Świerczyńska Antonina (Niemczyk)

Świerczyńska, Antonina Antonina Świerczyńska (nee Niemczyk), along with her husband and son, lived in Czestochowa. Before the war, she worked as a domestic helper for the Jakubowicz family. In 1941, because the Jakubowicz family’s apartment remained within the ghetto borders, Antonia had to leave. Nevertheless, she maintained close contact with the Jakubowiczes. Antonina’s husband, Edmund, went to the ghetto and brought food to the Jakubowicz family and also helped to sell some of their valuables in order to earn money for them. In September 1942, Sara Jakubowicz was deported to Treblinka but her husband, Leibush, and two sons, Harry and Gershon, remained in the ghetto. Antonina brought them meals every day, and, by the end of 1942, Leibush was transferred to Skarzysko Kamienna, eventually dying there in the spring of 1943. In July 1943 Gershon Jakubowicz was executed together with two hundred Jews of the Hasag-Rakow camp. Soon afterwards, Harry Jakubowicz managed to escape from the Hasag-Rakow camp and sought help from Antonina, who had become a widow in the meantime. Antonina sheltered Harry in an interior room of her apartment with the entrance to the room disguised as a wardrobe. Harry stayed in the hideout for seventeen months, until January 6, 1945. That day, when Antonina was out, Antonina’s friend - who knew about the hiding place - decided that she wanted to store ten kilograms of tobacco there. She was followed by a German policeman who entered the room at the very moment that she was trying to move the wardrobe aside. The policeman opened the wardrobe and began to look for hidden goods but instead found a hidden Jew - Harry. When Antonina returned home, the German policeman was standing in the room with his gun aimed at Harry. He demanded that Harry show his documents and then forced him to pull down his pants. Upon discovery that Harry was a Jew, he told Antonina that she would pay for hiding a Jew. He said that she and her son would be taken away and undergo a program of “Germanization.” Harry fell to his knees, begging the Nazi to spare Antonina and her son. To the astonishment of everyone, the policeman took Harry with him, leaving Antonina and her son alone in the apartment. On the way to the Gestapo, however, Harry managed to escape. He returned to the still-functioning Hasag-Rakow camp, and ten days later Czestochowa was liberated. After that, Harry Jakubowicz (later Harry Jacobs) immigrated to Australia but he maintained close contact with Antonina and her son Mieczysław. On October 29, 1995, Yad Vashem recognized Antonina Świerczyńska as Righteous Among the Nations.