAC)—pallotyni): Warsaw.

Paulines (Zakon św. Pawła Pierwszego Pustelnika (OSPPE)—paulini): Częstochowa, Hungary.

Redemptorists (Zgromadzenie Najświętszego Odkupiciela (CSsR)—redemptoryści): Mościska, Tuchów, Warsaw (various priests).  

Resurrectionists (Zgromadzenie Zmartwychwstania Pana Naszego Jezusa Chrystusa (CR)—zmartwychwstańcy): Międzyrzecz Podlaski, Nowy Sącz or Kraków.

Salesians (Towarzystwo św. Franciszka Salezego (SDB)—salezjanie): Częstochowa, Głosków, Przemyśl, Supraśl, Warsaw (various locations).

Vincentians (Missionaries of St. Vincent de Paul) (Zgromadzenie Księży Misjonarzy św. Wincentego à Paulo (CM)— misjonarze): Kraków, Lwów, Tarnów, Warsaw (various priest).

Poles Recognized as “Righteous Among the Nations” by Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Authority

As of January 1, 2010, the distinction of “Righteous Among the Nations” has been granted to 6,195 Poles, who form the single largest national group honored by that institution.98 The vast majority of Poles who extended assistance to Jews have not received any recognition. Among those recognized by Yad Vashem are sixty-two members of the Roman Catholic clergy (of the Latin rite). Proportionally, in relation to their numbers, the Polish clergy has been awarded more often than the Catholic clergy of other occupied countries,99 this despite their own incomparably greater persecution and far more endangered status. The representation of Catholic clergy among the “Righteous” exceeds that of the Protestant and Orthodox clergy by far.

Updated November 7, 2021