Chełpa Anna (Towarnicka); Husband: Jan

Chełpa, Anna Chełpa, Jan In 1942, Miriam Laufer and her father, Yehoshua, who lived in Lwow, were exiled to a labor camp near Sambor, where they were put to work cutting wood. When the rumor spread that the camp was about to be liquidated, Laufer and her father fled. After many days of wandering through villages and woods, the Laufers arrived at the Chełpas’ cottage, in the village of Dublany, near Sambor, where they were made welcome. In due course, Chełpa also took in a Jewish physician, Marcel Ornicz, who turned up on her doorstep after escaping from the Sambor ghetto. Chełpa looked after all three Jewish refugees with compassion. She shared with them the little food she had, protected them from the prying eyes of suspicious neighbors, and kept their spirits up. In order to feed her wards, Chełpa was sometimes reduced to begging from her neighbors. The above notwithstanding, she never asked for payment, but acted out of love for her fellow man. The three Jewish refugees were liberated in July 1944 by the Red Army, and together with Chełpa, who was now widowed, moved to an area within the new Polish borders. In 1965, Miriam Laufer and Anna Chełpa immigrated to Israel, where Chełpa died at a ripe old age. On November 26, 1968, Yad Vashem recognized Anna Chełpa as Righteous Among the Nations. On June 22, 2020, Yad Vashem recognized Jan Chełpa as Righteous Among the Nations.