“Great pain remains after the death of a loved one, and what can you say about the emotions of a nine-year-old child when her closest family of eight dies before her very eyes”, said Marianna Adameczek, born at Charlejów (Lublin province) as Blima Kurchant. Before the war, her father Herszl owned a shoemaker’s shop and did business with Poles. During the Nazi occupation, the Kurchants moved to Serokomla.
In the summer of 1942, the Germans shot a number of Jews in Serokomla, including Herszl’s wife, Fajga, and children: Hana, Liba, Gitla and Chaim. Herszl and the remaining children, Łejbusz, Blima and Marianka, managed to survive. Herszl asked the Adameczek family, whom he had known before the war, for shelter. Stanisław Adameczek made a dugout under his granary. Even though Herszl was hiding there, he could also work at home most of the time. In the winter, the Kurchants hid in the straw in the barn, and in the springtime they moved to the dugout. Their hosts’ teenage son, Kazimierz Adameczek, delivered food to them. Occasionally in the evenings Herszl and his children went out to meet other Jews hiding in the local woods. This was also the case in August 1943: the Kurchants temporarily left their hiding place to spend at least a short while outdoors. It was then, after an anonymous denouncement, that the Germans organised a manhunt in which several dozen Jews were killed, including Herszl and Marianka. Wounded Blima and Łejbusz managed to escape. Stanisław Adameczek went to Dęblin and got some surgical dressings there. Meanwhile, Łejbusz brought a Jewish girl, Dorka, to the dugout, and returned to the forest.
Blima and Dorka survived until the liberation, but Łejbusz was killed by Poles. Aftert he war, Stanisław was frequently bothered by local gangs for hiding Jews. Following one of these intrusions, he died of a heart attack.
Blima returned to Charlejów, got married and changed her name to Marianna. Dorka emigrated to Israel.
