Ponczyński Jerzy

PONCZYŃSKI, JERZY In September 1941, Ita Zabara (b. 1925) was living in Kiev with her 1-year-old daughter when the German army arrived. Her family (parents, two sisters, and a brother) took the last transport and were evacuated to safety, but Ita was not on time for the transport. When the Nazis marched into town, they dragged all of the Jews out of their houses and herded them toward Babi Yar. On the way a Ukrainian man grabbed the infant out of Ita’s arms, saying that someone might take care of her. That was what happened—a childless couple cared for the girl until 1945, when she was 5, and her grandparents returned from the Caucasus and found her. Ita, meanwhile, escaped from the train headed for Babi Yar and stole away through the forest. When she came out into a clearing, she saw a young Pole fishing. The young man’s name was Jerzy Ponczyński. She asked him where she was. He replied, in Polish, saying that she was in Poland. He insisted he would help her, despite her telling him that she was Jewish and despite her disheveled appearance. For a while he hid her in his relative’s basements and his father’s house, though his father did not know she was Jewish. They wandered the area, constantly changing hideouts. He even joined her in the ghetto in Równo, where they had their first child. The love between Ita and Jerzy survived for five decades. They had eight children together, and even after surviving the hardships of the war, they had to face abuse and violence in anti-Semitic Poland. Yet Jerzy remained faithfully by Ita’s side until the day he died. On March 22, 2011, Yad Vashem recognized Jerzy Ponczyński as Righteous Among the Nations.