Kucharzak Irena ; Father: Jan ; Sister: Felicja

Kucharzak, Irena Kucharzak, Jan Szemlei, Felicja Irena Kucharzak, who taught at the Jewish primary and secondary school until the outbreak of the war, lived with her father, Jan, and her married sister, Felicja Szemlei, in Wawer near Warsaw. Irena was friends with another teacher at the school, Genia (Henia) Troman. “When it became clear that the Nazis were going to liquidate the ghetto and execute everyone, Genia turned to me and asked me to rent an apartment to hide people, using money given by an affluent couple called the Wolkenheims,” wrote Irena in her testimony to Yad Vashem. Irena rented a four-room apartment in Warsaw in the name of Maria Chęcińska, and an additional wall was constructed inside so that those staying there could hide in times of danger. The following people lived in the apartment: Genia Troman; her mother, Mina; Genia’s brother Mietek Troman, his wife, Stefania, and their four-year-old son, Marek; Jadwiga and Henryk Wolkenheim; Rachela Gurmanowa; and Mietek’s two friends, Mietek Sieraczek and Leon Fefer. Six months later, the hiding place was discovered, and, in two days, Irena found another apartment to which she moved everyone. Both apartments were then registered in the name of Janina Pawlicka*, who did the shopping, cooking, and laundry for those in hiding. Irena also hid Mietek Sieraczek’s sister, Hanna Jurman, and her twelve-year-old daughter, Stefania, in the apartment in Wawer that she shared with her father and sister. The Kucharzaks also helped their pre-war neighbor, Jaffa Ilutowicz, who stayed at their house in times of need. On November 11, 1969, Yad Vashem recognized Irena Kucharzak as Righteous Among the Nations.