11 new Righteous

Maria Zawadzka, 16 November 2016
On August 22nd, 2011 during the 23rd International Convention of the Children of the Holocaust in Warsaw was held the awarding of the titles “Righteous Among the Nations”. The Yad Vashem Institute posthumously honored:

 

Janina Bereska – in 1942 she took in Berek Ofman from Radomsko and four other Jewish escapees. They were hiding in a shelter in a small cellar of her house. Only Berek, Regina and Mania survived the war. The son of the rescued, Leon Ofman, presented the distinction to the son of the Righteous, Marian Bereska from Radomsko.

Adolf Brauner – he organized the trip of the Przybyszewicz family, the family of his former employer, from Łódź to Warsaw. Only their daughter Lusia survived. Brauner managed to get “Aryan papers” for her. The rest of the family was killed as an effect of the liquidation action conducted in the Warsaw ghetto. Brauner was also hiding his Jewish wife and son Gerhard in a special hiding place. The distinction was presented to the granddaughter of the Righteous, Ewa Banaszczyk from Łódź.

Janina and Adam Chorążkiewicz – during the war they were hiding Maria Koper in their house in the village of Rokszyce for 2 years. The Jewish woman, who managed to escape from the Warsaw ghetto, was staying in a hiding place in their barn. The daughter of the rescued, Lilka Rosenbaum-Elbaum from the US presented the distinction to the granddaughter of the Righteous Teresa Zielińska from Biała Rawska.

Maria and Marianna Kazuczyk – they rescued Mira Becker nee Kwasowicer, who managed to jump out of a train to Treblinka. She reached Białystok and got to her parents’ friend Marianna Kazuczyk, who hid her in the attic of her house. After a few days she had to move to a safer hiding place at the house of Marianna’s sister-in-law – Maria Kazuczyk – to the village of Janowicze near Białystok. The rescued Mira Becker from the US presented the distinction to the relatives of the Righteous, Regina and Dorota Lewoc.

Józefa and Wilhelm Maj – they have been honored on the initiative of their adopted daughter Ida. During the war they were living in Częstochowa. The Majs baptized her and got a baptismal certificate for her. That is how Ida Paluch became Ida Maj. The distinction was presented to the adopted daughter of the Righteous, the rescued Ida Paluch-Kersz from the US.

Katarzyna i Stanisław Świetlikowscy – during the war they rescued a little girl who currently lives in Izrael: Hana Chachar nee Mirska. Stanisław Świetlikowski managed to take her out of the ghetto in Podbrodzie near Vilnius. He baptized her as his own daughter, Katarzyna Świetlikowska. Since that time the girl had been called Kaniusia. The distinction was presented to the daughter of the Righteous, Maria Nadstawek from Krosno Odrzańskie.

Agnieszka Troszka – she rescued a Jewish boy, Zdzisław Bater. She was his nanny before the war. In 1940 the Bater family had to move to the Warsaw ghetto. In March 1943 Stanisław Bater and Agnieszka Troszka jointly organized his son’s Zdzisław’s escape from the ghetto. The boy settled with his former nanny. Later they both got to the camp in Pruszków and then to a village near Kraków. The rescued presented the distinction to the nephew of the Righteous, Andrzej Świecki from Łódź.