Flukowska Maria (Lityńska); Daughter: Leszczyńska Halina ; Mother: Ladzińska Julia (Kost)

Flukowska Maria Ladzińska Julia Leszczyńska Halina Maria Flukowska was an exceptional woman, well-educated and with artistic tendencies. She was also a woman who displayed initiative and resourcefulness. As the war was raging on, she found herself alone in Warsaw with her two children – her husband was in German captivity – and compelled to work as a waitress and at an assortment of odd jobs to provide for the family. She joined the Polish underground Home Army (AK), where she was active in the underground press and then worked as a nurse. In April 1942, Maria was forced to vacate her home by order of the Germans. She rented an apartment in a half-destroyed building at 49 Szustra Street, where the underground had established a hospital for wounded fighters. Maria became the institution’s de facto director. In short order the building became a haven not only for the wounded, but also for various other people seeking to hide from the occupation authorities. These included Jews who had fled to the “Aryan” side of the city from the ghetto and who now were required to move out of formerly safe houses that had been discovered or were hounded by blackmailers. About 20 Jews, including six children, were given asylum under Maria’s auspices at 49 Szustra Street in different periods – some stayed a few days, others for weeks or months, and some became almost permanent tenants. Similarly, some bore all their own expenses, some were supported by the underground (probably by ŻEGOTA), and others stayed for free. Among the adults who hid there were Anna Mitzner, Arnold Szyfman, Ludwika Libin, and Helena Fridman. Six children were hidden in this shelter at one time or another, most apparently with the support of ŻEGOTA: Janek Lipski, Marysia Fridman, Irka Bojanowska, Jedrus Czerski, Hela, and Ewa Ciprys, at the time only a toddler. While the fugitives stayed at with 49 Szustra Street, Maria tried to find them more permanent places of hiding. She also arranged “Aryan” papers for them. To help her with this she recruited the help of some friends and relatives, starting with her daughter, Halina, then about 17 or 18, who was serving as a paramedic with the underground army – she later became an oncologist – and who was living with her. She had a particularly difficult time finding a suitable hiding place in Warsaw for Janek, because of his Jewish features. He stayed in the building for nearly two years, until Maria moved him to the home of her mother, Julia Ladzińska, who lived near Zakopane, deep in the hinterland. Testimony to Maria’s daring and humane activity during that dark time is contained in the many letters of gratitude and esteem that she continued to receive until her last day from her former child wards. On January 25, 2004, Yad Vashem recognized Maria Flukowska, her mother, Julia Ladzińska, and her daughter, Halina Leszczyńska, as Righteous Among the Nations. File: 9769