Poźniak Zofia (Szkocka)

Poźniak, Zofia Before the war, Zofia Poźniak of Krakow had been the piano teacher of Bronisława Felicja Kohn (later Nika Fleissing), and the two women became good friends. In 1939, after the Germans occupied Krakow, Kohn brought possessions belonging to her family to Poźniak’s home to prevent them being seized by the Germans. Kohn later bartered these possessions for food until September 1942, when all the members of the family were sent to their deaths. Kohn fled from the transport and arrived in Poźniak’s home. Poźniak hid her for a week until she was able to obtain “Aryan” papers for her as well as a safer place to hide with friends that lived in Lwow. In time, Kohn moved to Warsaw under an assumed identity and after the Warsaw Uprising was put down in early autumn 1944, she was sent to a prisoner of war camp. There, Poźniak again came to her assistance and sent her food packages. During the occupation, Poźniak was the sole provider for her three children after her husband, a professor at the Jagiellonian University of Krakow, was arrested by the Germans, together with other colleagues. Despite this, she did everything she could to save her Jewish friend because of the genuine friendship between them, without asking for or receiving anything in return. After the war, Kohn immigrated to the United States and kept in touch with Poźniak. On September 13, 1979, Yad Vashem recognized Zofia Poźniak as Righteous Among the Nations.