Otwinowska Bronisława (Muciek)

Otwinowska, Bronisława In September 1942, during the final liquidation of the Horodenka ghetto, in the Stanisławow district in Eastern Galicia, Aharon Frischling turned to Bronisława Otwinowska, a former neighbor, to ask her to hide him, his wife Dora and their five children, the youngest of whom was only four years old. Otwinowska, the wife of a Polish officer taken prisoner by the Soviets, lived alone with her daughter, and despite the danger to their lives, acceded to Frischling’s request. She hid the entire Frischling family for a year and a half in a subterranean hiding place built in a corner of her house. In the first year, the fugitives bore the costs of their accommodations, but after all their savings ran out, Otwinowska took care of all their needs at her own expense. Otwinowska’s Ukrainian neighbors, who suspected that she might be hiding Jews in her home, kept track of her movements and constantly harassed her, and ultimately informed on her to the authorities. In their search of her home, the Germans failed to find the secret hiding place, and the entire Frischling family survived until the liberation in March 1944. Otwinowska’s efforts to save the Frischling family were motivated solely by humanity, and she neither asked for nor received anything in return. After the war, the Frischlings left Poland, some immigrating to Israel and others to Canada. Bronisława Otwinowska, the woman who saved their lives, moved to Lublin. On November 28, 1989, Yad Vashem recognized Bronisława Otwinowska as Righteous Among the Nations.