Wartime Rescue of Jews by the Polish Catholic Clergy

XIII Stanisławów

In 1942 or 1943 a woman was brought to the shelter who had supposedly lost her voice as a result of almost drowning. We suspected that she was Jewish, but told no one. She also told no one and remained mute. After the Germans left, Mother Superior took her aside and told her that she could now speak because she was no longer in danger. Then, speaking nicely in Polish, she admitted that she was a baptized Jew and that her surname was Jarocka. A few days later she left, borrowing some clothes which she said she would bring back. But she never did bring them back. After a while one of the Sisters saw her in Przemyśl in the company of other Jews.
XIV. Śniatyń near Stanisławów—Old Age Home on Kolejowa Street

1. A mute Jewish man died at the home. He was baptized before he died.

2. Along with Mojsie Grosshaus, we cared for our Jewish charges in a special way, and watched out that they did not go out into the streets. By doing that they would have put themselves in danger of being taken to the ghetto and killed, as others had been. When the Sisters left for Western Poland [as a result of postwar border changes], Grosshaus remained in Śniatyń.
XV. Sambor near Lwów

A small two-month-old Jewish child was brought to us. One of the Sisters took care of it for an entire year with great dedication. When it began to walk it was given to an orphanage in the same city run by the Basilian Sisters because our institution was an old age home.
XVI. Brzeżany near Tarnopol

1. Józef and Maria Gelber, a married couple, were Catholics but had a Jewish background. They were in the old age home from 1941 to 1944. They were on in years when Józef died in the home.

2. Helena Uchman was the daughter of a Jewish neighbour. She hid in our home for a month. One Saturday she did not return. At that time there was an anti-Jewish campaign and she died along with her parents.

3. Zosia, a little Jewish girl, was given over to the Rada Główna Opiekuńcza (Social Welfare Agency) by a peasant woman, a widow who was leaving Eastern Poland [i.e., fleeing Ukrainian nationalists] with her two children in 1943 and could not take her. The RGO directed Zosia to the Sisters. The child was taken in and brought up by them.

4. A Jewish dentist gave us two rolls of woollen cloth to hold. His wife, who retrieved pieces of the cloth at a time, was able to get money from selling it.

5. During one winter we kept a cow owned by a Jewish neighbour. The Ukrainians had destroyed all his property.

6. During an intensive search for Jews we hid a woman with an eight-year-old boy. Later, when she saw the nuns on the street, she knelt down in front of them, thanking them for saving her life.
XVII. Rawa Ruska near Lwów

A boy who was found on the street was brought to us. He could only tell us that he had had a letter and money, which a woman had taken from him. His name was Zygmuś (Zygmunt). He was later transferred to our shelter in Kraków at 6 Podbrzezie Street. His fate after leaving that institution is not known.
XVIII. Kołomyja near Stanisławów

1. Lodka (Leokadia) Rajbach, along with her two brothers, stayed with us for some time. After our home was taken over and included in the ghetto area, for three weeks we tried to help them any way we could by supplying food every evening. Lodka probably did not survive.

2. Tola Litner from Bielsko hid in our house for a certain period. We dressed her as a postulant and sent her to Kraków in the company of one of our Sisters. She spent the night in Kraków with the Sisters and then went on to her friends in Kalwaria.

3. We lived across from the ghetto where our old building was. The Sisters, hungry themselves, shared their bread with the poor Jews who stood near the wire fences and begged for something to eat or drink. Sometimes the Sisters would get a pass from the German command to go into the ghetto under the pretext of having to repair their shoes, umbrella, etc. You could not bring food into the ghetto. The Sisters would hide butter and other food in their sleeves and when they were out of sight of the German guards, they would give these things to the poor families inside the ghetto. They tried in this way to rescue a disabled Jew who was starving to death. He was given a coat, the only one in the home, by one of the Sisters. Once a soldier hit one of the Sisters on the head because he saw her give milk to a Jewish woman.