Leszczyszyn Maria

Leshchishin, Mariya Mariya Leshchishin, a young woman, lived with her parents and younger sister in the village of Koniuchy, in the district of Tarnopol (today Konyukhy, Ternopil’ District). During the war, she worked as a domestic for a prosperous family. In the late 1930s, she had met Jakob Kupferwasser, while working for the Glik family in Tarnopol, and the two fell in love. After the German invasion began in June 1941, Kupferwasser and Leshchishin saw each other less and less until contact between them was severed entirely and Leshchishin had no idea what fate had befallen her beloved. In early autumn 1943, Leshchishin was invited to visit her neighbors, the Seredyuks*, where she was overjoyed to be reunited with Kupferwasser, who had been hiding there for several months. Leshchishin was exuberant and she cooked for Kupferwasser, washed and mended his clothes, told him the news from the outside world, and revived his spirit. Her parents did not know about her deeds in the Seredyuks’ home but her sister knew the secret and supported her actions. Leshchishin wanted to marry Kupferwasser during the war but this plan was not realized because he had to flee the village just a few weeks before the liberation. After the liberation, Kupferwasser enlisted in the Polish army, with which he reached Germany, from where he immigrated to Eretz Israel. Kupferwasser and Leshchishin only renewed contact in the 1990s. On September 2, 1996, Yad Vashem recognized Mariya Leshchishin as Righteous Among the Nations.