Filiński Jan & Filińska Maria ; Son: Antoni ; Daughter: Malinowska Helena (Filińska)

Filiński Jan Filińska Marianna Filiński Antoni Malinowska-Filińska Helena One day in the fall of 1942, during the liquidation of the ghetto in Brańsk (Bielsk County, Białystok District), the young Józef Broide arrived at the home of his acquaintance, Jan Filiński, in the neighboring village of Oleksin. Even before he crossed the threshold, Jan told him to immediately harness the horses and go to plow in the field. A hunt was being carried out in the vicinity for fleeing Jews and Filiński thought it preferable for Józef to pose as a farmer plowing in the open field rather than hiding as a Jew in the barn. When he returned to the Filiński family home in the evening he found his brother, Ichak, hiding in a corner. The woman of the house, Marianna, invited the two to join them for supper. The Filiński couple was well aware of what was happening outside and took pity on the two Jewish boys who had fled to their home. That very night, Jan instructed them to dig a hiding-place under the floor of the house where they were to hide for the next few weeks until they could join the partisans in the surrounding forests. Even after this they continued to come to the home of the Filiński family, which became their support base. They would return on cold and rainy nights in order to warm themselves, eat a good meal, experience a little feeling of home and equip themselves with food and clothing for the return to the forests. The Filińskis were a fairly affluent farming family who had trade relations with Jews in the town. Unlike many of their farming neighbors who gloated over the misfortune of the Jews and even pursued them and delivered them to the Germans, the Filiński couple did not change their skin. They were compassionate and kindhearted people and the Jews hiding in the vicinity knew that anyone going to their home would not leave empty-handed. The adult Filiński children also played their part in helping Jews and particularly Helena who was then aged 15 and knew the forest paths and the partisan hiding places. She would bring them food that her mother Marianna had prepared for them. After the war, some of the survivors remained in contact with their rescuers, and Józef Broide wrote in his biography that Jan Filiński was his true redeeming angel in that purgatory. On March 18, 2001, Yad Vashem recognized Jan and Marianna Filiński and their children Antoni Filiński and Helena Filińska-Malinowska as Righteous Among the Nations. File: 9210