Boratyński Bolesław & Boratyńska Józefa

Boratyński, Bolesław Boratyńska, Józefa Before the war, Albert Etingin, a Jew from Vilna, who had business ties with Bolesław and Józefa Boratyński, helped them out of a difficult financial situation. After the Germans occupied Vilna, Etingin, his wife, Sonia, and their 16-year-old son, Maks, and 13-year-old son, Henry, were incarcerated in the local ghetto. Despite the quarantine under which the Jews were placed during the occupation, Boratyński took an interest in the fate of the Etingin family. In 1943, before the liquidation of the ghetto, he sent a messenger to inform Etingin that he and his wife were prepared to shelter all four members of the family in their home. Despite his parents’ objections to such a dangerous undertaking, Boratyński arranged a hiding place for the Etingins, first in the attic, but later, in a hideout he himself dug in the courtyard of his home. Each day, Józefa and Bolesław Boratyński, prompted by gratitude toward Etingin, who had helped them out financially, brought food to the Etingins, and removed their bodily waste, without expecting anything in return. After the war, the Etingins emigrated to the United States, where they kept in close contact with the Boratyńskis and even invited them to stay with them. On February 11, 1992, Yad Vashem recognized Józefa and Bolesław Boratyński as Righteous Among the Nations.