Cepiński Seweryn & Cepińska Irena (Dziedzińska)

Cepiński Seweryn Cepińska Irena Until the summer of 1942, Bencjon and Romana Kapłan and their small son, Wiktor, managed to continue living in their home in the city of Lwów (today L’viv) thanks to Bencjon's vital work as a civil engineer in a Polish company that worked for the Germans. When the roundups against the Jews increased, Bencjon asked his colleague Zdzisław Dziedziński to arrange a safe hideout for him and his family. Indeed, Zdzisław obtained forged "Aryan" papers for them all, arranged a transfer for Bencjon to a German company working far from Lwów. He sent Bencjon with his wife, Romana, and their son to the home of his sister's family, the Cepińskis. Seweryn and Irena Cepiński lived with their two small children in an isolated house on a farming plot in the city limits of Lelechówka (Gródek Jagielloński County, Lwów District). They subsisted from their farm and from the father's work as a forester. Romana Kapłan, who changed her surname to Kalińska, was employed seemingly as the housekeeper. In fact, she and her son became part of the family. The house was separate from any residential area and most of the time life proceeded in relative calm. This calm was shattered suddenly one spring morning in 1944 when, following a denunciation, German policemen came to the house and took Romana and her son away; the father Bencjon was away from the house at his place of employment. Fortunately the Cepiński couple was also absent that day. When they learnt of the arrest, Irena and her two sons fled to their relatives in Lwów. Romana and her son were interrogated by the Gestapo and incarcerated for four months. Fortunately they survived. After the liberation of the city in July 1944, the two families met again and renewed the ties between them. On May 3, 2001, Yad Vashem recognized Seweryn and Irena Cepiński as Righteous Among the Nations File: 9332