Wołoszkiewicz Dominika (Dyjakowska)

WOŁOSZKIEWICZ DOMINIKA During the war, Dominika Wołoszkiewicz lived in the village of Byteń, in the county of Kowel in Volhynia, with her husband and children. On the morning of November 15, 1942, she heard a child crying. She and her husband went out to investigate and they found a baby girl. Dominika picked up the child and brought her into the house, “and from that moment on I attended to the child’s care and education in the same manner that a mother attends to her own children,” wrote Dominika in her testimony. She added that the child was no more than a month old. Dominika named the girl Marysia. She cared for her throughout her stay in Byteń, until the liberation. “I had many troubles from the neighbors on account of this, as they always reproached me and tried to convince me to throw the child away or give it up,” wrote Dominika. During the war, Dominika also baked bread for the partisans that were active in the area and also for Jews hiding in dugouts in the nearby forest. After the liberation, Dominika’s family was resettled within the framework of repatriation in the village of Czułczyce Małe in the region of Chełm, taking Marysia with them. In the autumn of 1945, Mendel Grinblat turned to Dominika and told her that Marysia was a Jew and the daughter of his brother who had perished during the occupation. Dominika did not want to give the child up at first, but she decided to do so “only when I believed him that it was indeed his brother’s child.” On September 25, 1990, Yad Vashem recognized Dominika Wołoszkiewicz as Righteous Among the Nations. File 4220