Vale Czesława Żak (1927–2019)
Blackmailers came twice. [...] There was a thud at the door at six o'clock in the morning. My parents were not at home. My uncle opened the door. I was only sixteen years old then [...]. I came out in my dressing gown. Arrogantly, I asked what was going on here. Why is the door open? Please close it. And I closed the door to the kitchen. “Because I have little creatures there”, I said. They were interested in what type. I told them rabbits. What for? They have no meat.
– recalled Czesława Żak.
During World War II, Czesława Żak, together with her parents Stanisław and Teresa, her sister Stanisława and her uncle Czesław, helped Jews in their home at Grzybowski Square 1, which was on the border of the ghetto. The Grymberg, Lipski and Trefler families hid there - fourteen people in total.
In recognition of the help they provided, on 12th September 1993, the Yad Vashem Institute in Jerusalem honoured the Żak family with the title of Righteous Among the Nations. Their story has been published on the Polish Righteous website, based on interviews which Czesława Żak gave to the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews on 28th March 2008. Their story has also been published in our virtual exhibition “The Right Address. The story of hiding Jews in occupied Warsaw”.
Czesława Żak died on 12th Apriil 2019 in Warsaw at teh age of 92.
