Czajka Paulina

Czajka, Paulina In July 1941, during riots launched by Ukrainian rabble-rousers against Jews of the town of Chodaczkow Maly, in the Tarnopol district, Shlomo Melcer and his brother, Abram, sought shelter with Paulina Czajka, their widowed neighbor. Despite the danger and her straitened circumstances, Czajka hid the Jewish brothers in her attic for two weeks, feeding them and seeing to all their needs. Once the pogrom had abated, the Melcer brothers left their hiding place and, together with other members of their family, made their way to the ghetto in the nearby town of Skalat. In early April 1943, when the Melcers were being taken to the Belzec extermination camp, Shlomo Melcer was one of the few youngsters who managed to jump off the train. After wandering through the countryside for days and nights, Melcer reestablished contact with Czajka, who found him odd jobs on local farms, passing him off as a homeless Ukrainian. Czajka’s home was always open to Melcer, who hid there whenever the police combed the area – declared Judenrein in 1943 – for Jews. In saving Melcer’s life, Czajka was guided by a loyalty and compassion which overrode thoughts of personal safety or financial considerations. After the area was liberated in April 1944, Melcer left the area for central Poland and later immigrated to Israel. On September 8, 1993, Yad Vashem recognized Paulina Czajka as Righteous Among the Nations.