Kierocińska Teresa

Kierocińska Teresa-Janina Mother Teresa-Janina Kierocińska was Mother Superior of the “Sióstr Karmelitanek” (Carmelite Sisters) Convent in the town of Sosnowiec. At her initiative and instructions, some local Jews were hidden in the convent. Among them were a Jewish woman, Pinkus, and her granddaughter, who was “christened” Marysia Wilczyńska. They stayed at the convent until the area was liberated in January 1945. Teresa Jworska, a Jewish girl who escaped the liquidation of the Sosnowiec ghetto, stayed with the nuns until after the war, when her mother came to reclaim her. In 1943, a Jewish baby was brought to the convent. At Kierocinska’s express instructions, the nuns took care of the little baby, passing him off as a Polish orphan called Jףzef Bombecki. It was only after the war that the child discovered his Jewish origins. Mother Teresa-Janina also sheltered Andrzej Siemiątkowski, whose mother, a convert to Christianity, had perished in Auschwitz. The survivors of the Sosnowiec convent later remembered Mother Teresa-Janina as someone of exceptional humanity whose love of mankind was rooted in her deep religious faith. On February 19, 1992, Yad Vashem recognized Teresa-Janina Kierocińska as Righteous Among the Nations. File 5110