Papierkowski Anatol

Leopold Papierkowski Lili Doron Thau was born in Lwow to a well established Jewish family – her father was a dentist and her mother a chemist. Their life changed drastically when the Germans invaded the Soviet territories and occupied Lwow(today Lviv). The mass murder of the Jews by Germans and Ukrainians began shortly after the city was occupied. The killing continued over the next few months, and large groups of Jews were sent to labor camps in the vicinity. In the Great Aktion (mass execution) of August 1942, Lili’s father was arrested and sent to Belzec. Her mother hid her daughter in a chimney, but she herself was discovered and murdered. Thus Lili, who was only 15 years old, was left alone. The ghetto in the city had already been established but not yet sealed, and so a friend of Lili's mother gave the young girl some money and false identity papers in the name of Ludwika Muszynska, and told her to flee. Lili boarded a train, choosing a random destination, and embarked on a clandestine life in a hostile environment, relying only on her resourcefulness and the aid of some kind persons she encountered. Lili eventually reached the town of Kopyczunce, where she rented a room from a poor family and was able to survive for nine months undetected. It was at this family's home that she encountered Leopold Papierkowski, an employee of a German company, whose work took him on business trips throughout the region. Lili was looking for a job, and he offered her work. During the conversation he asked her what had brought her to Kopyczunce, and she gave him the cover story she had invented – she had been ordered by doctors to leave the big city for health reasons. Papierkowski must have guessed the real reason, because he told her: "You can always count on me if you are in trouble." Shortly after this encounter, Lili indeed found herself in dire straits. An acquaintance from Lwow(today Lviv) who was visiting the area recognized her and told her neighbors her true identity. The neighbor asked her if it was true that she was Jewish. Realizing that she was in great danger, she immediately left, leaving her meager belongings behind. She dashed to the railway station, determined to flee Kopyczunce. By lucky chance she ran into Papierkowski at the station. She asked him if she could be transferred to another branch of his company. When he asked why, she broke down and told him the truth. Papierkowski responded that her answer came as no surprise to him and, without hesitating, gave Lili a key and told her to go to Czortkow. There he had a room that served as his lodgings when he was in town. Lili stayed in Papierkowski’s room for two weeks. No one knew that she was there, and she was careful not to make any noise. The only outside contact was with Papierkowski, who brought her food and made sure that she was safe. After two weeks of being closed in the room, Papierkowski brought her new forged papers and told her to move to Brezany. Lili spent the rest of the war in Brezany, hidden in the home of Adam & Stefania Kunz*. In her testimony to Yad Vashem, Lili Thau expressed her deep gratitude to Leopold Papierkowski, who clearly saved her life and became her benefactor until the end of the German occupation. He even went back to her landlord in Kopyczunce to collect the belongings she had left behind when she fled the town. After the war Papierkowski, like many other Poles, left the Lwow area, which was now in Ukraine, and moved westwards. His family settled in Krakow, where Papierkowski served as a judge until he succumbed to cancer in 1971. Meanwhile, Lili left Europe and immigrated to Israel. However, she never forgot her rescuer. She traced him through the International Red Cross and corresponded with him until his death. It was only in 2008, when Lili’s memoir was published in Poland and she was interviewed in the Polish edition of Newsweek, that Papierkowski’s daughters renewed the contact. Maria Ludwika Holubowicz, Papierkowski’s daughter born soon after the war, recalled receiving letters and parcels in Krakow from Lili. On February 19, 2013, Yad Vashem recognized Leopold Papierkowski as Righteous "Among the Nations".