One had to have incredible luck to escape from a train running from a forced labour camp in Huta Kara to the death camp in Ravensbrück. But afterwards, for a Jewish girl to survive in a Nazi-occupied state, nothing short of a miracle would suffice. Necessarily, this miracle would entail an entire family risking death.
Not everyone was able to take on such a risk. Luckily, some did. In November of 1944, two Jewish girls named Renia Zaks and Franka Kenigsztajn escaped from the train and made it to their hometown of Piotrków Trybunalski. There, they managed to locate their former school friend Wiesława Królikiewicz. With the support of her parents and other family members, Wiesława was able to hide her friends until January, 1945.
After the war, Renia Zaks and Franka Kenigsztajn left for Israel. Many years later, in 1986, the entire Królikiewicz family was honoured with the title of Righteous Among the Nations.
