Fiternik Maria (Biegus)

Fiternik-Biegus, Maria After the Germans occupied Lwów, Wiktor Fiternik moved to the village of Biskowice, near Sambor, where he obtained forged “Aryan” documents and began working in a German firm where he got to know Maria Biegus. One day, a Polish passerby identified Fiternik in the street and tried to arrest him. Fiternik ran away, and Biegus hid him in her apartment, which she shared with her mother. After a while, Biegus also hid Aleksander Berger, a former resident of Sambor. One day, Biegus met 19-year-old Zofia, who came from Drohobycz; she admitted that she was a Jew and needed help. Biegus hid her, too, in her home, and two months later smuggled her to Przemyśl, where she remained under an assumed identity until the liberation. From August 1942 until the city’s liberation in July 1944, Biegus looked after Fiternik and Berger devotedly and saw to all their needs, without seeking anything in return. After the war, Fiternik married Biegus, and the two immigrated to Sweden. Berger, who remained in Poland, studied medicine, and became a renowned physician, until his death in 1982. On October 2, 1984, Yad Vashem recognized Maria Fiternik (née Biegus) as Righteous Among the Nations. File 2991