Krajewska Leokadia ; Brother: Krajewski Edmund

Ferenc, Mikołaj Kania, Antoni Krajewska, Leokadia Krajewski, Edmund Ewa Grus was born in 1913 and given up for adoption. Her new parents, Leon and Gustawa Segal, named her Lusia and took her to live with them in Rozwadów. They loved her very much and took care of her every need. When she finished her studies, she joined her father, Leon, working in his pharmacy. In 1933 she married Moshe Trauenstein, who was much older than she was. In 1935 they had a son whom they named Leon, in honor of Lusia’s by then deceased adoptive father. When they learned that the Germans were about to bomb Rozwadów, Lusia and her mother, husband, and son ran away eastward with other Jews escaping the city. They tried to live in Lwów (today Lviv) for a while, attempting to live normally: Lusia worked in a pharmacy, and Moshe sometimes brought milk and potatoes from a friendly farmer in Zimna Woda. Eventually life in Lwów became difficult, and the family wandered on. They moved to Gustawa’s relatives in Różyszcze. Again Lusia found a job in a pharmacy. Once, at great personal danger to herself, she had the opportunity to save the life of a pig farmer called Dobrowolski by obtaining nitroglycerin, which at the time was hard to come by. When in 1941 the city came under bombardment and a ghetto was established, Dobrowolski, now a Nazi officer, returned and reminded Lusia that he owed her his life and would pay her back. Moshe Trauenstein, Lusia’s husband, volunteered for the Judenrat (Jewish council), which soon ran into difficulties that resulted in all of its members being shot. Lusia decided she would not return to the ghetto, and she had her mother and son hide in the basement of the pharmacy. The Nazi officer Dobrowolski appeared again, and when she told him of her plan, he said nothing and left. She continued working in the pharmacy, and her family went on living in the basement. One day the officer returned and said that the family had to leave town. He provided them withidentity papers and money but told them they had to find their own transportation. After he left, a woman Lusia recognized from the period of Russian occupation walked in. Her name was Leokadia Krajewska, and when Lusia shared her concerns, Krajewska promised to try to find transportation for her and her family, which she managed to do. Her brother, Edmund Krajewski, came to drive the Segal-Tauersteins to safety. The Krajewskis also gave them some money and took Lusia’s real papers for safekeeping. Again they tried their luck in Lwów, but things did not work out for them there. Lusia went to Markowa to try to find Mikołaj Ferenc, a local priest who had promised her husband that one day he would help him out. Ferenc agreed to help, and Lusia and her son stayed in his house. Lusia’s adoptive mother, Gustawa, passed away during this period. Lusia and Leon spent about seven months in Ferenc’s house. Lusia helped around the house, and Leon tried his best as well. In January 1944 Banderovists (members of the military wing of the Organization of Ukranian Nationalists) came into Markowa and murdered all the men, including Ferenc. It was then up to Lusia and Leon to find a new place to hide. They passed through several houses where people put them up until the Nazis came hunting for Jews. At one point Leon’s legs were severely burned while helping with the work in one of the houses. A German doctor happened to see the child and brought medicine to heal him. He also told Lusia to run away from the place because it was going to be destroyed. The next stop on the grueling journey was Nowa Huta and the home of Antoni Kania, a priest. Kania knew Lusia and Leon were Jewish, but he took them in anyway. The house was full of people who had escaped the destroyed village, and there was much housework to be done. Life was difficult, but it went on. Leon’s legs healed. Lusia decided she would go to Lwów to see about her papers. Kania put her in touch with a Jewish doctor he hadhelped previously. The doctor aided her in moving about safely. She managed to find Leokadia Krajewska, who was living in her barn because her house had been burned down. When the house burned, Leokadia had kept Lusia’s papers on her body, thereby rescuing them from the fire. The reunion was joyful and full of memories, but there was still the question of getting back to Rozwadów. Fortunately, a Soviet officer who had a venereal disease struck a deal with Lusia—she would help him take care of his health, and he would provide fake documents for her and her son to get to Rozwadów. Lusia and Leon arrived there safe and sound and survived the remaining weeks of the war. On April 2, 2013, Yad Vashem recognized Mikołaj Ferenc, Antoni Kania, and Leokadia and Edmund Krajewski as Righteous Among the Nations.