Church Rescue in Poland - Part 1

PART 1 - See Below

PART 2

PART 3

Catholic Clergy Murdered by the Germans for Assisting Jews

“276 Polish Roman Catholic Clergy and Religious Murdered by the Germans for Assisting Jews Among the several thousand Poles—women, men, and children, often entire families and sometimes even whole communities—put to death by the Germans for coming to the assistance of Jews, there were dozens of priests and religious. Wacław Zajączkowski, Martyrs of Charity: Christian and Jewish Response to the Holocaust, Part One (Washington, D.C.: St. Maximilian Kolbe Foundation, 1987) lists, with source references.

The following priests as having been killed, usually by summary execution, for assisting Jews:

[1] “Fr. Antoni Grzybowski, a Jesuit from Albertyn near Słonim, was executed on October 20, 1943, for providing shelter to Jews in the Jesuit Novitiate (Entry 39)

[2] “Rev. Andrzej Osikowicz (Osikiewicz), pastor of Borysław, was deported to Majdanek for openly encouraging his parishioners to assist Jews and perished there on December 29, 1943 (Entry 74)

[3] “Rev. Henryk Opiatowski, a Home Army chaplain from Brańsk near Bielsk Podlaski, was shot on July 15, 1943, for assisting Jews and Soviet deserters from labour camps (Entry 76)

[4] “Rev. Mieczysław Akrejć, pastor of Brasław, in northeastern Poland, perished in June 1942 while interceding on behalf of persecuted Jews (Entry 77)

[5] “Rev. Jan Urbanowicz, dean and pastor of Exaltation of the Holy Cross Parish in Brześć nad Bugiem in Polesie (Polesia), was executed in June 1943 for giving aid to Jews, especially issuing false birth and baptismal certificates (Entry 84)

[6] “Rev. Teodor Popczyk of St. Barbara’s Parish in Częstochowa was shot on June 16, 1943, after being identified by a Jew who had received false documentation from this parish (Entry 124)—see also Jan Pietrzykowski, “Księża diecezji częstochowskiej w walce z okupantem,” Wrocławski Tygodnik Katolicki, May 10, 1970

[7] “Rev. Bolesław Wróblewski, the elderly pastor of the cathedral church in Częstochowa, who had placed some 60 Jewish children in various Catholic institutions, was killed in the parish rectory in 1944 (his sister was also killed, and two other women were severely injured) (Entry 131)

[8] “Rev. Adam Sekuła, assistant pastor of Dobra near Limanowa, in southern Poland, was killed in the jail in Nowy Sącz on April 7, 1941, after refusing to betray the names of Jews to whom he had issued baptismal certificates (Entry 141)

[9] “Fr. Michał Klimczak (Father Dionizy), guardian of the Conventual Franciscan monastery in Grodno (Entry 168)100

[10] “Monsignor Albin Jaroszewicz, dean, and pastor of Grodno, was executed on July 14, 1943 (Entry 168)

[11] “Rev. Władysław Grobelny, vicar of Kobryń near Brześć nad Bugiem, was murdered on October 15, 1942, 100 On Fr. Dionizy see Tadeusz Krahel, “Zginęli 15 lipca 1943 r. przy fortach koło Naumicz,” Czas Miłosierdzia: Białostocki Biuletyn Kościelny, no. 8, August 2003. Fr. Dionizy was arrested several times, last on July 14, 1944, and executed the following day outside Grodno. The precise cause of his arrest is not known. 277 together with the Jews he was helping (Entry 222)

[12] “Monsignor Jan Wolski, pastor of Kobryń was executed on October 15, 1942, for assisting partisans and Jews fleeing from the ghetto which was being liquidated (Entry 223)

[13] “Monsignor Zygmunt Surdacki, the Apostolic Administrator of the diocese of Lublin, was deported to Auschwitz for aiding Jews and perished there on April 30, 1941 (Entry 271)

[14] & [15] “Two young unidentified priests were shot to death on February 21, 1942, in the Lwów suburb of Zamarstynów, when they were apprehended in their attempt to bring two Jewish families to their monastery (Entry 278)—see also Jacek E. Wilczur, Do nieba nie można od razu: Zapiski z okupowanego Lwowa (Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Prawnicze, 1991), 34

[16] “Another unidentified monk from Lwów was shot dead on February 28, 1942 when he was caught carrying food and money to the ghetto and tried to escape (Entry 279)—see also Jacek E. Wilczur, Do nieba nie można od razu, 34–35

[17] “Rev. Fabian Poczobutt-Odlanicki, dean and pastor of Łuniniec near Pińsk in Polesie (Polesia), was executed on July 4, 1944, for organizing aid for Jews and partisans (Entry 300)

[18] “Rev. Antoni Mackiewicz, pastor of Mir near Stołpce (voivodship of Nowogródek), was executed in Kołdyczewo concentration camp on November 14, 1942, along with other Poles, for helping Jews (Entry 322). However, according to other sources, although he did assist Jews, Rev. Mackiewicz was arrested in the sweep directed against the Polish intelligentsia in the region—see Tec, In the Lion’s Den, pp.73, 96, 98–99, and 254 n.13

[19] “Rev. Tadeusz Kaczmarczyk, an assistant pastor from Nowy Sącz who refused to betray the Jews to whom he had provided baptismal certificates, even under torture, was executed on August 21, 1941 (Entry 343)

[20] “Rev. Władysław Deszcz, also from Nowy Sącz, who provided Jews with baptismal certificates and other forms of assistance (he smuggled himself into the ghetto to bring sacraments to converted Jews) was executed on August 21, 1941 (Entry 344). According to another source, however, the two priests from Nowy Sącz were arrested in May 1941 for their suspected role in the escape of Jan Karski, a member of the Polish underground, from the local hospital where he was being held in between interrogation and torture sessions, and were executed in a mass reprisal against 32 Poles in Biegonice—see E. Thomas Wood and Stanisław M. Jankowski, Karski: How One Man Tried to Stop the Holocaust (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1994), pp.89–90

[21] “Monsignor Witold Iwicki, vicar general of the diocese of Pińsk, after refusing an offer of clemency was executed in Janów Poleski on January 22, 1943 for assisting Jews (Entry 376)

[22] “Rev. Paweł Dołżyk, pastor of Derewna (Pińsk diocese), was shot to death on August 8, 1943, for aiding partisans and Jews (Entry 377)

[23] “Monsignor Józef Bajko, pastor of Naliboki near Nowogródek (Pińsk diocese), and

[24] “his assistant, Rev. Józef Baradyn, were locked in a barn and burned alive in August 1943 for aiding Jews and partisans (Entry 378)

[25] “Rev. Leopold Aulich, dean of Iwje (Iwie) and pastor of Kamień near Nowogródek (Pińsk diocese), and

[26] “his assistant, Rev. Kazimierz Rybałtowski, were executed in August 1943 on suspicion of aiding Jews and 278 partisans (Entry 379)

[27] “Rev. Błażej Nowosad, pastor of Potok Górny near Tomaszów Lubelski, was beaten by the SS Galizien in order to extract information about the location of Polish partisans and Jews hiding in the vicinity and then shot to death on December 19, 1943 (Entry 395)

[28] “Fr. Adam Sztark, administrator of the parish in Żyrowice, provided various forms of assistance to Jews. He placed Jewish children in the convent of the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Słonim, where he was the chaplain. He was arrested on December 18, 1942, together with two Sisters from this convent, Kazimiera Wołowska, the mother superior, and Bogumiła Noiszewska. All three of them were executed the following day in a mass execution of several hundred Poles (Entries 463 and 702)—see also Moroz and Datko, Męczennicy za wiarę 1939–1945, pp.385–86, 390–92

[29] “Fr. Wojciech Kopliński, known as Father Anicet, a Franciscan from the Capuchin monastery on Miodowa Street in Warsaw, was arrested in June 1941 for, among other reasons, helping Jews. He was deported to Auschwitz where he perished in a gas chamber on October 16, 1941 (Entry 531)—see also Moroz and Datko, Męczennicy za wiarę 1939–1945, pp.334–35

[30] “An unidentified priest from Warsaw who worked closely with the Malicki family in providing false baptismal certificates and identification to Jews was shot to death on December 19, 1942, after being identified by one of the Jews who was caught with the false documents (Entry 537). According to Teresa Prekerowa, the priest in question was the pastor of the cathedral parish of St. John the Baptist; he was executed after a certificate he issued for Maria Rajbenbach fell into the hands of the Gestapo. See Teresa Prekerowa, Konspiracyjna Rada Pomocy Żydom w Warszawie 1942–1945 (Warszawa: Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, 1982), pp.148–49. See also the account of Maria Rajbenbach and annotations found in Bartoszewski and Lewin, Righteous Among Nations, pp.233, 235, and Bartoszewski and Lewinówna, Ten jest z ojczyzny mojej, 2 nd ed., pp.552, 554 (reproduced supra)

[31] “Monsignor Roman Archutowski, rector of the Archdiocesan Seminary of Warsaw, was arrested in late November 1942 for, among other reasons, helping Jews. He was imprisoned in Pawiak and tortured. He was deported to Majdanek on March 25, 1943, and died there on April 18, 1943 (Entry 547)—see also Moroz and Datko, Męczennicy za wiarę 1939–1945, pp.210–12

[32] “Rev. Franciszek Garncarek, pastor of St. Augustine’s church in the Warsaw ghetto, was murdered on December 20, 1943; he was shot on the steps of the presbetery of another church outside the ghetto (Entry 574)— see also Barbara Engelking and Jacek Leociak, Getto warszawskie: Przewodnik po nieistniejącym mieście (Warszawa: IFiS PAN, 2001), p.621, translated as The Warsaw Ghetto: A Guide to the Perished City (New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 2009);

[33] “Fr. Józef Leńko, from the Missionary Congregation of St. Vincent, a vicar at the Holy Cross parish in Warsaw, was arrested for the second time and brought to Pawiak prison on February 7, 1944, for helping Jews. He was deported to Gross Rosen concentration camp where he perished on May 20, 1944 (Entry 585). Fr. Leńko was particularly active in issuing false baptismal certificates to Jews. See Zieliński, Życie religijne w Polsce pod okupacją hitlerowską 1939–1945, p.646

[34] “Fr. Leon Więckiewicz, from the Missionary Congregation of St. Vincent, a vicar at St. Augustine’s church in the Warsaw ghetto, was arrested for helping Jews on December 3, 1943; he was deported to Gross Rosen concentration camp where he died on August 4, 1944 (Entry 590)—see also Engelking and Leociak, Getto warszawskie, p.621. However, according to Zieliński, Życie religijne w Polsce pod okupacją hitlerowską 1939– 1945, pp.647–48, it is believed that the immediate cause of Fr. Więckiewicz’s arrest was not his extensive assistance to Jews but his open display of support for a group Poles slated for execution; 279

[35] “Rev. Alfonsas Lipniūnas, a Lithuanian priest from Wilno, where he was assistant rector of the Ostra Brama chapel and a preacher at the University Church of St. John, was arrested by the Gestapo on March 17, 1943, for his sermons admonishing those who stole Jewish property and participated in violence against Jews. He was sent to the Stutthof concentration camp; he fell ill with typhus when being moved from the approaching Soviet forces and died on March 28, 1945 (Entry 642). See also Encyclopedia Lituanica, volume 3, p.349

[36] & [37] “Two Basilian Fathers from the Uniate monastery in Wilno were arrested for helping Jews and not heard of again (Entry 643); [38] Rev. Józef Kuczyński, pastor of Wsielub near Nowogródek (Pińsk diocese), was executed on July 31, 1942, for sheltering Jewish children (Entry 665). Other priests killed for helping Jews identified in Zieliński, Życie religijne w Polsce pod okupacją 1939–1945:

[39] “Rev. Franciszek Żak from Dolina (archdiocese of Lwów) was shot for rendering assistance of various forms to Jews (such as helping them escape to Romania and Hungary and providing false birth certificates)—p.157

[40] “Rev. Bolesław Gramz, pastor of Idołta near Brasław—pp.44 and 54101

[41] “Witold Sarosiek, pastor of Kundzin—pp.50 and 54102; [42] Monsignor Karol Lubianiec, dean and pastor of Mołodeczno and vicar general for Byelorussia—pp.44 and 54103

[43] “Rev. Kazimierz Grochowski, pastor of St. Andrew’s Parish in Słonim—p.44. See also Wacław Bielawski, Zbrodnie na Polakach dokonane przez hitlerowców za pomoc udzielaną Żydom (Warszawa: Główna Komisja Badania Zbrodni Hitlerowskich w Polsce–Instytut Pamięci Narodowej, 1987), Entry 210. The last four priests who hailed from the archdiocese of Wilno were also involved in other “subversive” activities—pp.44 and 54.

[44] “Rev. Dominik Amankowicz, pastor of Widze (archdiocese of Wilno), collapsed and died on July 26, 1941, as a result of the news of the execution of Jews brought to him by terrified Jews who had sought shelter in the church rectory—p. 52

[45] “Rev. Romuald Świrkowski, pastor of Holy Spirit parish in Wilno, who, according to one version, was betrayed by one of the Jews whom he had sheltered, was arrested on January 15, 1942, and executed in Ponary on May 5, 1942—p. 52104, 101

“On Rev. Gramz see Tadeusz Krahel, “Ksiądz Bolesław Gramz,” Czas Miłosierdzia: Białostocki Biuletyn Kościelny, no. 8, August 1999. Rev. Gramz extended help to Jews, Gypsies, and others in need. He was arrested on June 8, 1944, and executed. The precise cause of his arrest is not known. 102

“On Rev. Sarosiek see Tadeusz Krahel, “Ks. Witold Sarosiek (1988–1944),” Czas Miłosierdzia: Białostocki Biuletyn Kościelny, no. 4, April 2000. Rev. Starosiek was a member of the Home Army who extended help to Jews and others in need. He was arrested on April 10, 1944, imprisoned in Białystok, and sent to the Gross Rosen concentration camp where he died on December 14, 1944. The precise cause of his arrest is not known. 103

“On Monsignor Lubianiec see Tadeusz Krahel, “Ks. Prałat Karol Lubianiec,” Czas Miłosierdzia: Białostocki Biuletyn Kościelny, no. 8, August 2000. Monsignor Lubianiec, born in 1866, settled in village of Plebania near Kraśne where he was in charge of a small church; he was highly regarded by all. He was arrested in July or September 1942 and executed. Neither the precise cause of his arrest or the circumstances of his death are clear. 104 On Rev. Świrkowski see Tadeusz Krahel, “Ks. Romuald Świrkowski (1986–1942),” Czas Miłosierdzia: Białostocki Biuletyn Kościelny, no. 2, February 2000. Rev. Świrkowski was the archdiosesan representative in the Polish underground and extended help to 280

[46] “Rev. Piotr Pianko, the administrator of the parish in Szumowo near Zambrów, was shot on September 4, 1941, in his liturgical vestments for refusing to announce German orders calling on the population to obey the German authorities, surrender their arms and capture Soviet soldiers—p.74. See also Martyrologium, volume 2, p.184. The memoirs (typesrcipt) of Józef Klimaszewski (nom de guerre “Cień”), W cienie czerwonego boru, at p.20, indicate that Rev. Pianko also incurred German wrath for defending the Jews. For a different version of the execution of Rev. Pianko and Rev. Aleksander Łuniewski by German gendarmes see the eyewitness account in Jan Żaryn, “Przez pomyłkę: Ziemia łomżyńska w latach 1939–1945. Rozmowa z ks. Kazimierzem Łupińskim z parafii Szumowo,” Biuletyn Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej, no. 8–9 (September–October 2002): pp.112–17;

[47] “Rev. Leon Bujnowski, pastor of Niedźwiedzica (Pińsk diocese), was arrested on June 27, 1943, during a religious ceremony on suspicion of, among other reasons, helping Jews and perished soon after—pp.83–84. See also Maria Suchecka, “Proboszcz z Niedźwiedzicy,” Tygodnik Powszechny (Kraków), April 1, 1990; Rev. Jan Urbanowicz (supra [5], see Martyrs of Charity, Part One, Entry 84)—p.84; Rev. Józef Kuczyński (supra [38], see Martyrs of Charity, Part One, Entry 665)—p.84;

[48] “Rev. Władysław Klimczak, pastor of Porzecze, was executed in July 1943 for aiding Jews (Pińsk diocese)— p.84

[49] “Rev. Jan Grodis, principal of Romuald Traugutt high school in Nieśwież (Pińsk diocese)—p.84

[50] “Rev. Edward Tabaczkowski, pastor of Tłumacz, who sheltered a Jewish student in the church rectory and provided many false baptismal certificates and other forms of assistance to Jews, was put to death on October 20, 1942—pp.154–55. See also Yisrael Gutman and Shmuel Krakowski, Unequal Victims: Poles and Jews During World War Two (New York: Holocaust Library, 1986), p.227; Kamil Barański, Przeminęli zagończycy, chliborobi, chasydzi…: Rzecz o ziemi stanisławowsko-kołomyjsko-stryjskiej (London: Panda Press, 1988), pp.417–18; Zbrodnie na Polakach dokonane, Entry 741; Shlomo Blond, et al., eds., Memorial Book of Tlumacz: The Life and Destruction of a Jewish Community (Tel Aviv: Tlumacz Societies in Israel and the U.S.A., 1976), pp.xxxiv, cxxix and clxxiii. It is believed that he was betrayed to the Gestapo by a Jewish woman from Tłumacz. See Lesław Jeżowski, “Ks. Edward Tabaczkowski,” Semper Fidelis (Wrocław), no. 3 (16), 1993, p.10. An account in Chciuk, Saving Jews in War-Torn Poland, 1939–1945, p.33, identifies

[51] “an unnamed priest in the village of Ossowo near Wilno, who was killed for extending help to Jews. Kamil Barański, in his Przeminęli zagończycy, chliborobi, chasydzi…, pp.84 and 173, also identifies

[52] “Rev. Remigiusz Wójcik, administrator of the parish in Święty Stanisław near Stanisławów (archdiocese of Lwów), who hid a Jewish woman in the bell tower of the church. After his arrest by the Ukrainian police in September 1942, he was taken to the Gestapo prison in Stanisławów where he was held and beaten for three days and, on the fourth day, he was ripped apart by dogs in the prison courtyard. See also Na Rubieży (Wrocław), no. 35 (1999), p.33 (based on the eyewitness account of Michał Przygrodzki); Szczepan Siekierka, Henryk Komański, and Eugeniusz Różański. Ludobójstwo dokonane przez nacjonalistów ukraińskich na Polakach w województwie stanisławowskim 1939–1946 (Wrocław: Stowarzyszenie Upamiętnienia Ofiar Zbrodni Ukraińskich Nacjonalistów we Wrocławiu, 2008), 503–4. Franciszek Stopniak, “Katolickie duchowieństwo polskie i Żydzi w okresie okupacji hitlerowskiej,” Polskie podziemie polityczne wobec zagłady Żydów w czasie okupacji, Conference Papers, Warsaw, April 22, 1987 (Warszawa: Główna Komisja Badania Zbrodni Hitlerowskich w Polsce–Instytut Pamięci Narodowej and Polskie Jews in concert with the Home Army. The precise cause of his arrest is not known. 281 Towarzystwo “Sprawiedliwych wśród Narodów Świata,” 1988), at p.70, cites

[53] “Rev. Dominik Przyłuski, pastor of Garbów near Lublin, who died of a heart attack after his rectory was inspected by the Germans. The Jews hidden there were not found. For information concerning:

[54] “Father Maximilian [Maksymilian] Kolbe, who was arrested in February 1941 for, among other reasons, his protective care of over 1,500 Jewish refugees lodged in the Franciscan monastery in Niepokalanów and who was eventually put to death in Auschwitz on August 14, 1941—see Treece, A Man for Others, Maximilian Kolbe, Saint of Auschwitz, pp.91–93 and endnote 12

[55] “Rev. Józef Pawłowski, the rector of the Higher Seminary in Kielce (until November 1939) and pastor of the cathedral parish, who was arrested on February 10, 1941, for ministering to the faithful and extending aid to Jews and others. He was deported to Auschwitz and then to Dachau, where he was murdered on January 9, 1942—see Moroz and Datko, Męczennicy za wiarę 1939–1945, pp.102–104; “Biogramy 108 męczenników,” Głos Polski (Toronto), May 18–24, 1999

[56] “Rev. Jan Gielarowski, the pastor of Michałówka near Radymno, with the assistance of an elderly priest from a nearby village, provided false baptismal certificates to a number of Jews and sheltered Jews in the parish rectory. At least one of the Jews survived the war. Rev. Gielarowski was arrested by the Germans but did not give anyone away. He was deported to Auschwitz where he died in April 1943—see Władysław Smólski, ed., Za to groziła śmierć: Polacy z pomocą Żydom w czasie okupacji (Warszawa: Pax, 1981), pp.113–19; Martyrologium, volume 4, p.292; Stanisław Zygarowicz and Witold Jedynak, eds., Świadkowie wiary Diecezji Przemyskiej z lat 1939–1964 (Przemyśl, Wydawnictwo Archidiecezji Przemyskiej: 2001), pp.85–86, Jolanta Chodorska, ed., Godni synowie naszej Ojczyzny: Świadectwa nadesłane na apel Radia Maryja (Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Sióstr Loretanek, 2002), Part Two, pp.213–14; Pomoc Polaków dla ludności żydowskiej na Rzeszowszczyźnie 1939–1945 (Rzeszów: Instytut Pamięci Narodowej–Komisja Ścigania Zbrodni przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu, 2008), pp.77–78. According to a family source,

[57] “Rev. Paweł Szczygieł, the retired pastor of the parish of Jakubowice near Nowy Sącz, was arrested on April 14, 1942, for sneaking food into the ghetto in Nowy Sącz, which he used to visit under the pretext of caring for his parishioners. He was sent to Auschwitz concentration camp where he died on October 31, 1942. See Hanna Haska, “Poland’s Holocaust—żywi świadkowie historii, czyli 45-lecie ‘Kacetowców,’” Głos Polski (Toronto), January 19–25, 1999. Memoirs of Jewish survivors also contain additional examples of Polish priests who were believed to have been executed for their rescue efforts on behalf of Jews. Joseph Riwash, Resistance and Revenge 1939–1949 (Montreal: n.p., 1981), p.144, records that

[58] “a priest in Wołkołata in northeastern Poland, Rev. Romuald Dronicz, who, like many other priests in the area, fed and sheltered Jews, did not take advantage of an opportunity to escape, and was exexcuted by the Gestapo in July 1942. See also Zieliński, Życie religijne w Polsce pod okupacją 1939–1945, pp.23 and 44. According to the memoirs of Silverman, Smuschkowitz, and Smuszkowicz, From Victims to Victors, pp.246–47 and 325,

[59] & [60] “two priests from Ikaźń and Prozoroki were shot in a forest outside of Głębokie in northeastern Poland in March 1942 after being arrested for imploring their parishioners to assist Jews and not to take part in persecution directed against them. Written statements of Peter (Pejsach) Smuszkowicz, dated November 18–23 and November 20, 1993 (in the possession of the author) confirm this. See also Ariel Machnes and Rina Klinov, eds, Darkness and Desolation: In Memory of the communities of Braslaw, Dubene, Jaisi, Jod, Kislowszczizna, Okmienic, Opsa, Plusy, Rimszan, Slobodka, Zamosz, Zaracz (Tel Aviv: Association of Braslaw and 282 Surroundings in Israel and America and Ghetto Fighters’ House and Hakibbutz Hameuchad Publishing House, n.d.), pp.571 and 575. According to Polish sources, Rev. Władysław Maćkowiak, pastor of Ikaźń, and his vicar, Rev. Stanisław Pyrtek, were arrested in December 1941 for their ardent preaching and illegally teaching religion to children. They were detained in the jail in Brasław, and later in Głębokie, along with Rev. Mieczysław Bohatkiewicz, who was arrested in Dryssa in January 1942. All three of them were executed by the Germans on March 4, 1942, in Borek forest near Berezwecz, outside Głębokie. See Zieliński, Życie religijne w Polsce pod okupacją 1939–1945, pp.38–39, 58; Moroz and Datko, Męczennicy za wiarę 1939–1945, pp.9–18; Tadeusz Krahel, “Nasi Męczennicy,” Czas Miłosierdzia: Białostocki Biuletyn Kościelny, May 1999 and his “Błogosławieni Męczennicy z Berezwecza,” Czas Miłosierdzia: Białostocki Biuletyn Kościelny, March 2001. Another Jewish survivor, Wili Fink, mentions

[61] “an unidentified Polish priest in the Wilno area, “who paid with his life for those (birth) certificates given to Jews.” See Bartoszewski and Lewin, Righteous Among Nations, p.397. Francesca Bram (née Grochowska) recalls that

[62] “the village priest of Grodziec demonstrated tremendous compassion and organized community assistance for the Jews expelled from Konin to surrounding villages in the summer of 1940. According to her testimony, “The Germans sought an opportunity to arrest him, and this happened after he helped the Jews in Grodziec. Soon afterwards came news of his death.” See M. Gelbart, ed., Kehilat Konin be-Frihata u-ve Hurbana (The Community of Konin: Its Flowering and Destruction) (Tel Aviv: Association of Konin Jews in Israel, 1968), pp.526–27, as cited in Richmond, Konin, p.163. Yehudis Pshenitse of Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki recounts the story of

[63] “an unnamed parish priest from her town to whom she, as a young girl, turned to assistance after being separated from her family. Not only did the priest shelter her but also, after he was reported to the Germans, he refused to surrender her. Having been beaten mercilessly by the Germans and left to die, the priest had the young girl brought to him, blessed her, and implored his housekeeper to find a safe hiding place for her. He died in her presence. “His body was pierced in several places, and his face was unrecognizable.” See Kugelmass and Boyarin, From A Ruined Garden, pp.177–78. The Grajewo Memorial Book mentions

[64] “Rev. Aleksander Pęza of Grajewo, who “tirelessly” called on the Christian population, at the daily masses, not to cooperate with the Germans and their anti-Semitic provocations. When word of this reached the Germans, he was shot. See George Gorin, ed., Grayever yizker-bukh (Grayevo Memorial Book) (New York: United Brayever Relief Committee, 1950), pp. xxxii–xxxiii. Witold Jemielity gives the date of Rev. Pęza’s execution as July 15, 1941—see Witold Jemielity, “Martyrologia księży diecezji łomżyńskiej 1939–1945,” Rozporządzenia Urzędowe Łomżyńskiej Kurii Diecezjalnej, no. 8–9 (1974): p.53; whereas Martyrologium, volume 2, p.184 gives the date as August 15, 1943. Another source of danger for priests, and Poles in general, who assisted Jews in Poland’s southeastern provinces, were the activities of Ukrainian nationalists who waged a campaign of ethnic cleansing aimed at the nonUkrainian elements, particularly the Poles and the Jews. A case in point is Rev. Błażej Nowosad (supra [27]), who was murdered in Potok Górny near Tomaszów Lubelski. Similar examples are cited by Edward Prus, Holocaust po banderowsku: Czy Żydzi byli w UPA? (Wrocław: Nortom, 1995), pp.148 and 150:

[65] “Rev. Antoni Wierzbowski of Bybło (Rohatyn county, voivodship of Stanisławów) was murdered by Ukrainian nationalists in November 1943 along with a schoolteacher after refusing to betray the whereabouts of five Jews hidden in a shelter—see also Urszula Przybyła, “Pamięci tych, co rozdawali miłość,” Słowo–Dziennik Katolicki (Warsaw), November 28, 1995

[66] “Rev. Andrzej Kraśnicki from Jazłowiec (Buczacz county, voivodship of Tarnopol) was tortured, abducted, 283 and killed by Ukrainian nationalists in December 1943 killed for refusing to break his confessional vow and reveal information about parishioners who were sheltering Jews

[67] “When the Gestapo took a group of Jews from Kolno through the village of Borkowo near Łomża on July 9, 1941, the housekeeper rang the church bell to announce the morning mass. Believing this to have been done as a sign of solidarity with the Jewish prisoners passing near the church, they arrested the pastor, Rev. Stanisław Rejmentowski, and his housekeeper. They disappeared without a trace and were likely executed in a nearby forest. See Stanisław Łukomski, “Wspomnienia,” in Rozporządzenia urzędowe Łomżyńskiej Kurii Diecezjalnej, no. 5–7 (May–July) 1974: p.62; Witold Jemielity, “Martyrologium księzy diecezji łomżyńskiej 1939–1945,” in Rozporządzenia urzędowe Łomżyńskiej Kurii Diecezjalnej, no. 8–9 (August-September) 1974: p.55; Jan Żaryn, “Przez pomyłkę: Ziemia łomżyńska w latach 1939–1945. Rozmowa z ks. Kazimierzem Łupińskim z parafii Szumowo,” Biuletyn Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej, no. 8–9 (September–October 2002): pp.112–17. Relying on Soviet and Jewish sources, Israeli historian Leonid Smilovitskii (Smilovitsky) has confirmed that the Germans executed priests in a number of towns of northeastern Poland for helping Jews (Brasław, Brześć, Grodno, Wilejka, Mołodeczno, and Pińsk), and mentions some of those priests by name:

[68] “Rev. Mieczysław Kubik, the dean and pastor of Nieśwież (formerly rector of the church of the Transfiguration of Our Lord in Nowogródek),

[69] “Rev. Michał Dalecki, the dean and pastor of Nowogródek,

[70] “Rev. Tadeusz Grzesiak, the pastor of Kleck, as well as the aforementioned Rev. Władysław Grobelny (of Kobryń) [supra 11], Rev. Józef Kuczyński (of Wsielub) [supra 38], Rev. Fabian Poczobutt-Odlanicki (of Łuniniec) [supra 17], Rev. Jan Urbanowicz (of Brześć) [supra 5], and others. See Leonid Smilovitskii, Katastrofa evreev v Belorussii 1941–1944 gg. (Tel Aviv: Biblioteka Matveia Chernogo, 2000), p.132. Another priest identified by Smilovitskii as having helped Jewish partisans is Rev. Aleksander Hanusewicz of Raków. According to Polish sources, Rev. Kubik, the dean and pastor of Nieśwież, was executed in Baranowicze in 1942 for contacts with partisans and for assisting Jews. See Zieliński, Życie religijne w Polsce pod okupacją 1939– 1945, p.84; Laryssa Michajlik, “‘Sąsiedzi’ obok ‘sąsiadów’? Ratowanie Żydów przez chrześcijan na terytorium Białorusi w latach 1941–1944,” in Krzysztof Jasiewicz, ed., Świat niepożegnany: Żydzi na dawnych ziemiach wschodnich Rzeczypospolitej w XVIII–XX wieku (Warsaw and London: Instytut Studiów Politycznych PAN, Rytm, and Polonia Aid Foundation Trust, 2004), p.737. This information is also confirmed by Józef Halperin, who was imprisoned with Rev. Kubik in Baranowicze. See Józef Halperin, Ludzie są wszędzie (Warsaw: ASPRA-JR, 2002), p.173.

[71] “Rev. Aleksander Ciszkiewicz, rector of an auxiliary church in the parish of Niedźwiedzica (Pińsk diocese), was arrested by the Belorussian police during a hunt for Jews and handed over to the Gestapo. He was executed in Hult 1942 near Nieśwież. Ibid. (Michajlik in Jasiewicz), p.735.

[72] “Rev. Zygmunt Milkowski, pastor of Wiszniew, was arrested for helping Jews and perished in the jail in Wołożyn in 1943. Ibid. (Michajlik in Jasiewicz), pp.736–77.

[73] “Rev. Antoni Udalski, formerly the pastor of Wołożyn, was arrested in Soleczniki Wielkie near Wilno by the Lithuanian police in mid–1942 for helping Jews. He agreed to baptize a child born to a Jewish mother and a Polish father named Dratwicki, which led the arrest and execution of the priest and godparents. Rev. Udalski was put to death in Wołożyn in 1943. Ibid. (Michajlik in Jasiewicz), p.737; Tadeusz Krahel, “Ksiądz Antoni Udalski: Zginął za ratowanie Żydów,” W służbie Miłosierzia (Białystok), no. 4 (April 2007).

[74] “Lily Fenster, who passed as a Christian, describes the execution of a priest she witnessed in Łuków for the crime of helping Jews. (Testimony of Lily Fenster, November 8 and 10, 1994, Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive, University of Michigan at Dearborn, Internet: 284.)

Not all of the cases cited can be definitively confirmed as having been the victims of German repression solely for helping Jews. Often there was more than one reason for a priest’s arrest and execution. In these instances, although the exact charge levelled by the Germans may not have been known, the priest in question was known to have been active in rendering assistance to Jews. In some cases, the names of the priests in question have been forgotten. (These incidents are usually based on the recollection of Jews recorded many years after the fact.) Furthermore, not all of these cases have been confirmed or recorded in Wiktor Jacewicz and Jan Woś’s monumental register of members of the Polish clergy killed during the German occupation, Martyrologium polskiego duchowieństwa rzymskokatolickiego pod okupacją hitlerowską w latach 1939–1945, 5 volumes (Warszawa: Akademia Teologii Katolickiej, 1977–1981).

Polish Nuns Recognized by Yad Vashem

1. Irena Adamek (Sister Małgorzata, Dominican Sister, Kolonia Wileńska near Wilno) Dominican Sisters Convent in Kolonia Wilenska (near Vilna), Poland

See also Mother Superior Anna Borkowska* (Krytyna Bykowska), Roszak Cecylia Maria, Neugebauer Imelda, Bednarska Stefania, Frackiewicz Helena-Diana

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

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

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004. P.108

2. Euzebia Bartkowiak (Sister of the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ, 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.

3. Stanisława Bednarska (Sister Stefania, Dominican Sister, Kolonia Wileńska near Wilno) Dominican Sisters Convent in Kolonia Wilenska (near Vilna), Poland

See also Mother Superior Anna Borkowska* (Krytyna Bykowska), Roszak Cecylia Maria, Neugebauer Imelda, Adamek Malgorzata, Frackiewicz Helena-Diana

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004. P.108

4. Irena Bielawska (Mother Superior Maria Honorata, Felician Sister, Przemyśl

Benedictine Convent, Przemysl, Poland

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

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

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

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004. P.89

5. Anna Borkowska (Sister Bertranda, Dominican Sister, Kolonia Wileńska near Wilno) Dominican Sisters Convent in Kolonia Wilenska (near Vilna), Poland

Mother Superior Anna Borkowska* (Krytyna Bykowska)

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

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

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004. P.108

6. Krystyna Bykowska (Sister of St. Elizabeth, Otwock)

Garczyńska, Wanda (Sister) Otwock Convent Orphange

See also Małkiewicz, Ludwika (Sister) and 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.

Chaste Sisters Nunnery in Warsaw, see “Sister Wanda Garczyńska

Cygler, Władysława see Małkiewicz, Ludwika (Sister) and Bykowska, Krystyna (Sister) Otwock Convent Orphange and Magdalena Grodzka-Guzkowska

7. Genowefa Czubak (formerly Sister Dolorosa, Missionary Sister of the Holy Family, Prużana)

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.

8. Aleksandra Drzewiecka (Wilno)

Drzewecka, Aleksandra see also Burlingis, Wiktoria Burlingis, Paweł

On January 7, 1942, following their deportation to the Vilna ghetto, a daughter was born to David and Leah Gitelman. As the parents assumed that she was the first baby to be born in the ghetto, they gave her a symbolic name, Getele – subsequently changed to Rina Katav. The couple managed to survive with the infant despite the frequent Aktionen. A few days before the ghetto’s final liquidation in September 1943, the Gitelmans were transferred with a group of ghetto inmates to a labor camp known as H.K.P. As David was an engineer, he left the confines of the camp from time to time, and one day he became acquainted with a Polish woman, Wiktoria Burlingis, and her Lithuanian husband, Paweł. The Gitelmans managed to conceal their daughter during the many “selections” that were held in the camp, but it became increasingly clear to them that in view of the great danger to the infant, she would have to be smuggled out. David appealed to Wiktoria for help, and although the child spoke only Yiddish, she agreed to shelter her. Getele was removed from the ghetto fast asleep inside a sack, and left at the Burlingises’ home. The couple decided to look for a safe hideout for the little girl once they had taught her Polish, and they contacted a Polish nun by the name of Aleksandra Drzewecka, who was already looking after a Jewish boy. She took in Getele, while the Gitelmans prepared a hiding place for themselves in the camp.

With the approach of the Russian front, the Germans began to liquidate the camp inmates. David and Leah succeeded in escaping, however, and they took refuge with Wiktoria and Paweł. As the battle for Vilna intensified, they hastened to remove their daughter from Aleksandra’s care and returned with her to the Burlingises’ apartment, where they remained until the fighting was over. After the war, the Gitelmans lost touch with Wiktoria and Paweł, but remained in contact with Aleksandra, to whom they sent money, medicines and food parcels in gratitude for her courage.

On November 3, 1992, Yad Vashem recognized Wiktoria and Paweł Burlingis and Aleksandra Drzewecka as Righteous Among the Nations. File 5510/1

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

9. Eugenia (Sister Alfonsa) Convent of the Sacred Heart (Ochronka im. Swietogo Serca) in Przemysl

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

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

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

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

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

10. Helena Frąckiewicz (Sister Diana, Dominican Sister, Kolonia Wileńska near Wilno) Dominican Sisters Convent in Kolonia Wilenska (near Vilna), Poland

See also Mother Superior Anna Borkowska* (Krytyna Bykowska), Roszak Cecylia Maria, Neugebauer Imelda, Bednarska Stefania, Adamek Malgorzata,

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004. P. 108

12. Klara Furmanik, Maria Siostr Nazaretanek” (Nazarene Sisters) in Laski Warszawskie, Waraw, Poland

Klara Furmanik

“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.

13. Bronisława Galus (Sister Róża, Sister Servant of the Blessed Virgin Mary Immaculately Conceived, Turkowice near Hrubieszów) 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.

14. Wanda Garczyńska (Sister Wanda, Sister of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Warsaw) 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.

15. Matylda Getter (Mother Matylda, Franciscan Sister of the Family of Mary, Warsaw) 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

16. Maria Stefania Górska (Sister Andrzeja, Ursuline Sister of the Agonizing Heart of Jesus, Warsaw) Convent of the Immaculate Sisters (Siostry Niepokalanki), Warsaw, Poland

Sister Maria Gorska

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

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

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

17. Anna Grenda (Sister Ligoria, Sister Servant of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Przemyśl) Convent of the Sacred Heart (Ochronka im. Swietogo Serca) in Przemysl

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

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

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

18. Bronisława Hryniewicz (Mother Beata, Daughter of the Purest Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Skórzec near Siedlce) Dom Serca Jesusowego Convent, Skorzec Village, Siedlce Region (east of Warsaw), Poland

Mother Superior Bronislawa Beta Hryniewicz see also Sister Stanislawa Jozwikowska

“Jóźwikowska, Stanisława
Hryniewicz, Beata-Bronisława

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

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

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

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

19. Jankowska Kornelia (Sister Kornelia) Holy Name of Jesus Convent in Suchedniow.

See also Kaczyńska, Maria, Talikowski, Roman,

“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.

20. Klara Jaroszyńska (Sister Klara, Franciscan Sister Servant of the Cross, Laski near Warsaw)

Jaroszyńska, Klara

See also Jaroszyński, Józef; Jaroszyńska, Halina; 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 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.

21. Stanisława Jóźwikowska (Sister Stanisława, Daughter of the Purest Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Skórzec near Siedlce) Dom Serca Jesusowego Convent, Skorzec Village, Siedlce Region (east of Warsaw), Poland

Sister Stanislawa Jozwikowska see also Mother Superior Bronislawa Beta Hryniewicz

“Jóźwikowska, Stanisława
Hryniewicz, Beata-Bronisława

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

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

22. Leokadia Juśkiewicz (Sister Longina, Sister Servant of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Przemyśl) Convent of the Sacred Heart (Ochronka im. Swietogo Serca) in Przemysl

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

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

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

Sister Kantalicja see Zagrodzka, Julia

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

See Kierocińska Teresa-Janina

23. Janina Kierocińska (Mother Teresa, Carmelite Sister of the Infant Jesus, Sosnowiec) 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.

24. Aniela Kotowska (Sister Klara, Felician Sister, Przemyśl)

Benedictine Convent, Przemysl, Poland

Kotowska, Aniela (Sister Klara) see also Bielawska, Irena (Sister Honorata)

Złamal, Bożena

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

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004.p.89

25. Bogumiła Makowska (Sister Zofia, Franciscan Missionary Sister of Mary, Zamość)

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.

26. Ludwika Małkiewicz (Sister of St. Elizabeth, Otwock) Otwock Convent Orphange

Sister Ludwika Malkiewicz* see also Małkiewicz, Ludwika (Sister), Bykowska, Krystyna (Sister) Cygler, Władysława

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.

Bishop Albin Malysiak* see Ursuline Sisters (Siostry Vrszulanki Szare), Warsaw-Powisle, Poland, and provincial convents

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

27. Antonina Manaszczuk (Sister Irena, Sister Servant of the Blessed Virgin Mary Immaculately Conceived Convent, Turkowice near Hrubieszów)

See also Polechajłło, Aniela (Sister Stanisława) and Romansewicz, Józefa (Sister Hermana)

Manaszczuk, Antonina (Sister Irena)

“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.

28. Stanisława Marciniak (Sister Gertruda, Mother Superior, Sister of St. Elizabeth, Otwock) Convent in Otwok (near Warsaw) see Otwock convent orphanage Elżbiety) see also Gertruda Marciniak (Sister Gertruda), Marchlewicz Bronisław, Szpakowska, Aleksandra

Gertruda Marciniak*

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

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

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

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

29. Julia Michrowska (Sister Bernadeta, Dominican Sister, Kolonia Wileńska near Wilno) 26. Maria Mikulska (Benedictine Sister, Wilno)

30. Joanna Mistera (Sister of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, Ignaców near Mińsk Mazowiecki) St. Anthony’s Convent (Świętego Antoniego) in the village of Ignaców

Mistera, Joanna see also Reszko, Marianna

“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.

31. Maria Neugebauer (Sister Imelda, Dominican Sister, Kolonia Wileńska near Wilno) Dominican Sisters Convent in Kolonia Wilenska (near Vilna), Poland

See also Mother Superior Anna Borkowska* (Krytyna Bykowska), Roszak Cecylia Maria, Bednarska Stefania, Adamek Malgorzata, Frackiewicz Helena-Diana

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004. P.108

32. Maria Ostreyko (Sister Jordana, Dominican Sister, Kolonia Wileńska near Wilno) Dominican Sisters Convent in Kolonia Wilenska (near Vilna), Poland

See also Mother Superior Anna Borkowska* (Krytyna Bykowska), Roszak Cecylia Maria, Neugebauer Imelda, Bednarska Stefania, Adamek Malgorzata, Frackiewicz Helena-Diana

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

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004. P.108

Albertine Convent, Częstochowa
Rylski, Mieczysław
Pawłowska, Józefa Sister Vita

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

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

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

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

33. Maria Pietkiewicz (Sister of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, Kamionek in Warsaw) 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.

34. Aniela Polechajłło (Sister Stanisława, Sister Servant of the Blessed Virgin Mary Immaculately Conceived, Turkowice near Hrubieszów) see also Manaszczuk, Antonina (Sister Irena) and Romansewicz, Józefa (Sister Hermana)

Polechajłło, Aniela (Sister Stanisława)

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

35. Johanna Reiter (Sister Zygmunta, Felician Sister, Wawer near Warsaw)

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.

36. Marianna Reszko (Sister of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, Ignaców near Mińsk Mazowiecki) St. Anthony’s Convent (Świętego Antoniego) in the village of Ignaców,

Reszko, Marianna see also Mistera, Joanna

“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.

37. Józefa Romansewicz (Sister Hermana, Sister Servant of the Blessed Virgin Mary Immaculately Conceived Convent, Turkowice near Hrubieszów) see also

Polechajłło, Aniela (Sister Stanisława) and Manaszczuk, Antonina (Sister Irena)

Romansewicz, Józefa (Sister Hermana)

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

38. Rosolinska, Adela (Sister Serafia) Holy Name of Jesus Convent in Suchedniow.

See also Kaczyńska, Maria, Talikowski, Roman, Jankowska Kornelia (Sister Kornelia)

“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.

39. Maria Janina Roszak (Sister Cecylia, Dominican Sister, Kolonia Wileńska near Wilno) Dominican Sisters Convent in Kolonia Wilenska (near Vilna), Poland

See also Mother Superior Anna Borkowska* (Krytyna Bykowska), Neugebauer Imelda, Bednarska Stefania, Adamek Malgorzata, Frackiewicz Helena-Diana

Gutman, Israel (Editor-in-Chief), and Sara Bender (Associate Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations, Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004. P.108

40. Rozalia Domicella Sidełko (Sister Bernarda, Sister Servant of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Przemyśl, Convent of the Sacred Heart (Ochronka im. Swietogo Serca) in Przemysl)

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

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

41. Julia Sosnowska (Sister of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, Ignaców near Mińsk Mazowiecki)

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.

42. Roman Talikowski, see Rosolinska, Adela (Sister Serafia) Jankowska Kornelia (Sister Kornelia)

Talikowski, Roman

See also Rosolinska, Adela (Sister Serafia) Jankowska Kornelia (Sister Kornelia) Kaczyńska, Maria

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 POW’s 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.

43. 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.

44. Eugenia Wąsowska-Renot (formerly Sister Alfonsa, Sister Servant of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Przemyśl) Convent of the Sacred Heart (Ochronka im. Swietogo Serca) in Przemysl

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

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

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

45. Bronisława Wilemska (Sister of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, Kraków and Szczawnica)

Wilemska, Bronisława see also Małysiak, Albin see also

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.

46. Julia Zagrodzka, Felician Convent, Lwów (today Lviv),

Zagrodzka, Julia (Sister Kantalicja)

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

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

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

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

Bożena Złamal, see Bielawska, Irena (Sister Honorata) Kotowska, Aniela (Sister Klara), Benedictine Convent, Przemysl, Poland

47. Helena Zienowicz (Sister of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Wilno)

Zienowicz, Helena

See also Kukolewski, Jan and Kukolewska, Zofia

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

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

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

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

Sister Zygmunta, Felician Sister, Wawer near Warsaw see Johanna Reiter

Updated November 7, 2021

Church Rescue in Poland - Part 1

PART 1 - See Below

PART 2PART 3

See Also Rescue by Religious Organizations

Catholic Clergy Murdered by the Germans for Assisting Jews

Polish Nuns Recognized by Yad Vashem

PART 2

PART 3