Majcher Genowefa (Bednarska)

Majcher, Genowefa Michael Rozenszein, from Białystok, was a year and a half old when the Germans murdered his mother, Genia, and he was placed in the custody of his aunt, Rachel, in the ghetto. At the end of 1941, Rachel made contact with a young Polish woman, Genowefa Majcher, an acquaintance of hers and of Genia’s, and asked her to rescue the boy. Genowefa, who was unmarried and lived with her mother, acceded to the request. She entered the ghetto and smuggled the toddler out. The child was in poor physical condition, and when Genowefa’s mother saw him she was far from enthusiastic about the adventure her daughter had embarked upon. But what worried Genowefa most was not the child’s physical condition, which improved with the aid of a pediatrician, but the fact that he was a Jew. Accordingly, she had him baptized publicly in a church ceremony and gave him a Christian name. Michael went through the war with Genowefa and grew attached to her, calling her “mother”. She, too, loved him and considered adopting him. In 1944, when Białystok was liberated, Michael’s father returned together with the liberating army. He tracked down his son and was reunited with him in his rescuer’s home. Being a soldier, he could not take the boy along, so he left him with Genowefa, returning to claim him only in 1946. Genowefa remained deeply attached to her ward for long afterward, and Michael never forgot her affectionate care and compassion, which enabled him to survive. On October 22, 2003, Yad Vashem recognized Genowefa Majcher as Righteous Among the Nations.