Szymański Marcin & Szymańska Rozalia (Uchman); Daughter: Szymańska Anna

SZYMAŃSKA ROZALIA SZYMAŃSKI MARCIN SZYMAŃSKA ANNA During the war, Rozalia and Marcin Szymańksi and their daughter Anna lived in Baranówka, near Brzeżany, Tarnopol district. On a November evening in 1943, they opened the door of their house to Bronisława and Zbigniew Sward who had just escaped from Brzeżany. They had met the Szymańskis in the past but had never been particularly close friends. “We counted on a happy lot,” wrote Bronisława in her testimony to Yad Vashem. Rozalia recollected: “We were shocked by their arrival but never thought to drive them out... we thought it could last for a few days only and sheltered them at our place... Yet fate linked us for a year and a half.” At first, the Szymańskis placed the Swards in the hayloft. Then, they dug a hideaway under their house where the Swards stayed during the day. At night, they would enter the house and sleep in comfort. “We were fed and cared for and supported and nursed unselfishly. When they [the rescuers] would go to the field for work, their daughter [then a fifteen-year-old girl] took care of us,” wrote Bronisława. When Brzeżany was liberated, the Swards left their hiding place. After the war, they and the Szymańskis settled in Wrocław. On January 23, 1991, Yad Vashem recognized Marcin Szymański, his wife, Rozalia Szymańska, and their daughter, Anna Szymańska, as Righteous Among the Nations. File 4849