Paja Julia (Buczarska)

Paja, Julia In October 1942, before the Germans sealed off the Trembowla ghetto, in the Tarnopol district in Eastern Galicia, the parents of six-months-old Irena (Rela) Pelc decided to try to at least save their daughter. The father brought the child to the home of Julia Paja, a woman who lived alone on the outskirts of town. Julia decided to adopt the Jewish girl, and after the child’s parents perished, gave Irena her name. Because of the neighbors’ suspicions, Paja had to leave her home and wander with her adopted daughter from one place to another in order to save her life. After the war, Paja moved to the area within the new Polish borders, where she continued to raise Irena as her own. In 1955, a brokenhearted Paja was forced to give the girl up after her aunt arrived from the Soviet Union and demanded her back. The aunt then immigrated with the girl to the United States. On October 14, 1985, Yad Vashem recognized Julia Paja as Righteous Among the Nations. File 3233a