| ZABAWSKI, Teofila
ZABAWSKI, Marek, son ZABIERZOWSKI-KRYSTIAN, Katarzyna see KRYSTIAN-ZABIERZOWSKI, K. ZABILSKI, Wladyslaw (1901-) Wladyslaw lived in Tarnopol
and was active in the underground. For ten months, till the "liberation"
he harbored the Nadler family from the same town: Majer, Szymon and Lorka.
See: Grynberg, op. cit.
ZABLOCKI, Stanislaw (not
related)
ZADROZNY-PASTERNAK, Zofia (1908-) (not related) Zofia lived in Tarnopol. Augusta Reitman wrote in her statement from 1960: "In July 1943, after the liquidation of the Tarnopol ghetto. I managed to get out from it by sewers to the "Aryan" side. I reached, in an inhuman state, the apartment of Zofia Zadrozny, now Pasternak, a miniscule room and kitchen. The furniture consisted of a bed, a decaying cupboard, a table and two chairs. At the risk of her life and of that of her child's she took me in and cared for me during the day I stayed in the cupboard, and at night she shared the bed with me. She was a very poor woman, who shared with me the last peace of bread in such conditions she suffered me till April 1944, until the liberation". See: Grynberg, op. cit. ZADWORNY, Jan
ZAGORSKI, Jerzy
The Zagorskis with their three children resided in Bielany (suburb of Warsaw). Eighteen (18) people of Jewish descent passed by their apartment. Among them was the poet Tadeusz Holender and Mrs. Kott from 1942 till the Warsaw Uprising (1944). She came from Lvov and was given the document of Maria's sister-in-law. A thirteen years old boy, Janek Wilk, was presented to neighbors as Maria's nephew, although he looked very Semitic. Danuta Grossfeld also spent some months in their home. The Tenenbaums (three persons) found refuge there after fleeing the ghetto. The father-inn-law, Kitel, was all stained by blood of his wife shot during that escape. People started to talk that the Zagorskis harbor Jews. The Zagorskis placed the boy and Tadeusz Holender with Mrs. Zolotarew. Jerzy and Maria fought in the Warsaw Uprising in different units. She returned to Warsaw in 1945 and found their apartment completely ruined. Contacts with Maria maintain Mrs. Kott from the United States and Janek Wilk from Germany. See: Lukas, Out of the Inferno, op. cit. ZAGORSKI, Waclaw, writer (not related) In his book "Wolnosc w Niewoli" (Freedom in Slavery) published in 1968 he wrote how he went about to procure "Aryan" documents for Jews. He had a large percentage of Jews in his underground socialist organization "Wolnosc" (Freedom). These documents became necessary in the eastern territories already in spring of 1940. He got them by an understanding with the representatives of the Chief Command of ZWZ (Zwiazek Walki Zbrojnej, i.e union of armed struggle), which later became the AK (Home Army). They took many such authentic documents in blanco, with pre-war signatures and seals, from Warsaw (after its capitulation to the Germans in early October 1939). The actress Jadwiga Nowakowski, alias Jaga Boryta, was the liaison officer who took from Waclaw the photographs and the fictional data to a special "box" and returned them completed in 2 days. They were necessary also for the families of Jews involved in the underground. It was not always easy. When the photographs began showing more and more Semitic faces, the Chief Command refused them, fearing that the entire process would be compromised. Waclaw overcame these difficulties showing them such a photograph that was refused and giving them the true name of the person represented on it, the wife of the famous historian, Szymon Askenazy (of Jewish extraction). This convinced them. He got most of these false documents between August and September 1943. Then the documents predating the war were invalidated and Germans required the Kennkarte in duplicate, based on a birth certificate, beside the Polish prewar identity documents. Many parish priests issued birth certificates from the parish books, for people deceased, removing from them the entries relating to their death. Before the German attack on Soviet Russia on June 22, 1941, many such certificates were issued as if coming from the eastern territories, which were under the Soviet control, since September 17, 1939. Some priests had documents in blanco not giving the location of the parish or escaped to the west with their sets of seals. These documents, prepared by underground cells, were done with great perfection. Some other people produced false documents for profit, but these usually were of very poor quality and did not protect the bearer. See: Bartoszewski & Lewin, op. cit. ZAHACZEWSKI, Stanislawa,
see LANGER, Mrs., mother
ZAJAC, Feliks (not related)
ZAJAC, Jozef (another one,
not related)
Jozef, a prewar officer of the Polish Army and member of the AK and his wife took into their home and kept until the end of the war the girl Chawiwa Burst, whose entire family was murdered and who roamed for two years looking for a shelter. The couple was honored as "Righteous" on May 6, 1999 in Lublin, as announced the Israeli Embassy in Poland. ZAJAC, Julian (not related)
ZAJACZKOWSKI, Bronislaw (not
related)
ZAJACZKOWSKI, Piotr (1903-)
(not related)
The family with four children resided in Przemysl. In 1942 they were asked to extract from the Drohobycz ghetto Felicja Adieren, a pharmacist and Dr. Jozef Blam, a physician. Maria and Krystyna went to Drohobycz and after many difficulties managed to extricate the above-mentioned people and bring them to Przemysl. At first they placed them with relatives in the village of Buszkowice, but this being not safe enough, they brought them home. They prepared two hideouts: one in the corridor under the stairs, the other in the kitchen. The Jews stayed in them only in moments of danger, two years until the end of the war. Everybody in the house had some task to fulfill. In order to feed eight (8) persons the parents bought food even from Germans, who came to the apartment. That gave them some alibi that they have nothing to hide. They also planned to get out of the ghetto the daughter of Felicja Adieren, but she was taken to en extermination camp before they could rescue her. Felicja remained in Przemysl and died in 1964. Dr. Blam wrote in 1988 to the ZIH (Jewish Historical Institute) from the USA that Maria came for him and for his betrothed to Drohobycz, but she had been taken away before that. Instead, her mother, Felicja was rescued. The help of that family lasted from Nov. 3, 1942 till May 1945 and was completely selfless. The children stayed always on guard. He remembered that when he asked Jozef the boy (13) if he would not tell somebody if asked about them, Jozef replied: "I am a Pole. I will not betray. You are our family." See: Grynberg, op. cit. ZAJACZKOWSKI, Regina (not
related)
The certificate of "Righteous among the Nations" dated June 27, 1985 and photographs of members of the family appear in the book by Dr. Waclaw Zajaczkowski, "Martyrs of Charity". Washington, D. C., St. Maximilian Kolbe Foundation, 1988. Regina Zajaczkowski, with the permission of her son-in-law, Ludwik Janiak, sheltered in his house in Wlodzimierz, in Wohlinia a Jewish woman, Irena F. with her baby. But Irena betrayed to the Soviet secret police a unit of the AK. Ludwik and four of his pals from it were deported for forced labor to Siberia. He returned from it three years later, all swollen from malnutrition, and soon died of it. His mother, Regina, remained in Russia just to educate the baby of Irena F., Ania and bring the girl to Poland. She died of a heart attack. Irena F. with her daughter, Ania went to Israel, but none showed up at the ceremony of tree planting in the "Alley of the Just" at Yad Vashem by the author of the book mentioned above in honor of his family. His sister, Maria Janiak died the very same day. ZAJACZKOWSKI, Zofia (not related) Zofia lived im Cracow, with her mother, her little daughter, Gabi and two unmarried sisters. Her husband, officer in the Polish Army, had been shot at Katyn by the Soviets in the spring of 1940, one of ca. 22,000 Polish officers POW, so murdered. From March 1942 until January 1945, for almost three years, she hid a little girl, Christine M. (5) on the demand of her well-to-do parents. When the money paid for her upkeep ran out, Zofia continued to care for that girl. Christine, now married, mother of two sons wrote in 1997 from the USA: "I'm sure there was anti-Semitism in Poland, in Krakow (Cracow). Much about that has been written and discussed, but I must say that my personal experience and that of my parents was quite the opposite. The people with whom we were in direct contact during the war were anything but. First of all there were the three families who hid us: my mother, my father and me by three different families in three different homes. We owe them our lives. Then there were the workers in my grandfather's factory, all Gentiles, who played a crucial part in our survival. They found the three families on the same street on which the factory was located. During the war one of these workers accompanied my mother to the site where her father had buried some gold coins, Krugerrands, which were essential to our survival. Later on, this man would go there by himself and bring my mother the money. Every time he did it, he risked his life and it would have been very easy for him to disappear with the money. There was no law to which we could appeal. It seems that my grandfather was a kind, generous boss and that maybe why those who worked for him were eager to help. The family who sheltered me was very decent and hard-working one. They were observant Catholics and I remember going with them to church. I was 'passing' as Gaby's Gentile cousin..." Christine and Gaby were reunited in 1994 for several months. Gabi filled her on details of their life together during the war, when Christine saw her father rarely, but her mother quite often. "She would come every Sunday and take us to our old apartment. A German officer occupied now that apartment, but not on Sundays. She gave us our weekly bath, a luxury we did not have at Gabi's home". Christine relates how once she had to hide under the sofa infested by lice on which Zofia's friends sat when visiting her. That was not as bad as when the Gestapo came to call. They used often do house searches, sudden, unannounced, terrifying, called "Aktion" in which they were looking for anything or anyone suspicious. "When the Russians entered Cracow my parents offered them a part of their apartment. Soon a horse was stabled in our living room and our beautiful furniture had been chopped up and used for firewood." This account comes from a letter to this researcher from Gabi, with a photograph, of her with Christine standing between her husband and her father in one loving family group. ZAKRZEWSKI, Franciszek
ZALESKI, Helena Yad Vashem recognized Helena as "Righteous" for saving Celina L., who lives now in Canada. The letter announcing it is dated from Nov. 20, 1995. Case No. 6785. ZALESKI, Jozefa (not related) ZALESKI, Maria (not related)
ZALEWSKI, Jozef (not related)
ZALWOWSKI, Franciszek (1887-1966)
The Zalwowskis farmed at Zbaraz, Tarnopol prov. They had five sons. In June 1943 the Germans liquidated the Zbaraz ghetto, deporting some Jews to Belzec, killing others on the spot. Michal Zamojre and Izaak Kornberg, escaped from the massacre and the deportation and came to the Zalwowkis for help. The latter made a hideout in the pigsty, with an exit outside the farm buildings. Stanislaw brought the Altscher couple with a newborn baby into his home. Stanislaw and Michal took the baby to the Sisters telling them that they found it. Tekla discovered in the bushes two girls (8-10) crying bitterly. Their mother had been killed in an "Aktion". The girls were placed with Franciszek's sister, Maria Kozak. All the fugitives survived. In 1944 the Altschers recovered their daughter from the Sisters. Maria Kozak and the Sisters do not seem to be recognized. See Grynberg, op. cit. ZALWOWSKI, Maria (not related) ZALUSKI, Karolina
Karolina and Lidia resided in Lvov. From 1942 till 1944 they harbored seven (7) persons of Jewish extraction, including three (3) children. In their apartment they kept Grzegorz and Dora Wiernik and the others in an apartment rented under the name of Maria Kulik (q.v.) with her permission. They were beside the Wierniks: Herman Fuchs, Gizela Gruenbaum, Adam Landsberg, Roma Raps and Anita Teitelbaum. Karolina and Lidia brought them food there and cared for them in a systematic way. They did not take any payment for it and did it just from religious and humanitarian motives. All the Jews survived. Herman Fuchs and the Wierniks died after the war in Poland, the others went to Israel. See: Grynberg, op. cit. ZAMBRUSZKI (ZAMBRUSKI?) Halina
see ABRAMOWA-MANDEL, Tatiana, mother
ZAORSKI-KRAWCZYK, Zofia (1922-) Zofia lived in Warsaw and occasionally in Anin. In the spring of 1943 she got the Fersztending couple, Rachela and Abraham Hersz, out of the ghetto. She placed them with her aunt, a Mrs. Wojtysiak, and later in a house rented in Anin. She got false Kennkarten for them. Because of a denunciation she moved them back to Warsaw to her relatives and later to a rented apartment. Abraham Hersz was murdered with other patients in the Wolski hospital in September 1944. His wife and son, Bernard, survived. Bernard had not gone into the ghetto. Later (under the name of Krawczyk) he married Zofia. As result of her war experiences, Zofia is today a complete invalid. See: Grynberg, op. cit. ZAPIOR, Tadeusz
ZAREMBA-KONTOWICZ, Maria
(not related) see KONTOWICZ-ZAREMBA, M
ZARZYCKI, Janusz, General (not related) ZARZYCKI, Wladyslaw (not
related)
ZAWADA, Rudolf (1898-1985)
The Zawadas lived in the village of Siemianowka, near Lvov. Rudolf was a lineman and his son worked in the gypsum factory at Szczerzec. Rudolf employed Jews. Edward protected the workers in the factory from the new German manager, Klotz. They cared particularly for the Akerman family, who had escaped from Cracow to Lvov. In 1943 Karol Akerman was put into the Drohobycz ghetto, but escaped and benefited from Zawada's help again, staying there with his wife and receiving food till 1944. Other Jews benefited also from Zawadas' help: Adolf Kandel and Leon Schmorak, the owner of the gypsum factory. On July 29, 1985 Prof. Karol Akerman testified before the ZIH (Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw) to all the facts mentioned above, with the addition that all that help had been totally disinterested. See: Grynberg, op. cit. ZAWADKA, Andrzej
ZAWADZKI, Boleslaw Boleslaw Zawadzki, from the village of Klarysew, is mentioned among many other Poles who harbored for over three years a Jewish woman, Fela Rotszajn from Jeziorny. Fela wrote to the paper "Trybuna Ludu" that she thanks heartily the following good people who at the risk of their lives sheltered, fed and cared for her: Wojciech, Dominik from Leg, Edmund Komorowski from Konstancin, the priest Antoni Konieczny from Slomczyn, Kazimierz Wandel from Leg, Wladyslaw Moskalewicz, Stanislawa Suchecki, Wladyslaw Zdunczyk, all three from Slomczyn, Andrzej Rossman and a certain Kornelli from Bielawa, Jerzy Mrowka and Zbigniew Kepka, both from Mirkowa. It seems that none of them, beside Boleslaw, has been recognized as "Righteous". See: Wronski and Zwolakowa, op. cit. ZAWADZKI, Franciszek (not related) ZAWADZKI, Konstancja (not
related)
ZAWADZKI, Olga, born BOCHENSKI (not related) Olga harbored on her estate Czuszowo, near Proszowice, Cracow prov., her Jewish schoolmate of very Semitic features. That girl left after the war for Israel. The written statement by Maria Pruszynski is in possession of this researcher. ZAWADZKI, Sabina, (not related)
Yad Vashem in 1988 recognized Sabina and Irena as "Righteous among the Nations". The letter announcing it is dated: April 11, 1990. Case No 3858. ZAWADZKI, Zofia, born GRYCEWICZ (not related) Zofia, originally from Vilna, lived during the occupation with her 20 years old student son in Warsaw. She met the Jewish Dr. Zofia Herzog. The latter had escaped from the ghetto in July 1942 and came to Zofia explaining her desperate situation. Zofia, although with some hesitation, took her and her husband Jakub in. A German poster announcing the death penalty for harboring Jews was posted on her building. The Herzogs had false "Kennkarten" under fictitious names. Zofia presented the Herzogs to the neighbors as relatives who escaped from Wielkopolska (western province incorporated into the Third Reich). Already in 1948 the Herzogs sent a statement from Italy, saying that they had escaped from the Warsaw ghetto on August 12, 1942. They wrote that after a day of searching for shelter, they were received by Zofia, who gave them one room of her three room apartment; also that she got for them new "Kennkarten" and "Arbeitskarten" (certificate of work) and all the time she cared for them with total disinterestedness. They wrote that they owe their lives exclusively to Zofia, who acted only from her good heart and her kindness, which they will never forget. See: Grynberg, op. cit. ZAWER, Florian
ZBOROWICZ, Mieczyslaw alias GAJOWY (1916-1991) "Gajowy" took part in the September 1939 campaign, was wounded and after leaving the hospital worked in Warsaw in the Radio and Telecommunication Offices under German control. He was in the ZWZ (later AK). During the Ghetto Uprising, on April 19, 1943, under the command of captain Chwacki, he took part in the attempt to open a hole in the ghetto wall around the streets Bonifraterska and Sapiezynska, by use of mines, facilitating thus the escape to the Jews. Two German soldiers and two blue policemen perished in this fight. Two AK men, Jozef Wilk and Eugeniusz Morawski were also killed. See: Bartoszewski & Lewin, op. cit., Grynberg, op. cit. ZBOWID-LANGIEWICZ, Maria
see LANGIEWICZ, Jan Michal, husband
ZBYSZ, Wladyslaw
This story comes from a handwritten letter to this researcher by Danuta B., dated Aug. 15, 1993. Wladyslaw Zbysz was a retired blue policeman in Warsaw, who, with his wife Stanislawa, occupied one room in the back building, the front of which was a police station. In the corridor the couple had a small kitchen stove. At the end of the corridor, vis-a vis the entrance, there was a recess with a curtain. Behind that curtain the couple let stay a young Jewish girl Danusia B. (the letter's writer), who hid there when somebody entered the building. Her only occupation was reading adult books, which Stanislaw brought from the library. Danusia's mother paid some money to the Zbysz couple, but Danusia says that it was not much, as her mother had very limited means. Her mother tried to visit her from time to time, telling the policeman on guard that she is going to visit the manicurist, who lived in the same back building. Danusia spent there a few weeks, until her mother found for her another shelter in Zoliborz (suburb of Warsaw) with Jozef and Helena Wrobel (q.v.). Both families were recognized as "Righteous" in March, 1998, according to the letter of Danuta B. to this researcher, dated March 28, 1998. Case No. 6547a, which was started in 1993. Other people helping Danusia were Zofia Korulski, the engineer Kleniewski, Jozef Swiatek, who harbored her and his brother, Roman Swiatek. This researcher is in possession of lively and most heartfelt correspondence between Roman Swiatek and Danuta B. None of them were recognized. ZDANOWICZ-SZWAJKAJZER, Ewa
Ligia (not related) see SZWAJKAJZER, Stefan & Teofila, parents
ZELWEROWICZ, Aleksander
According to Miriam Caspari, Aleksander Zelwerowicz, a famous actor and his daughter Helena (Lena) were people of "incredible character" who could not suffer any injustice and were always ready to help. Their three-room apartment in Warsaw was a place of shelter for many Jews. Among others they sheltered for a certain time Leon Feiner, the vice-president of RPZ - i.e. Zegota (see under Arczynski, Bartoszewski, Kosszak-Szczucki, etc.). Once Aleksander returned home and found in his apartment seven people, of whom only two were "Aryans". He asked if there would be a place for him to sleep. All exclaimed: "Naturally!" But he, seeing the situation, left his apartment to spend that night elsewhere. See: Bartoszewski & Lewin, op. cit. ZEMBIK, Jerzy
ZIELINSKI-STAWNICZA, Albina
Irena Zielinski from Raciborz described how she saw what happened to the village of Oborki. This village fed the Jews from the village of Zofiowka. On Nov. 8, 1942 she saw buses full of German and Ukrainian police surrounding the village of Oborki and searching for Jewish belongings. They took all the men to Cuman. She saw under her window these men, driven to the train, terribly beaten and shackled by their hands. After a few days the police returned, and murdered all inhabitants of that village, infants included, even people who just had come there that day from other places. Only one young man hid and survived. She saw how they took the farm animals and all that had any value and then they burnt the village and plowed it over. They drove peasants from nearby villages to bury the bodies. After seeing all this Irena continued as usual, to put out in the bushes, milk, bread, potatoes and sometimes a piece of lard, for the Jews who used to come there. See: Wronski & Zwolakowa, op. cit. ZIELINSKI, Anna (not related) ZIELINSKI, Zbigniew (not
related)
Ryszard befriended before the war Kazimierz Berek. When the latter was in the Warsaw ghetto, Ryszard, having a pass to the ghetto, helped his Jewish friends there. In 1943 he convinced Kazimierz and his wife Paulina Berek to escape from the ghetto and come to his parents home, on false documents of course. So the Berek couple stayed with the Zielinskis till the Warsaw Uprising (1944) considered by all to be members of their family. The Zielinskis were honored on Dec. 15, 1999 in Warsaw, as announced the Israeli Embassy in Poland. ZIELONKA, Bronislaw
ZIELONKA, Henryk (not related)
ZIENOWICZ, Helena Helena, sister of Janina Zienowicz-Zagala, took into her apartment three Jewish children, including an infant and a sick child, who were very difficult to place. Nobody wanted to take them, because of their pitiful state, lack of knowledge of Polish, behavior problems etc. She took them in, although she herself was a staunch National Democrat and somewhat anti-Semitic. Janina described in detail the difficulties and perils of the transfer to Vilna of several Jews, in which Maryla Wolski born Abranowicz (q.v.) also helped. See: Bartoszewski & Lewin, op cit. ZIENTAL, Bronislawa
ZLOTECKI, Jan
The Zloteckis farmed in the village of Staromiescie, commune of Lelow, Czestochowa prov. Jan worked as a horse driver for Jews from nearby villages, bringing their wares to the market. One of the latter, a meat shop owner, Mosze Reichman who lost his wife and a baby in the Czestochowa ghetto, escaped from the ghetto and came over to him for shelter. They kept him and cared for him without any payment. Mosze left for Israel. See: Grynberg op.cit. ZLOTKOWSKI, Stanislaw
ZOSZAK, ADAM (1906-1983) lawyer Adam Zoszak resided in Boryslaw. In that town there were ca. 13,000 Jews. Massacres of Jews started with the German occupation of the area. Thousands perished in executions and pogroms. In 1942, the rest were deported to the Belzec, Janowski and Auschwitz and to the other concentration camps. A group of nine Jews who managed to avoid them, found an abandoned cellar in which they arranged a hideout. Edmund Blum, who had a false Kennkarte, and Adam Zoszak helped them. The nine were: Rosa Ebel, Malwina Gruenberg, Serafina Holcman, Anna Katz, Jozef and Fania Seifman and Jakub, his wife Tania and their son Leopold. Adam Zoszak undertook the task of feeding these people from May 1943 till August 1944. Here is the letter these people wrote on August 7, 1944: "Honorable and dear Sir: Our sufferings finally ended. Our first thought goes to you, our dear benefactor, to whom we owe in great part the fact of still being alive. At the risk of your life, you provided a group of nine people with food for many months - total strangers to you and coming from a totally different milieu, and in no way connected to you. You were informed only that nine people had dug themselves a bunker to save themselves from death from starvation. This certainly threatened them if nobody could be found who would provide them with food. You, dear man, honorable judge, of Catholic religion and Polish nationality, transported in a rucksack on your own shoulders loads of bread and potatoes even on frosty winter nights for some completely unknown Jews. For such a gesture of humanity, there are no words to express our thanks. We ask you not to be cross with us, that in spite of your wish not to make a big fuss of it, we say from the bottom of our hearts: God bless you". See Grynberg, op. cit. ZUBKIEWICZ, Feliks
ZUGAJ, Eugenia (1895-1982) In Czestochowa, where Eugenia Zugaj lived with her son, there were over 28,000 Jews before the war. The Germans brought Jews there from other towns, so that in 1942 they deported to the nearby Treblinka 40,000 Jews, besides those whom they killed on the spot. Eugenia had a three-room apartment, two of which were rented. A Pole brought her a 2 to 3 years old boy, whom she called Macius, and later he brought her a 4 to 5 years old girl, Halinka and still, a third child, a boy of 7 who however remained with the Zugajs for only a short time. The situation was dangerous as downstairs lived a woman frequently visited by Germans. Eugenia put the two children in an isolated part of the kitchen and taught them Catholic prayers. After the war, the children's parents claimed them: the Mecklers came for Macius, the Schwarzbaums for Halinka who left for the USA. Eugenia received many letters and photographs of the children with the most endearing gratitude from them and from their families. See Grynberg, op. cit. ZWANSKI, Halina
ZWIERZCHOWSKI, Jerzy (not
related)
ZWONARZ, Jozef
Jozef Zwonarz (45), an engineer, and his wife lived with their five children in Lesko Krosno prov. In July 1942 rumors started circulating that the Germans would kill all the children in the Lesko ghetto. Dr. Nathan Wallach contacted Jozef, known to his wife's family, with the request to shelter their little daughter three and a half years old. Jozef agreed and placed her with Jan Kakol (q.v.). Dr. Wallach and his wife were moved to the Zaslaw labor camp. On Dec. 16, 1942, the Germans shot 400 young Jewesses in that camp. The doctor's wife was accidentally felled down, but she lay until the mayhem ended and fortunately, untouched, slipped away unnoticed. The Wallachs fled to Lesko and asked Zwonarz for shelter. He decided to help them also. Jozef built an underground bunker under the workshop, near his home in which he installed an electrical bulb and for cooking he ran an electric cable from the bunker to the city's main circuit. But it was extremely small for four persons, since two others joined the Wallachs. It was 5 feet by 3 and a half, and 3 feet deep. They called it a "tomb". They did not leave it for two years, because of the location of the bunker: to the right, the Gestapo headquarters, to the left, Nazi security police, and across the road the Ukrainian police (who, according to Wallach, were worse than the Gestapo). Given the situation, Jozef did not tell even his wife about the people sheltered. He asked his wife to bring his meals to the workshop and passed the food to the persons in the bunker. His wife became suspicious. She accused him angrily of having an affair with another woman. He could not even defend himself and remained silent. As Jozef's charges did not have any money, he hired himself out as a farmhand to receive payment in farm products. Usually every night he brought them food and encouraged them. But one time he did not come for four days. The refugees thought of suicide. When Jozef appeared, Dr. Wallach stated: "There is no way to describe our joy. He said he had barley with him". In the spring of 1944 the Russian front approached and a shell struck the workshop. Jozef decided to move his charges to the cellar of his home, finally telling his wife the truth. His home was only 45 yards away from the workshop, but the people from "the tomb" could not walk. "I was the first one." Dr. Wallach stated: "I fell and could not get up. I had to crawl to the house in the dim light of nighttime was like the blazing sun to us, because we had not beheld light for almost two years." The Jews stayed in his cellar six more weeks, until the Soviets arrived. When they excused themselves that they cannot pay him for his expenses and trouble, Jozef responded by taking off his watch and giving it to them as well as a $10 bill. "Take this, it's all I have. You'll need it to start a new life", Jozef said. He often repeated to them. "I am a Jew like you, the difference being that I am a Jew freely walking the streets and you are the hidden Jews". When some people criticized him for having saved Jews he replied to them. "I am not ashamed. I did what everyone should have done. They did not do it. They should be ashamed" The Wallachs stated that he took food from his family and from his children's mouths to pass it to them. See: Paldiel, op. cit. ZYBERT, Zygmunt
Zygmunt saved his schoolmate, Helena from the Warsaw ghetto in 1941. He put her under the care of his family, particularly of his sister Jadwiga. In 1942 he married Helena and a year later they had a son. In spite of great dangers they survived the war. The Israeli Embassy in Poland announced that they (among others) would be honored as "Righteous Among the Nations" on Jan. 14, 1999. ZYCHOWSKI, Karol Leonard
(1915-)
Son and daughter of Wladyslaw Zychowski, a member of PPS (Polish Socialist Party) who was imprisoned and exiled to Siberia for his activity, they were both very active in the underground. Aniela worked in the administration of the city of Warsaw. Karol supervised the registration of inhabitants on the Czartoryskis' Street in Warsaw. This gave him the possibility of false registrations. Maria Sawicki, (q.v.) writes about Aniela: "She rendered numerous and priceless services to the Jews. She recorded the first registration under fictitious names and transmitted birth certificates of deceased Poles for another registration by the Jewish organization. On the base of those documents they received the "Kennkarten". I myself was her liaison and brought her problems to be solved". Anna Bodner, a Jewish woman states that she received from Aniela a birth certificate, on the base of which she got her "Kennkarte". This saved her from being taken into the ghetto. See: Grynberg, op. cit. ZYGULA, Franciszek
ZABINSKI, Jan (1897-1974)
zoologist
Dr. Jan Zabinski was an agricultural engineer and a zoologist. Since 1929 he was the director of the Warsaw zoo. He resided on the zoo grounds in a spacious house with his wife and son Ryszard. Under the pretext that he needed scraps of food to fatten his pigs in the zoo, he got a permanent pass to the ghetto. This enabled him to provide his "guests" with food. As the September campaign (1939) caused great devastation also in the zoo, the animals were transferred elsewhere and in the empty cages Dr. Zabinski concealed many Jews, up to 50 at a time. Several of them he kept in his home. First there was a family of five persons, one of whom was mentally deranged, who spent four years in the Zabinskis' home. He led out of the ghetto the Tenenbaum and the Kramsztyk families, except those who died there from typhoid fever. Besides them, the following Jews benefited from his help: the Lemi-Lubkowski family (3 persons), the lawyer Maurycy Frenkel, the wife of the lawyer Weiss, the Kellers (3 people). They also helped Marysia Aszer, the well-known journalist, Rachela Auerbach, the sculptor Magdalena Gross, the wife of the known Jewish boxer Keningswein, Dr. Anzelm, Kinszerbaum, Irena Mayzel, Genia Sylkes and others. For such a large group of people he received some financial aid from the RPZ (Zegota). In spite of all his exploits he was a very modest person. He discounted his personal role in that rescue. He pointed out that it was not he, but his wife, Antonina who was the real hero; in spite of fearing for her family she never asked him to stop. In August 1944 Jan Zabinski was taken prisoner to Germany. His wife and son continued looking after their Jews left in the ruins of the ghetto. He said that he did try to save Jews not as such, but as persecuted people. After the war he resumed his profession and published scientific and popular books about the animal kingdom. See: Grynberg, op. cit. and Paldiel, op. cit. ZAK, Adam
ZAK-TATOMIR, Jozefa (not related) see TATOMIR, Jan, father ZAK, Julian (not related)
ZAK, Stanislaw (not related)
This Zak family concealed fourteen (14) Jews in their five-room apartment in Warsaw; there was also a carpenter's workshop. They camouflaged the entrance to one room, where their charges stayed in moments of special danger. When everything seemed relatively calm they could go out and benefit from the entire apartment. Among others, the persons harbored there were: Zielinski and his daughter, the Lubczyks and their daughter, Rozmaryn. Most of them were connected with commerce. There were also two girls. All this was confirmed by one of the persons saved, Mieczyslaw Zielinski. See: Wronski & Zwolakowa, op cit. ZAK, Walentyna, later SZTAINERT, Ala (1915-) Mietek Morgenstern wrote
a book dedicated to Wala (nickname of Walentyna) under the name of Frank
Morgens: "At Stake was Life"; War Memories 1939-1945", or in Polish
"Lata na Skraju Przepasci". Warszawa, Wyd. "Alfa", 1994.
ZAL, Jan
ZARYN, Stanislaw, engineer
The Zaryn couple during the war was staying on the farm Szeligi II, not far from Warsaw with their sons, Szczepan and Jan. Aleksandra was the sister of Jadwiga Olizar (q.v.) whose husband, count Wladyslaw Olizar, managed the estate belonging to his relative, who died during the war. The Olizars had also their children teenagers at that time. To them, through the good offices of Mother Matylda Getter (q.v.) superior of the Sisters of the Family of Mary, came in May 1943 the Jewish couple Lazar and Irena (Lena) E. The latter came from Lvov, where they lost their families, thanks to a warning given them by an honest German, a Mr. Krammer. Irena E. at that time under the name Lena Koren, was employed in the manor as a maid, but when it was realized that this work was too hard for her, Aleksandra proposed her to take care of her children instead. Wladyslaw Olizar found a place for Lazar E. on another farm. In her statement to Yad Vashem in possession of this researcher, Irena E. states that both families, knowing fully about the background of their guest, treated her very well and were concerned about her health. It was she who petitioned Yad Vashem on behalf of the two couples on March 22, 1996. After the war Lazar and Irena left for the USA. The Olizars and the Zaryns were recognized as "Righteous" on Jan. 29, 1998. The letter and Honorary Diploma is dated March 5, 1998. Case No. 7521. Of the four honored on Jan 15, 1999 only Jadwiga Olizar could take part at the ceremony, which took place on Jan 14, 1999 in Warsaw, according to the announcement by the Israeli Embassy in Poland. ZBIK, Stefan
The family saved several Jews. Mostly they were Wladyslaw Alfred's schoolmates and friends from high school and the Jagellonian University in Cracow. The saved were: Edward Nabel and his then betrothed and later wife, Krystyna and Zygmunt Kern, who during the occupation had different names. Edward and Krystyna were in the Grzegorzki camp, near Cracow. In September 1943 lorries arrived with the Gestapo armed with machine guns. Suddenly they started shooting people. Edward ran for Krystyna, grabbed her and pulled her and both ran toward the fence. Others followed them but were killed by the shots and fell on top o them. When the mayhem ended Edward and Krystyna, still living, found themselves under a pile of corpses. They wriggled from underneath that pile and Edward managed to disconnect the electrified wires in the fence. They escaped and ran to the river to wash the blood with which they were covered. Then they appeared at the Zbiks' house and asked for asylum. The Zbiks took them in and kept them for two months. Through his contacts with the underground Alfred got false documents for them, on base of which they got "Kennekarten" and could go to Germany for work as Poles. Edward Nabel, a lawyer, became Public Prosecutor for the Denazification Court in Germany, working for the Americans. Later the couple moved to the USA. Edward wrote in his deposition: "Their (Zbiks') help was beyond friendship and sympathy. They put on the line their own lives as well as that of their own families. It came from their hearts. They never asked for anything in return and no money could ever pay for their goodness, love and selfless help. The whole family participated in that dangerous fight to save us". The Zbiks also helped Barbara Dyga, who went after the war to Canada and two other Jews. They were recognized as "Righteous Among the Nations" on Oct. 27, 1983, and the letter announcing it is dated Nov. 3, 1983. Case No. 2309b. On May 13, 1985 Alfred Zbik, and both his sisters, in the presence of the Nabel couple and of the son of Zygmunt Kern, were honored in the Israeli Consulate in Montreal. Ca. 50 people from Canada and the USA, press and television attended the ceremony being presided by the Israeli Consul General, Yacov Aviad. Alfred Zbik told the gathering that this is possibly the most beautiful day in his life. Asked what he would do if something similar happened again, he replied with his customary modesty: "The same". The Israeli Consul, Itzhak Eldan, said it's important from an educational and moral point of view, that Israel invest as much time seeking and honoring righteous Gentiles as it does looking for Nazi war criminals." This is a quote of the final sentence of the article by Danny Kucharsky of "The Gazette", published, with a big photograph, in Montreal, May 14, 1985, on p. A4. Similar articles appeared also in the French press. Zbik had his ceremony at Yad Vashem a bit later, on Oct. 10, 1985, at which was equally honored Mrs. Natalia Ziencina (q.v.). ZEBROWSKI, Helena Justina Gerszweld, married name Goldgraber, was born in 1924 in Luck, Vohlinia, the daughter of a typesetter and a midwife. As her mother died when Justina was 5 years old, her father remarried, also a midwife. Justina stayed mostly with her aunts in Wlodzimierz, where the family moved. She went first to a Jewish school and when the Russians overran that part of the country, to a Ukrainian one. At home they did not speak Yiddish, but observed the Jewish tradition. When in 1941 the Germans pushed the Russians back, the Gerszwelds found themselves in the ghetto. The Germans added to their small apartment, a Jewish woman named Polak with her son. Justina got cleaning work for the German gendarmes. One of them, called Schacht, liked her and was good to her. The Judenrat (Jewish elders chosen by the Jewish community, recognized by the Germans and responsible for their orders to be followed by the Jewish population) sent her to work outside. Soon there appeared Ukrainian and Jewish police collecting shovels: The Germans ordered the Jews to dig holes in which were buried the people they shot. Her stepmother, who worked in the ghetto hospital, decided that it was time to leave it. She lacked air in the bunker to which they escaped and in the night she was killed in the hospital where she worked and to which she had returned. The refugees left the shelter after a week for lack of food and especially water. They were put in prison cells and after a month returned to the ghetto. The father told Justina to escape from the ghetto. She did and went to some Polish people whose address Mrs. Polak had given her, the Zebrowskis. The latter had two sons (one was called Leszek) and a daughter Alicja. Halina liked Justina very much, calling her Dusia. When Dusia came to her for refuge, Helena, in a hurry, hid her behind a coat-stand, putting on her a coat and her husband's hat, not telling him the truth. In the evening she led her to Olesia, their Polish maid, whom Germans visited. She put Justina in a recess behind a curtain. A Gestapo man came for a visit, but did not show that he felt somebody's presence behind the curtain. Olesia counseled Justina to go to the train station to mix with the Jews caught on the streets who were taken for work to Germany. There she met a Ukrainian colleague who took her straight to the police station. Fortunately it was Szacht, who was on guard: He took her back to the ghetto and put her with the Libers family, where there were four daughters. "This is your fifth daughter" he told them. Then she met her future husband, Mietek Goldgraber. When a new "Aktion" started, a schoolmate, Susza Wasong took her to his bunker, which he built for his family. There they suffered cold and hunger, but as soon as the shooting and drunken shouts of the Germans stopped, they covered themselves with white bed-sheets and crawled on the snow to the other side of the ghetto. Mietek and Justina went to another nice Polish woman, Mrs. Smal. She contacted Helena Zebrowski, who took both of them to a Mrs. Slodkowski, absent at that time. Her housekeeper, a Jewish woman called Blitz, widow of a lawyer, who lived on Aryan papers, decided to hide them in their bunker and fed them. When Mrs. Slodkowski returned home she was very astonished to find two Jews in her home but agreed to keep them with the provision that Helena Zebrowski will bring her coal for the heating. One day the Germans arrived searching for Jews. The couple hid in an empty wardrobe. When the Germans departed, Mietek put on a overcoat which had a revolver in its pocket, which he did not take with him, she a shawl and both went to a Pole named Buba; that man had promised once to hide Mietek for money. They had to cross the entire center of the town and when they arrived at that place, there was no house there any more: The owner lamented that the Ukrainians burnt it and what will he do with them. He gave them a piece of bread and sent them on their way. Justina remembered a good Polish woman, a Mrs. Ziental, who harbored Jews. Her son-in-law, a rabbi's son, named Jakir, having Aryan papers, was the commander of a partisan detachment of the AK. But her bunker was full of hiding Jews. Justina proposed to Mietek to go to yet another Polish woman, Mrs. Darowski, an acquaintance of Justina's mother, who also kept Jews. In Mrs. Darowski's absence her mother, a distinguished old lady, put them on sheets in the pigsty and brought food on a silver tray covered with a white cloth. For her they were still human beings. When Mrs. Darowski returned she gave them some food and garments and set them on their way. From there the young couple found the Polish partisans of Dr. Jakir, known as lieutenant Butrym. He put them to work: Mietek to clean the horses and Justina to cook. Finally they were not dying from hunger and thirst. When the Red Army advanced, the partisans left to join the regular Polish army fighting the Germans and the young couple stayed in the woods. There, they encountered the Russian partisans form Kazachstan, Turkmenistan and Tadjikistan, who treated Jews like their slaves, except one who took a liking to Justina and Mietek and searched with them in a lorry for some food. Justina tells how one of them killed his horse and wept when he ate it. After the war, the couple went to Warsaw and stayed with Mietek's cousin. Justina found Helena Zebrowski again. She visited them often, bringing oranges for their baby and tried to dissuade them from leaving Poland. Seeing their resolve, she had two eiderdown blankets sown by Polish nuns for them. They left Poland for Israel in 1957. After the Six Day war all correspondence came to a halt. Only in 1990 did Mietek and Justina visit Poland. Both Zebrowskis were not living anymore. Only their daughter, Alicja received them. After returning from Warsaw, Justina undertook the necessary steps to honor posthumously Helena as "Righteous". Alicja died also, but the Goldgrabers invited Helena's granddaughter, Ewa, with her husband and children, Aleksander and Justina, to Israel. The latter was so named according to Helena's wish. See: Isakiewicz, op. cit. ZELICHOWSKI, Elza
ZUKOWSKI, Grzegorz, Dr. (not
related)
ZULAWSKI, Kazimiera, born
Hanicki
Kazimiera Zulawski, widow of the renowned poet Jerzy Zulawski (1874-1915) resided with her son in Warsaw. Their apartment was like a station for many Jews looking for shelter. Sometimes there were ten of them at the same time. In her memoirs Kazimiera wrote: "To us, brought up in the humanitarian ideas of the XIX century, what happened during the German occupation, was inadmissible. It aroused in us the will to counter all the inhuman measures of the occupying authorities". At the beginning they harbored fugitives mostly from intelligentsia, from the eastern parts of Poland, Lvov and Stanislawow, later from the Warsaw area. She stresses the honest attitude of the janitor, who far from denouncing the Jews whom the Zulawskis hid, (the janitors had the obligation imposed on them by the Germans to declare all Jews they knew about) warned Kazimiera about any imminent danger. There were denunciations and blackmailers nevertheless, but fortunately they ended with paying the ransom. Stefania Dabrowski stated: "My sister Rita, thanks to their help was sheltered in a convent. Every day I stayed with theses incredible and noble people. Kazimiera and Wawrzyniec heroically saved Jews of Polish, Czech and other extractions. It is impossible to describe their uncommon readiness to help Jews". Wawrzyniec, a musician and composer, was a member of the Tatra Mountain Voluntary Rescue Team, founded by his father. He died under an avalanche when in service. See: Bartoszewski & Lewin, op. cit. and Grynberg, op. cit. ZUROWSKI, Ludwik, Dr. Dr. Zurowski cooperated with the pharmacist Tadeusz Pankiewicz (q.v.) in Cracow in saving many Jews there. Prof. Julian Alexandrowicz, the immunologist, mentioned him as "our faithful friend and protector". See: Bartoszewski & Lewin, op. cit. ZYCHOWSKI, Karol Leonard
Son and daughter of Wladyslaw, a member of PPS (Polish Socialist Party) who was imprisoned and exiled to Siberia for his activity, they were both very active in the underground. Aniela worked in the administration of the city of Warsaw. Karol supervised the registration of inhabitants on the Czartoryskis' Street in Warsaw. This gave him the possibility of false registrations. Maria Sawicki, (q.v.) writes about Aniela: "She rendered numerous and priceless services to the Jews.she recorded the first registration under ficticious names. treansmitted birth certificates of deceased Poles for another registration by the Jewish organization, and on the base of those documents they received the "Kennkarten". I myself was her liaison and brought her problems to be solved.". Anna Bodner, a Jewish woman states that she received from Aniela a birth certificate, on the base of which she got her "Kennkarte", which saved her from being taken into the ghetto. See: Grynberg, op. cit. ZYCINSKI, Ignacy, priest Dr. Ignacy Zycinski, parish priest of Trojca, suburb of Zawichost, sheltered Zofia Z. and her small daughter several times in his parsonage. He encouraged his parishioners to help Jews and that in spite of the fact that some partisans raided the parsonage in search of Jews, supposedly 19 times. During the war the population's scourge were not only the 3rd Reich and the Soviet Russia, but also all kind of partisans, be it Bielorussians, Jewish, Lithuanians, Russians, Ukrainians etc., or simply bandits, taking from the peasants whatever they could put their hands on. Living in Poland before the war, they spoke Polish and could easily be taken as Polish partisans of the AK. Father Ignacy was recognized by Yad Vashem as "Righteous Among the Nations" together with the Przysieckis, Jozef and his mother Maria (q.v.). The letter announcing it was dated Nov. 21, 1993. Case No. 5901a. The cause was started in 1990. ZYTKIEWICZ, Michal This was the secret name
of the organization called "RADA POMOCY ZYDOM" (RPZ), i.e. the COUNCIL
FOR AID TO JEWS, under the home Delegate's Office (Polish underground government
in Warsaw). The number of Jews saved in Poland is still debated today.
Some Jewish historians like Jozef Kermish give it as 120,000 or Szymon
Datner as 200,000. Zegota alone, operating mostly in Warsaw, Cracow
and Lvov estimates that 40,000-50,000 were helped by it. Many
rescuers, especially in the country, did not even know of the Zegota's
existence. To save one person sometimes several dozens of people
risked their lives. Many of their efforts were unsuccessful.
It is certain that many more were helped then those who finally did survive
the war. Even more difficult, probably impossible is to establish
the number of Poles who risked their lives to help their Jewish brothers.
Quite a number of them, some known to this researcher, do not want to speak
about it even today. For an example of that attitude look under the
name of J. KOWALSKI in the book of Lukas: Out of the Inferno, op. cit.
It was the Polish Government-in-exile in London, which provided the greatest
part of the funds for the help to Jews from its budget: 37,250,000 he zlotys,
to which the FOP (Front for the Reborn Poland) in Warsaw added 150,000
zlotys.
In the Alley of the Just in Yad Vashem, in Jerusalem, there is (at least it was until 1985) a tree with a plaque, bearing the inscription:
"ZEGOTA, 1942-1945"
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