Chęć Stanisław & Karolina (Wójcik); Daughter: Wieczorkiewicz Marianna (Chęć)

Chęć Stanisław Chęć Karolina Wieczorkiewicz-Chęć Marianna In March 1943, two months before the destruction of the Bełżyce ghetto in the Lublin district, a Jewish tailor by the name of Sznajderman asked Stanisław and Karolina Chęć, a peasant couple who lived with their daughter, Marianna, in the nearby village of Jaroszewice, to hide his baby boy, Moshe, who was not yet two months old. Although they were aware of the penalty for hiding Jews, the Chęćs felt sorry for the Jewish baby and agreed. The baby was brought to their home where they took good care of him. Sznajderman returned to the ghetto, where he perished. Moshe, who was ill when he arrived, was nursed back to health by the Chęćs, and developed into a healthy boy who was cherished by the whole family. One day, the Chęćs were summoned to the police station, where they were accused of harboring a Jewish child. They denied this charge, claiming that the boy was a foundling who had been abandoned by a gypsy on their doorstep, and whom they wished to raise, to help them on the farm. After some deliberation, the child was returned to them and the Chęćs were released. Even after the area was liberated in July 1944, Moshe remained with the Chęćs, and since no one came to claim him, they planned to adopt him. One day, however, Moshe’s uncle, Szol Fersztman, arrived, and took Moshe back with him to Lublin. Marianna, the Chęćs’ daughter, who had looked after him and was especially close to him, accompanied him in order to facilitate his adaptation to his new environment. Mariana continued to look after Moshe even in his new home, until he left Poland with his uncle. Later, Moshe Sznajderman moved to Belgium where he kept up a correspondence with Marianna Wieczorkiewicz (née Chęć). On May 16, 1989, Yad Vashem recognized Karolina Chęć, her husband, Stanisław Chęć and their daughter, Marianna Wieczorkiewicz-Chęć, as Righteous Among the Nations. File 4231