The Slodzinski Family

Regina Słodzińska (married name Kierbiedź) was born in the village of Wiszniewo (formerly Wiszniew), belonging first to the Švenčionys district, and later to the Vileyka district, currently in Belarus. Her parents owned the Bogatelka farm, raising sheep, cattle, and pigs.

Regina talks about her family’s pre-war relations with Jews: “They were acquaintances, Well, they were buying the grain, the calves, buying the cheeses for their stores. And we were taking cheeses to Vilnius, because mom was making them.” Julian Słodziński would also employ Jewish laborers for repair and construction works and making wool coats.

The ghetto in Wiszniewo was formed in 1941 and the Nazis murdered most of its inhabitants in July and August 1942. It was then that several acquainted Jews asked the Słodzińskis for help.

Mina Milkowska

Two women were hiding at the Słodziński household. One of them was Mina Milkowska, around 20 years of age. Before the war her father owned two stores and a mill. She managed to find employment as a house help with a German family during the occupation.

The ghetto was liquidated on August 30th, 1942. 1,100 Jews died on that single day. Mina was taken in by the Słodzińskis. She moved in to Regina’s room, who years later would recall: “She was sleeping [in my room]. And she was crying so, all night. I was telling her it was no use, that she had to accept it.”

She pretended to be a governess, despite her Semitic features. Fortunately, none of the German officers visiting the Słodziński house ever took interest in what was going on in the children’s room.

In April 1943 Milkowska joined the squad of Jewish partisans operating in the nearby woods.

Jewish woman from Vilnius

Another person hiding at the Słodziński house was a fugitive from Vilnius. Regina Kierbiedź cannot recall her name. The woman did not know the Słodzińskis before the war.

Her “Aryan” looks meant she was not forced to hide and could openly help around the household. Regina Kierbiedź relates her father’s reaction: “We still have room, he says. ‘D’you like something to eat?’ ‘Well, yes.’ Well, what’s ours is yours. She stayed, as the help, she was helping, peeling potatoes. She was helping mom out with everything. And nobody suspected her.
 
”She’d go and serve the Germans, and not one of them thought she was Jewish. She’d only say: ‘When they’re talking, I understand, I know what they’re saying.’ And father was ‘Nicht verstehen,’ because if he didn’t understand, then he didn’t know what was going on. ‘But,’ she says, ‘I pretended I don’t understand, I was doing my work, set [the plates] down and went away.’ ”
 
She was hiding with the Słodzińskis for about a month. At the end of her stay there, Bronisława Słodzińska obtained a christening certificate for her from an acquainted priest. Her later fate is unknown.

Six men were hidden in the Słodziński family barn. One of them was Leon Kokin – an acquaintance from before the occupation. When the war broke out he was living in the town of Lida (currently in Belarus). Regina Kierbiedź remembers several more names: Dudman, Reiman.
 
Regina did not see the men hiding in the barn. Her task was to bring them food and ring a bell, which meant it was the time for a meal. She remembers:

”Mom’s making pea soup, bean soup, or some meat or eggs. And some butter, cheese, a loaf of bread. Two buckets, and [use] only the bell, we couldn’t talk in the barn. So I rang, and then left, closed it up. And they’d come out and eat.”
 
In the evenings Julian Słodziński brought in the food was and would also have short conversations with the men. After some time all of the Jews from the barn joined the partisans.

Jewish partisans
 
Jewish fugitives would often form their own guerilla squads or join ones already n existence, usually with the People’s Army (Armia Ludowa) and pro-Soviet squads, who were eager to have them. Often, in exchange for food and the safety ensured by the armed partisans, the Jews would repair the weapons and make clothes or shoes. Current estimates put the number of Jewish partisans fighting in the occupied Polish territories at 20,000.

After the war

The Słodziński family were resettled to Poland and moved to Nowy Belęcin in the Greater Poland Voivodeship. Since her marriage in 1949, Regina Kierbiedź has been living in Świętajno in the Masuria.

The Rescued Mina Milkowska and Leon Kokin, along with a group of other Jews, left for the United States. They maintained contacts with the Słodzińskis through regular correspondence, often inviting their rescuers to visit the US. Due to their efforts Julian Słodziński and Bronisława Słodzińska and their daughter Regina Kierbiedź were recognized as Righteous Among the Nations in 1994.

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