Patyra Maria ; Daughter: Szemro Zofia (Patyra); Child: Eleonora ; Child: Bronisław ; Child: Tadeusz

Patyra, Maria Patyra-Szemro, Zofia Patyra, Eleonora Patyra, Tadeusz Patyra, Bronislaw Before the war, the Gritzman family, Jewish farmers with a small farm, lived in the village of Kamionka, near Chelm, in the Lublin district. The Gritzman’s land was confiscated from them immediately after the beginning of the occupation, but they continued to live in the village. Their sons supported the family by working for Lechnicka, the owner of an estate, who did everything she could to enable them to remain in the village. After the Germans began to imprison the Jews in ghettos, the sons were forced to find somewhere else to hide, and they turned to Polish acquaintances who not only refused to hide them, but even threatened to turn them over to the authorities or kill them themselves. Meanwhile, the parents perished together with three of their children, and of the Gritzman family, only Noach, Jakob and their sister Rachel remained. In their distress, they turned to their neighbor Maria Patyra, a widow that lived in the village with her young children, Zofia, Eleonora, Bronislaw and Tadeusz. Patyra agreed to hide the three Jewish fugitives in her farmyard and they dug themselves a bunker under the stable, where they hid throughout the period they stayed with her. In order to help cover the expenses of keeping them, Noach and Jakob Gritzman helped with the different farm chores at night, bringing her flour that they had hidden on Lechnicka’s estate. Patyra’s neighbors soon began to suspect that she was hiding the Gritzman siblings on her farm, and they informed on her to the authorities. The Gritzmans, who were very alert to what was going on around them, managed to escape in time and find a new hiding place in the forest. When the Germans came in search of them, they found nothing and threatened to shoot Patyra’s children if they did not reveal where the Jews were hidden. Despite their young age, Patyra’s children withstood the interrogation and did not give awaythe whereabouts of the Gritzmans, who preferred, subsequently, to remain in hiding in the forest. The Patyra home remained their base and they returned there from time to time. The Patyra family demonstrated boundless devotion in caring for the three Gritzmans in their home, and took care of all their needs, disregarding the danger to their own lives, motivated by pure altruism, never asking for or receiving anything in return. After the war, Noach, Jakob and Rachel Gritzman immigrated to Israel and remained in touch with their benefactors. On October 21, 1987, Yad Vashem recognized Maria Patyra and her children Zofia Patyra-Szemro, Eleonora Patyra, Bronislaw Patyra and Tadeusz Patyra as Righteous Among the Nations. File 3721