Sudová Jana

Sudova, Jana Jakob Silberstein was born in 1924 in Rypin, Poland. Following Germany’s invasion of Poland, his family was forced to move into a ghetto, and in November 1942 the entire family was deported to Auschwitz, where his parents and three siblings were murdered. Despite the terrible conditions, Jakob managed to survive in the camp for over two years and in January 1945, with the evacuation of the camp, he was taken on one of the death marches. His group was headed towards Bohemia and Moravia, first on foot and then in open box cars. At some point Jakob and three of his friends managed to escape from the ranks. They arrived, wet and freezing, in the village of Šunichel, near Bohumín, and went looking for a place to hide. They tried one house but were turned away, and finally found refuge in the home of Jana Sudova who was living on her own with her 3-year-old daughter Anna. At first the three fugitives told her they were partisans, and asked for shelter for one night. Sudova gave them food and let them sleep in the attic. On the following day they asked her again to stay, and she agreed. She made sure the four escapees had everything they needed. Jakob discovered a birch tree with a hollow trunk in Jana’s backyard, and decided to widen the entrance to the tree for use as an emergency hiding place. From then on, whenever the Germans came to search the farm, Jakob would hurry to hide inside the tree trunk. The Germans never found him, and he would remain hidden inside the tree-trunk until the danger had passed. Jakob stayed in Jana Sudova’s house until liberation. After the end of the war, Jakob discovered that Sudova had known from the start that he and his friends were Jewish. Despite the grave danger to her own life and that of her daughter, she concealed them for about 6 weeks. In 1958 Jakob immigrated to Israel, and not long afterwards he started searching for the family that had saved him. He traveled back to Czechoslovakia several times, but itwas only many years later, after his story was published in a Czech newspaper, that he was finally able to find Anna, Jana’s daughter. Jana Sudova had died in 1993. On 22 January 2006 Yad Vashem recognized Jana Sudova as Righteous Among the Nations. Returning to Sudova’s home after his rescuer was recognized, Jakob Silberstein located the tree that provided him shelter while the Nazis were searching Jana Sudova’s yard. He brought the tree trunk to Israel and requested Yad Vashem to place it on the Mount of Remembrance. It was placed in the vicinity of the Garden of the Righeous, where Anna Sudova’s name is engraved on the wall of honor.