Righteous and Rescued Meet After 69 Years!
The meeting was organised by the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous which, on a daily basis, supports those who helped Jews during the Holocaust. This is the second such meeting, between rescuers and the rescued, which has occurred thanks to the Foundation.
Both ladies were very emotional when they met. Both stressed that they never expected to see each other again. They recalled their carefree pre-War years and how they played together, but also remembered the time of occupation and how the Weksler family was in hiding.
Helena Szachniewicz (nee Węgłowska) and Mira Weksler met as small children. The Węgłowski family lived in Stara Huta in Wołyń, and became friendly with the Weksler family who had leased part of their farm. In 1941, the Germans occupied Wołyń. The Weksler family ended up in the Ludwipol ghetto. When the ghetto was being liquidated in August 1942, the Węgłowski family help organise their escape to the Aryan side and took them into their home. Wekslers, Mira, her mother, her uncles and cousins, hid in the farm buildings, in hiding places in the field and sometimes in the house.
The Węgłowski family survived at least two German searches. For fear of further searches, they decided to move the Weklser family elsewhere. They built a cabin in the village of Lewacze, in a forest belonging to the Ruddnicki family, and regularly brought food to them there.
After the War, Mira and her mother left for Brazil, where Mira lives to this day. Helena mieszka w Iława.
