Krajňák Ján & Krajňáková Mária

Krajňák, Ján Krajňáková, Mária Erika Fleischerová (later Kleinová) was seven years old when she went into hiding with Ján and Mária Krajňák in late 1944. During the deportations in May 1942, the Fleischer family – Zoltán, Regina, and their daughter Erika, as well as the grandparents – was put on a train in the village of Sabinov. They were taken to Prešov, where they were to be added to a transport. When the door of their crowded wagon opened, a Hlinka guard ordered the Fleischer couple and Erika to get out. They soon learnt that their relative showed the security services men a forged baptismal certificate attesting to the conversion of the Fleischers to Christianity and had told them that the bishop had sent him to release the Fleischers. The deception worked and the released Fleischers returned to their home in Sabinov. The grandparents were sent to their deaths. Following the forced eviction of the Jews from eastern Slovakia in the spring of 1944, the Fleischers moved to Levoča. After the Slovak National Uprising, the Fleischers fled to the Levoča Mountains and, after a long time spent wandering, they arrived at a bunker where a few Jewish families were already hiding. When the cold days approached, hiding there became extremely difficult. The Jews then discovered that the local farmers tended to be helpful to escaped refugees, some even providing them with basic food supplies. In early October, the Fleischers, including Zoltán’s two sisters, Etela Rosenfeldová and Cečilia Wohlová, and Cečilia’s son Andrej Wohl (later Vronsky), left the hideaway and descended to the nearby village of Nižné Repaše, where they happened on the home of Ján and Mária Krajnak. The couple agreed to hide the Jews, and placed them initially in the cellar and then later moved them to the loft above the cowshed. Every evening, Ján attached a ladder to the entrance in the ceiling, brought food to the six hidden members of the family, and removed their waste. One day the Germans arrivedto demand hay for their horses. They were directed to another entrance to the attic and were only a step away from the Fleischers. Once in a while, the Krajňáks dressed Erika in peasant clothes and allowed her to play with their young children. On the eve of the Greek Orthodox Christmas in January 1945, all the Fleischers descended from their hiding place for a festive dinner. Zoltán asked Ján how much they would have to pay them for their rescue. Ján, who was very pious, answered that their survival with God’s help was reward enough. The Red Army liberated them later that month and Erika remained in Slovakia. On December 4, 1996, Yad Vashem recognized Ján Krajňák and Mária Krajňáková as Righteous Among the Nations.