Matuszak Katarzyna (Sikora); Daughter: Guzik Krystyna (Matuszak)

Matuszak, Katarzyna Guzik-Matuszak, Krystyna Wasilewska-Matuszak, Maria Before the war Shimon Schlaf from the city of Przemysl used to occasionally shop in a small grocery belonging to Katarzyna Matuszak, a widow who lived with her two daughters. During the occupation, the Jews of Przemysl were imprisoned in a local ghetto, and Schlaf, who worked in a military factory outside the ghetto, occasionally managed to exchange a few words with Matuszak on his way to work. On one of those occasions, Schlaf and Matuszak agreed that Matuszak would hide Schlaf’s wife Rachela for a few days during the Aktion in the ghetto. When Rachel Schlaf arrived in Matuszak’s home, she was warmly received by Matuszak and her daughters, Krystyna and Maria. In the summer of 1943, after an Aktion in which Rachel Schlaf’s husband was killed, they suggested that she remain permanently in their apartment, asking for and receiving nothing in return. After the Przemysl ghetto was liquidated in early autumn 1943, Matuszak and her daughters provided the Jewish fugitive their full protection, taking care of all her needs, presenting her to their friends and neighbors as Matuszak’s sister-in-law. When Krystyna was ordered to report for work in Germany, she gave the order to Rachel, who, under an assumed identity, traveled to Berlin, where she remained until the liberation. Everything Matuszak and her daughters did to save Schlaf was motivated by their goodness of heart and religious faith. After the war, Schlaf (later Genussov) immigrated to Israel, and after some time, renewed her contact with her benefactors. On August 2, 1989, Yad Vashem recognized Katarzyna Matuszak and her daughters Krystyna Guzik (née Matuszak) and Maria Wasilewska (née Matuszak) as Righteous Among the Nations.