With her family, Adela Domanus lived in Warsaw at ul. Polna 14. She helped many Jews during the Nazi occupation, including those whom she knew and strangers. Her help was completely selfless and even supported those in the greatest need financially.
Due to the fact that it was impossible for her to hide people for a long time at her own home, she mostly occupied herself with finding hiding places for them and with handling matters related to obtaining forged documents for them. She acted out of humanitarian considerations when helping others.
“My heart bled for all the sympathy and sorrow I felt...”, she wrote years later.
Stefania Adler, her son’s girlfriend, was one of the first people whom she helped. The boy managed to get her out of the ghetto close to the beginning of 1941 and, after he managed to obtain forged documents for her, he married her. Adela then hid Helena, Stefania’s mother.
Klara Szapiro and her daughter Nina, aged seven, were the next people Adela helped. They were brought to her, in the winter of 1942, by the wife of Makary Sieradzki, whom Adela knew from involvement with the underground. Adela quickly found “legal” documents for them, as well as a place to stay in for a period of time.
Klara was placed in the Saska Kępa district under the assumed name of "Helena Kowalska", while daughter, under the name of "Janka Kowalska", Adela kept at her home.
Due to the constant risk of denunciation and blackmail attempts, she constantly had to find new places for her charges to stay. In the end, she managed to find shelter for Klara with Adela Sochańska, who had been classified by the Germans as Reichsdeutsch - a person of decent German descent who was, from their point of view, trustworthy. She found a place for Inka at the Family of Mary convent at ul. Żytnia.
For some time, Adela maintained contact with Klara’s husband and Inka’s father – Józef Szapiro, a doctor in the Kraśnik ghetto.
"There, she found shelter and a kind, warm welcome.”
Read about the rescue of Inka Szapiro and the activities of the Congregatiom of Franciscan Sisters of the Family of Mary at ul Żelazna 97 in Warsaw
During the Warsaw Uprising, she looked after the lawyer K. Metta and his wife. After the Uprising, they were transported to Sędziszów. Mr Metta decided to stay there, while Adela brought his wife to her sister’s home and helped the husband and wife to stay in contact with each other.
Jadwiga Maczko, Adela's co-conspirator, to a considerable extent, also owed her salvation to Adela. It was Adela who provided her with forged documents issued under the name of "Leokadia Sopyła". When the owner of documents reappeared, they had to be returned to her and Adela found another set of documents for Jadwiga, this time issued to "Jadwiga Aniołkowa".
After the War, Adela Domanus remained in contact with Klara and Nina Szapiro. In 1989, the Yad Vashem Institute honored her with the title of "Righteous Among the Nations".