Hromiak Maria

Hromiak, Maria Irena Szczurek was born in Brody in 1938. Her nanny, Maria Hromiak, lived with the Szczurek family for 13 years, dedicating herself to the loving care of Irena. In January 1942 a ghetto was established in Brody, and the Szczureks were imprisoned in it. Maria found a job and took care of her beloved former employers by providing them, and other Jews in the ghetto, with provisions. In August 1942 the Brody Ghetto was liquidated. Maria managed to rescue Irena from certain transfer to Belsen and sneak her into her own home. She also tried to save Irena’s parents, but eventually they were denounced by an ill-wisher and killed. Maria Hromiak kept Irena with her throughout the war, despite the vast danger to herself. Even her own relatives threatened her, but she resisted the perpetual fear because of her love for the girl. She gave Irena her own last name and acted for all intents and purposes as her adoptive mother, bribing suspicious policemen, constantly changing her address, and avoiding discovery until the liberation. After the war Maria remained Irena’s “second mother,” as the girl called her, although life was very difficult. All of the Szczureks’ possessions were gone, and Maria was forced to work as a manual laborer at a cement factory in order to keep herself and her adoptive daughter afloat. She never established a family of her own, dedicating herself to Irena. Despite the hardships, Irena obtained a university degree in mathematics and went on to become a schoolteacher. “Every achievement in my life I owe to my nanny,” she wrote to Yad Vashem. On May 5, 2009, Yad Vashem recognized Maria Hromiak as Righteous Among the Nations.