Makowska Zofia

Makowska, Zofia-Bogumiła Blas, a Jewish woman, managed to escape from the Zamosc ghetto in the Lublin district, carrying her two-year-old daughter in her arms. She came to the home of a Polish acquaintance, Maria Pawalec, who agreed to take the Jewish child. After someone informed the authorities, German policemen visited Pawalec’s home, and fearing the child’s identity might be discovered, she placed her in a basket, tied a small bag with a cross on it around her neck, and added a note bearing the name Wanda and stating that she had been baptized. Pawalec left the basket at the gate of the local convent, where there was also a home for orphans and foundlings. The nuns took in the baby. The nun, Zofia-Bogumiła Makowska, who knew the child was Jewish, never revealed her true identity to anyone, and looked after her until the end of the war. When the staff of the “Coordination Committee” learned the whereabouts of the child, they moved her to a Jewish institution, and she later immigrated to Israel. Wanda, afterwards known as Tamar Lavi, later succeeded in locating Makowska, who had rescued her, and kept in touch with her for many years. On September 21, 1993, Yad Vashem recognized the nun Zofia-Bogumiła Makowska as Righteous Among the Nations.