Ładosz Henryk & Czirinda Helena

Ladosz, Henryk Czirinda-Ladosz, Helena Henryk Ladosz and Helena Czirinda-Ladosz were puppeteers and lived in Warsaw, in the 8th Colony of the Warsaw Housing Cooperative at 18, Krasinski Street. Henryk and Helena were politically leftwing, which was typical of cooperative members, and were active members of the Polish Socialist Party and Labor’s Friends of Children Society. Before the war, Ladosz had worked with Polish radio as well as with Benedykt Hertz, a Jewish satirist who appeared under the pseudonym Kazimierz Gorski. Henryk and Benedykt were close friends with much in common: they appeared on the same stage, they shared the same political opinions, and they agreed on how the Polish pro-fascist elements should be fought. The outbreak of the war brought additional challenges for the Ladoszes, which meant fighting the occupation and hiding those being persecuted, including Jews. At the beginning of the war, Benedykt and his family were living in Podkowa Lesna, near Warsaw, and Benedykt was very popular amongst intellectuals, most of who were leftwing. Being aware that as a Jew the Nazis might take an interest in him, he decided to hide in Warsaw. In June 1941, he and his wife moved in with a friend of theirs from the radio station, Wanda Tatarkiewicz. Then in the fall, the Ladoszes took in Benedykt, and there he could continue writing encyclopedia entries. From time to time, Benedykt was also a guest of Jan Mulak’s, who lived in the same house. The cohesive environment facilitated underground work, but also attracted the Nazis’ attention. Wanted by the Gestapo, Henryk and Helena left Warsaw in June 1942, and went to Henryk’s brother, Faustyn Ladosz, who was living in Stoczek Wegrowski, They took with them the Hertzes, and Teodor Duracz, a Polish lawyer, and his Jewish wife, who had hidden at their place. At that time, Benedykt had a mental and physical breakdown, and Helena took care of him. In her book, Helena’s daughter Magdalena Arska wrote that Helena “wrapped him in quilts, gave him hot tea, entertained him and took him on walks in the forest.” Benedykt recovered and returned to his creative work, staying with Faustyn Ladosz until the fall of 1942, when the Nazis started taking an interest in his house. In the summer of 1942, Henryk and Helena, persecuted by the Gestapo, returned to Warsaw under the pseudonyms Justyn and Teresa Smuga, and they rented an apartment at 23, Podchorazy. In 1943, they took in a Jewish woman called Tunia (Ester) Erlich, a friend of their writer friend, Ryszard Matuszewski. She obtained “Aryan” papers in the name of Janina Dmytrych, and was welcomed warmly by the Ladoszes. Several months later, unfortunately, she had to leave after she was identified as a Jew by a blackmailer. After the war, Tunia kept in contact with the Ladoszes, when she was working as a nurse. She was always grateful for their help. In 1975, she and her husband, Dr Szpilman, immigrated to Israel. The friendship between Benedykt and Henryk lasted until their deaths, and Benedykt wrote several poems dedicated to Helena to thank her for her altruistic assistance. On December 4, 1995, Yad Vashem recognized Henryk Ladosz and his wife, Helena Czirinda-Ladosz, as Righteous Among the Nations. File 6312