Wolikowska Danuta (Malinowska)

WOLIKOWSKA-MALINOWSKA, DANUTA Danuta Wolikowska (nee Malinowska) was born in 1922. She was raised in Luck (in Volhynia), where she graduated from the Tadeusz Kosciuszki State gymnasium, where she befriended a Jewish girl named Ida Dekelbaum (later Landsberg). In early 1941, Danuta’s father was deported to Siberia as an “enemy of the Soviet Regime.” On June 21, 1941, Danuta went to Lwow to meet Ida, who was studying there. That very day, the German-Soviet war broke out and Lwow was bombarded. The girls decided to return to their family homes. Since all communication was cut off, they started out by foot towards Volhynia. They walked for five days but did not reach their hometown. They reached the conclusion that Ida had to conceal her origins, so she tore up her documents and threw them away. Danuta and Ida then managed to get to Włodzimierz Wolynski, where Danuta’s mother was living. However, she refused to let Ida stay for the night. With no other option, Ida went into the ghetto. Danuta, however, began to work in the regional office where she managed to get documents for Ida, which allowed her to leave the ghetto and look for a way to earn some money outside of the ghetto walls. In 1942, rumors spread about the liquidation of the ghettos. Danuta decided to hide Ida in her own rented apartment. There, she fed her friend and took care of all her needs. When the liquidation of the ghetto began, she decided to take Ida out of town altogether. One day she drove a carriage near the house dressed as a local girl left untouched by the war. She dressed Ida in the same manner and together they drove out of town. They reached the village where Danuta’s mother worked as a teacher. Danuta introduced Ida as her relative and arranged a place for her to stay, leaving her under the care of the trusted school janitor, but without telling him of her real origin. Danuta visited Ida often, bringing her food and clothes; at the same time, she continued to tell the localsthat Ida was her relative. She also arranged to obtain proper documents for Ida through the local priest. Towards the end of 1943, Danuta reached the conclusion that due to the anti-Polish sentiments of the local Ukrainian population, Ida should leave the village. She gave her the address of friends in the Kielce area and sent her on her way with a group of Polish refugees. Ida got to Kielce, where she safely awaited liberation while working as a teacher in a nearby village. Throughout this entire period, Danuta’s messengers maintained contact with Ida. After the war, Danuta refused to accept any compensation for her actions. Ida, who immigrated to Israel, wrote that: “In 1987 I visited her in Poland and reached the conclusion that I have to immortalize her name... I stayed alive thanks to my friend’s unceasing care, she herself being a refugee from our hometown of Luck.” On January 31, 1993, Yad Vashem recognized Danuta Wolikowska-Malinowska as Righteous Among the Nations.