Elster Rozalia

File 4173 Elster, Rozalia Before the war, the Lejbcygers and Elsters were neighbors in Warsaw. When the ghetto was set up, Rozalia Elster, whose husband was a prisoner of war in Germany, agreed to shelter Abram and Sonia Lejbcyger, their son Dow and their three daughters, Róża, Wanda and Stefania. In order to avoid discovery by neighbors, Elster and her two daughters moved to another apartment in a different Warsaw neighborhood. The Lejbcygers stayed with Elster until her husband returned from captivity in the autumn of 1941. Since the apartment was too small to contain so many people, Elster obtained forged documents for the Lejbcygers, which enabled them to rent another apartment. Thanks to the forged papers, their son and one of their daughters (Stefania) registered for work in Germany, and stayed there until the liberation by the Allied Forces. In helping the Lejbcygers, Elster was guided by a sense of moral duty, loyalty and compassion, which triumphed over adversity. It was thanks to her resourcefulness that the Lejbcygers survived. On April 18, 1989, Yad Vashem recognized Rozalia Elster as Righteous Among the Nations.