Zajączkowski Piotr & Zajączkowska Maria (Pilch); Child: Józef ; Child: Szmigiel Krystyna (Zajączkowska)

Zajączkowski Piotr Zajączkowska Maria Zajączkowski Józef Zajączkowska-Szmigiel Krystyna Piotr, a railroad worker, and his wife Maria Zajączkowski lived in Przemyśl, in the neighborhood of Winna Góra, with their four children, Józef, Krystyna, Jan, and Jerzy. In November 1942, Maria and her niece, Hanna Zajączkowska, traveled to Drohobycz. The purpose of the trip was to smuggle Alicja Adiren and her fiancé, Józef Blam, MD, out of the Drohobycz ghetto and to bring them back to Przemyśl. The initiator of this undertaking was Alicja’s mother, Felicja Adiren (master pharmacist), who was at that time hiding at Hanna’s parents’ home. She knew the Zajączkowski family well as Hanna’s mother used to work for her in her house and pharmacy. The plan was only partly successful. The night before, the Gestapo arrested Józef’s parents and Alicja. Maria and Hanna nevertheless took Józef out of the ghetto in a car designated for Germans, his face wrapped and bandaged as though he was suffering from a toothache. After Józef arrived at Przemyśl, Felicja joined him. The Zajączkowskis dug two bunkers, one under the kitchen and one under the staircase, where they hid Józef and Felicja. The Zajączkowski children were let in on the secret and helped as much as they could, bringing food to the hideouts and watching the area, giving warning when danger approached. Due to concern for their charges, the Zajączkowskis forbade their children to play with the neighbor’s kids. Thus, the children were isolated from their peers throughout the whole time that Józef and Felicja were in hiding - from November 1942 until June 1944. “The Zajączkowski family lent us aid completely without self-interest,” wrote Józef Blam in his testimony. Krystyna mentions in her testimony that giving cover to Józef and Felicja involved great risk because strange people lived on the top floor of their building and for some time a prisoner-of-war camp was located across the street. Moreover, some Germanswere billeted in one of the rooms in their home for some time. On May 3, 1989, Yad Vashem recognized Piotr Zajączkowski, his wife, Maria Zajączkowska, and their children, Józef Zajączkowski and Krystyna Zajączkowska-Szmigel, as Righteous Among the Nations. File 4129