Kilian Jan & Karolina ; Daughter: Cwik Genowefa (Kilian)

Kilian, Jan Kilian, Karolina Cwik-Kilian, Genowefa On a December night in 1942, a Jewish boy of about 16, hungry and shivering from the cold, knocked on the door of the Kilian family’s home in the village of Pien (Tarnów County, Kraków District). The woman of the house, Karolina Kilian, let him in and saw that he was covered with sores, infested with lice, and in urgent need of a bath, food, and a warm corner in which to rest. The boy was Israel Klein, from the neighboring town of Radomsyl Wielki (Mielec County). After escaping from a killing operation he had hidden alone in the forests, surviving by stealing food from farms. In his despair he wanted only to die, and would not have cared if someone informed on him to the Germans. Karolina took pity on the boy. She let him bathe, gave him food, and washed his clothes; he slept that night in the Kilians’ home. The next day he was asked to leave, but Israel begged to stay. The Kilians were a poor farming family with seven small children and were aware of the risk entailed in sheltering a Jew, but seeing the boy’s wretched state they gave in to his pleas and allowed him to remain. Israel spent most of his time in a hiding place that Jan organized for him in the granary. Genowefa, the Kilians’ eldest daughter, who was then 12, was assigned to look after the “guest.” During the time that he spent under their protection, he was sometimes invited into their home for a meal or to warm himself by the stove. He stayed with the family until May 1943. When the Germans murdered Jews they discovered hiding in the next village and burned the homes of their rescuers, Israel decided to return to the forest, even though the Kilians did not ask him to leave. Jan made an arrangement with him to leave him food twice a week at a designated hiding place, and thus helping Israel survive until the liberation at the end of 1944. On August 31, 2003, Yad Vashem recognized Jan and Karolina Kilian and their daughter, Genowefa Kilian-Cwik, as Righteous Among the Nations.