Fedorów Aniela ; Daughter: Mosingiewicz Joanna (Fedorów); Daughter: Patlewicz Maria (Fedorów); Daughter: Miernowska Ewa (Fedorów); Son-In-Law: Mosingiewicz Edward

Mierowska Fedorów, Ewa Fedorów, Aniela Mosingiewicz, Joanna and Edward Patlewicz, Maria Olga Korec was born in Borysław, Poland, in 1923. In 1928 the family moved to Warsaw but fled back to Soviet-controlled Borysław when war broke out. Of course, the Germans soon reached that area as well, and what ensued, in the words of Olga herself, were “pogroms, the increased ghettoization of the Jews, and eventually Aktions [mass executions] or round-ups for transport to the death camps.” Olga had graduated from high school and was working in the local hospital. She became friends with Joanna “Janka” Fedorów Mosingiewicz (b. 1917). Janka had a younger sister named Ewa (b. 1922) who was a very brave young woman who had joined the Polish resistance. Soon after meeting the Fedorów family, Olga was forced to leave her work at the hospital in order to move into the ghetto and work a job (with her father, Josef, at a fuel company) forced on her by the Nazis, but she remained friends with Janka and Ewa. Olga’s mother, Rozalia, and younger sister, Irena, had no jobs and were therefore unprotected against Aktionen (mass executions) and other dangers. When a large Aktion loomed, it was decided that Olga would take them to the Fedoróws’ farm, about two miles from the ghetto, and hope for their mercy. At great risk, having removed their yellow armbands, the Korec women walked to the farm. On their approach they were spotted by a man looking on suspiciously. The Fedoróws asked no questions and hurriedly took Rozalia and Irena straight to their barn, while Olga returned to the ghetto. Alas, the onlooker had alerted the Gestapo, and they were soon to arrive, turning the house over, shouting “Where are the Jews?” Luckily, the Korecs stayed hidden and were not discovered. For the next three days and nights, the entire Fedorów family—Janka and Ewa; their mother, Aniela Fedorów (b. 1888); Janka’s husband, Edward Mosingiewicz (b. 1912); and their third sister, Maria Patlewicz (b. 1914)—cared for the Jewish women despite the terror everyone was experiencing. They brought them food and encouragement, took out their waste, and protected them. After the Aktion was over, Rozalia and Irena returned to the ghetto. They had been saved this time from the horrible fate that befell 5,000 other Jews from the area. However, by 1944, with the Russians advancing, roundups and deportations became an almost daily occurrence in the ghetto, and the threat hung heavily over everyone. It was time to find another hideout. This time an attic was discovered in town, but the owners only agreed to hide the Korec family for a fee. Happily, the money was supplied by a Pole named Feliks Druszkiewicz (recognized as Righteous Among the Nations in 1985). Rozalia and Irena were the first to transfer into the attic; they were soon joined by Olga, and later by Josef. All communications and contact between them while they were separated, and then between them and the outside world as they hid in the attic for the next four months, were provided by Ewa Fedorów, who stayed by their side throughout the ordeal and brought what food and news she could. After the liberation, the Korec family soon moved to Canada, where Olga eventually became a teacher and a Holocaust educator. On March 12, 2013, Yad Vashem recognized Ewa Fedorów, Aniela Fedorów, Joanna and Edward Mosingiewicz, and Maria Patlewicz as Righteous Among the Nations.