Rożecka Janina ; Mother: Gutowska Leonia ; Sister: Gutowska Wanda

File 3697 Gutowska, Leonia Różecka-Gutowska, Janina Lesisz-Gutowska, Wanda During the occupation, Leonia Gutowska and her daughters, Janina and Wanda, were members of the AK. Leonia’s husband, an officer in the Polish army, was captured in 1939 by the Soviet Army, and perished in the prisoner-of-war camp in Starobielsk. In early 1943, the Teichers and their seven-year-old son Henryk, who were being persecuted by blackmailers, were brought by an acquaintance, also an AK activist, to the Gutowskas’ home. A few weeks later, the woman returned and took the parents to another hiding place, while Henryk stayed with the Gutowskas. Henryk’s parents, no doubt arrested in their new hiding place, were never heard from again. Since Henryk looked Jewish, Gutowska bandaged Henryk’s face, and obtained a birth certificate for him belonging to a boy of the same age. A few months later, Henryk was joined by Irena Palenker, the wife of a Polish officer who had been taken prisoner by the Germans. The two Jewish refugees stayed with Gutowska even after the inhabitants of Warsaw were deported to Pruszków, after the suppression of the Warsaw Uprising in the summer of 1944. Henryk remained with Gutowska and her daughters until January 1945, while Palenker was liberated in Kraków. In risking their lives to help the Jewish refugees, the Gutowskas were guided by love of their fellow man and their religious faith. After the war, Henryk Teicher and Irena Palenker immigrated to Israel. Later, Janina Różecka-Gutowska came to Israel to visit Teicher. On March 14, 1988, Yad Vashem recognized Leonia Gutowska and her daughters, Janina Różecka-Gutowska and Wanda Lesisz-Gutowska, as Righteous Among the Nations.