Decorations conferring ceremony

For their heroic attitude and singular courage in saving the Jews during the World War II, for their contribution to the protection of the human dignity and human rights, the President of the Republic of Poland Lech Kaczyński awarded both ladies with the Order of Polonia Restituta.

The ceremony was held in Stefania Frączek’s house in Kraków. The ceremony included Stanisław Dziedzic, the chief of the Kraków Municipality’s Culture and National Heritage Department.

During the German occupation Agata Jadwiga Wania and her daughter Stefania lived in one-room house in Brzozów, a village located between Sanok and Krosno. In that small house during several years they were hiding Lazar Ellowicz, Agata’s pre-war employer. In the moments of danger Ellowicz would hide in a specially prepared hiding place under the bed. During the last year of the occupation, that is in 1944, Stefania got married to Roman Frączek and moved with him to live in her mother’s apartment. Thus four people lived in one room. Thanks to Agata and Stafania’s help Ellowicz survived the German occupation. In 1950 he emigrated to Israel