Babianska Janina (Danilowicz); Brother-In-Law: Butkiewicz Jozef ; Sister: Butkiewicz Jadwiga (Danilowicz); Mother: Danilowicz Teresa

Danilowicz, Teresa Danilowicz-Babianska, Janina Danilowicz-Butkiewicz, Jadwiga Butkiewicz, Jozef In November 1943, Slioma Goldstein and his wife, Tamara (nee Taitz), succeeded in escaping from the Kovno ghetto in Lithuania. On the advice of an acquaintance, the two made their way to the nearby village of Lelerviskiai, and at length, after much wandering and many hardships, they reached the house of a peasant couple by the name of Danilowicz. When Teresa Danilowicz saw two unknown, exhausted fugitives standing on her doorstep, she took pity on them. Without her husband’s knowledge, she gave them food and agreed to hide them for one night in a barn. The night stretched into seven long and fateful months. Teresa’s daughters, Jadwiga and Janina, also lived in the house, as well as Jozef Butkiewicz, their cousin, whom the Germans had evicted from his farm. Apart from Teresa’s sick husband, all the residents of the house were let into the secret, and despite the danger, they helped look after the Goldsteins. Slioma and Tamara were hidden in the stable attic, and in order to keep their presence secret from Teresa’s husband were only allowed into the house at night in order to wash and warm themselves. Teresa and her daughters were Catholics, and they assisted the Goldsteins out of the goodness of their hearts and for religious and ethical reasons; they received nothing in return. The Goldsteins remained in hiding until their liberation in August 1944. After the war, they immigrated to the United States, and in 1991, Slioma Goldstein visited Yad Vashem in person and requested that his former protectors be given the title, Righteous Among the Nations. On September 1, 1992, Yad Vashem recognized Teresa Danilowicz, Jadwiga Danilowicz-Butkiewicz, Jozef Butkiewicz and Janina Danilowicz-Babianska as Righteous Among the Nations.