Krystyna Cywińska lived in Grodno with her husband, an officer of the Polish Army, and two children: a son and daughter Danuta.
The Jewish families Ilin, Tarłowski and Peresiecki also lived in Grodno, and Cywińska maintained a friendly relationship with Efraim Ilin and his family.
Efraim Ilin and Aba Tarłowski were brothers-in-law, married to the sisters of Józef Peresiecki. Efraim Illin, a merchant, and his wife Anna (née Niankowska, her mother's name) (1912-1942) had a daughter Bella. They lived at 8 Listowskiego Street. The merchant Aba Tarłowski and his wife Róża (née Niankowska) (1899?-1943) with their two children: son Izaak (1923-1943) and daughter Rachela lived at 13 Bonifraterska Street.
The three families found themselves in the Grodno ghetto, established in November 1941 and divided into ghetto A, for Jews employed by Germans, and ghetto B – for their families.
In early 1942 Efraim approached Krystyna Cywińska asking her to rescue his daughter Bella. Cywińska, who lived with her son and twelve-year-old daughter Danuta, agreed to hide the child. According to the statement given by Danuta Jurkowska in 1996, Ilin promised Cywińska a reward after the war. He was also to provide clothes for the child. Soon, Cywińska's household was enlarged with two girls: Bella Ilin and Rachela Tarłowska. In February-March 1942 they were joined by their fathers and uncle Józef Peresiecki.
According to Danuta's account, the fugitives from the ghetto were hidden in a cellar below the kitchen. According to the testimonies of the survivors, they stayed in a shed with two entrances. Their accounts also state that they arrived at her home at a later date, 1943, just before the final liquidation of the ghetto in March 1943. The Jews remaining in the ghetto were transported to the Białystok ghetto.
Out of fear for his life, Cywińska sent her son to live away from home. He died at the hands of the Germans. Over the years, Jurkowska presented two different versions of the circumstances of her brother's death.
A few weeks later Rachela Tarłowska entered the ghetto with Danuta Cywińska – she left the hiding place with the intention of rescuing Rachela's mother and brother from the ghetto. The girls were arrested by a Gestapo agent, who judged them both to be Jewish. Since Danuta said she was Catholic, and that the accompanying Rachela was her cousin, he took them back to Krystyna Cywińska, who swore under oath that both girls were related to her.
In 1943 Cywińska was arrested and executed by the Germans, most likely for the crime of harbouring Jews. Her daughter continued to look after the Jews – she found a safe place for them with her family outside of the city. There they lived until “liberation” in July 1944.
After “liberation” the five survivors and Danuta repatriated to Poland, and then emigrated. Efraim Ilin with his daughter Bella left for Australia, where Bella married Shulman and raised two children. She is currently working as a psychologist.
In 1962 Bella arranged the emigration of Danuta and her family. In Australia, the women kept in touch for many years. In press interviews and a testimony written in 1996, Danuta stated that she and Bella were “as close as sisters”. Jurkowska worked as a beautician and raised two children. In 1996 she applied to the Jewish organization “Claims Conference” for a pension, stating that her mother came from a Jewish family from Vilnius.
Aba Tarłowski with his daughter moved to France and settled in Annecy. Rachela married Nataniel Tolek Brunet (1921–1985), with whom she had two sons: Henry Michel and Alain Brunet.
Józef Peresiecki married Genia Peresiecki (1919–2008), and their daughter Marion Peresiecki was born in 1955.
In 1974 the Yad Vashem Institute awarded Krystyna and her daughter Danuta the title of Righteous Among the Nations.
In 1997 Bella Shulman was interviewed by the USC Shoah Foundation Institute.
