Andzelm Stefan & Waleria ; Daughter: Kershenbaum Maria (Andzelm)

Andzelm, Stefan Andzelm, Waleria Andzelm-Kershenbaum, Maria In March 1942, Moses Kershenbaum was moved from the Kazimierz Dolny ghetto (Lublin district) to a labor camp in nearby Opole. He escaped across the Vistula River to Janowiec, where there was no ghetto, and rented an apartment in the home of Stefan Andzelm’s mother. In early August 1942, in the midst of an Aktion in which the Jews of Janowiec were being deported. Kershenbaum and his friend Israel Szwarcwort escaped from the transport and found refuge in the home of Stefan and Waleria Andzelm. They hid them in a pit under a cowshed and pigsty. The Andzelms, their thirteen-year –old daughter, Maria and her younger brothers, Jan and Stanislaw, helped the two Jewish refugees as best they could by feeding them, meeting their hygienic needs, and taking them out for fresh air from time to time. Their motives were humanitarian; they refused all remuneration. The two hiding Jews were liberated in August 1944, but their joy was tempered by sadness when Stefan was killed by a shell that landed in his yard on liberation day. When it became public knowledge that the Andzelms had saved two Jews, Waleria and her children had to leave home for fear of attacks by their neighbors. The tables were turned this time, as Kershenbaum accommodated his rescuers in his rented apartment in Lublin. Kershenbaum eventually married Maria, but since they were not safe in Poland, the couple left the country. On March 7, 1983, Yad Vashem recognized Stefan and Waleria Andzelm as Righteous Among the Nations. On June 9, 1994, Yad Vashem recognized Maria Kershenbaum nee Andzelm as Righteous Among the Nations.