Śledzińska Helena (Kulhanek); Son: Śledziński Leopold

Śledzińska Helena Śledziński Leopold In 1942, after the liquidation of the Kołomyja ghetto in Eastern Galicia, seven-year-old Jadwiga Tajtelbaum’s father and stepmother decided to escape to Romania in an attempt to save their lives. Since such an undertaking would have been extremely difficult with a seven-year-old girl, the stepmother asked Helena Śledzińska, an old friend of hers who lived with her son, Leopold, to take Jadwiga in. Śledzińska and her son agreed, prepared “Aryan” documents for little Jadwiga, and registered her as Leopold’s illegitimate daughter. Śledzińska and Leopold tried to dispel Jadwiga’s loneliness, taught her to read and write, and treated her as one of the family. After the war, Śledzińska and her son moved to western Poland, taking Jadwiga with them. When Jadwiga’s father failed to return, they handed her over to a Jewish children’s home. In risking their lives for Jadwiga Tajtelbaum (later Długosz), the Śledzińskis were guided by humanitarian motives, which overrode considerations of personal safety or economic hardship. After the war, Jadwiga Tajtelbaum stayed on in Poland. On February 12, 1990, Yad Vashem recognized Helena Śledzińska and her son, Leopold Śledziński, as Righteous Among the Nations. File 4545