Baczyńska Leokadia

File 2122 Baczyńska, Leokadia Until the outbreak of the war, Baczyńska Leokadia and her Jewish friend, Solarska Maria, worked in the Central Statistics Bureau in Warsaw. A close friendship developed between the two, which endured throughout the hardships of the occupation. When the Germans unleashed their campaign of terror against the Jews, Leokadia offered to assist Maria and her family. She sent them food while they were interned in to the Warsaw ghetto; furthermore she helped them by selling possessions, and transferring them to money, and providing it to Maria’s family. After all Maria’s relatives had perished and her spirit was broken, Leokadia hastened to comfort and rescue her. She helped Maria to escape from the ghetto, and jeopardized her own and her family’s lives by giving her shelter. For almost two years, Maria stayed with Leokadia’s family, who treated her like one of the family’s members. After the Warsaw Uprising erupted (in August 1944), the both Leokadia and Maria became separated: Leokadia was sent to a labor camp situated in Lower-Silesia (pl. Dolny Śląsk), while Maria was deported to a village nearby Kraków. At the end of that year, Leokadia was released (with the help from her family members) and found lodgings in the town of Miechów. Although her living conditions were primitive and austere in the extreme, she invited Maria to stay with her, and the two remained there together, until the liberation. The friendship between the women endured for many more years. Leokadia felt that her actions of saving Maria were entirely natural and unexceptional, and she objected to being awarded the title of Righteous Among the Nations (in the testimony which was given on the 1st of May 1978, Maria mentioned that during her hiding at Maria’s house, there was another Jewish girl hiding there for a period of several months; unfortunately she didn’t remember the name of that girl (perhaps it was Rozen-Kraszewska Bianka?) as well as herfurther fate). On the 15th of July 1981, Yad Vashem recognized Baczyńska Leokadia, as a Righteous Among the Nations.