Chajdacka Maria (Prochowska)

Chajdacka, Maria During a round-up by the German police of Poles who had illegally entered the ghetto in Miedzeszyn, a summer resort near Warsaw, Maria Chajdacka took refuge with the Aronson family, who hid her until the danger had passed. In the course of time Maria, who was mother to three children, became a firm friend of the family, and one day in 1941, she offered to shelter 10-year-old Halina Aronson and her 7-year-old brother, Moshe, in her home after they left the ghetto. The two children looked like “Aryans,” and when they were brought to Maria with the aid of forged documents, were passed off as members of her family. Cognizant of the danger that threatened her and her children, Maria would send her small charges from one village to another, in order to deflect the neighbors’ suspicions. The children were employed in local farms until the area was liberated by the Red Army in 1945. Maria received nothing in return for her actions, which were undertaken without thought of recompense. After the war was over, Halina and Moshe – whose parents had perished – returned to live with Maria. When it became known that they were Jewish, however, Polish nationalists broke into the house and shot Maria to death. Halina and her brother subsequently immigrated to Israel, from where, after much searching, they renewed contact with Maria’s children. On June 7, 1984, Yad Vashem recognized Maria Chajdacka as Righteous Among the Nations.