Holub Zofia (Stramska)

Roztropowicz Józef Roztropowicz Natalia Krajewska-Roztropowicz Janina Szkubel-Roztropowicz Stanisława Holub-Stramska Zofia IOnly when she was 57 years old, did Sabina Heller discover her true identity. Until that time she believed she was born in Lodz in 1941, the daughter of Zofia and Zygmund Goszczewski. Unbeknown to her, all the information about her birth and her fate during the Holocaust, together with letters of her rescuers who had tried to find her afterwards, had been kept in a file in the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw. Emunah Rachmany Gafny, an Israeli researcher, eventually found the file and informed Rachel Rabin Yaacov (Sabina’s relative) of its content. After the woman who had raised Sabina and whom she believed to be her mother passed away, Sabina embarked on the painful journey to discover her past. In the spring of 1943, in the town of Radziwiłów (today Radiviliv in Volhynia District, Ukraine), 16-year-old Zofia Stramska discovered a baby girl, hungry and frightened. The child, who was about two years old, had been abandoned by the neighbors who had taken the Jewish child in but left her alone in a dark cellar. Zofia took pity on the child and brought her to Józef & Natalia Roztropowicz. Zofia was a friend of the Roztropowicz daughters, Janina and Stanisława, and a frequent visitor to the family. Despite their difficult economic situation, the Roztropowicz family was not indifferent to the fate of the afflicted child, and decided to rescue her. "With God's help we will take care of her," said Jozef Roztropowicz. Little Sabina quickly became the pampered child of her new family and went through all the terrors of the war with them. When the war was over and nobody came to claim her, the couple decided to adopt her legally. They took her with them when the Poles were repatriated from the areas that were to become Ukraine and moved with her to western Poland. In July 1945, the child was formally adopted and baptized. From now on she was called Irena Roztropowicz, nicknamed Inka. In 1948, emissaries of the Zionist Coordinating Committee for Returning Jewish Children – engaged in retrieving Jewish children who had remained in the care of Christian families and institutions – discovered the whereabouts of now seven-year-old Irena. Brokenhearted, but also considering the child's future welfare in the prevailing circumstances, the Roztropowicz family returned her to her people. Irena was brought to a Jewish orphanage in Lodz, and was eventually adopted by Dr. Zofia Goszczewski and her husband Zygmund. Wanting to put the past behind them and probably believing it would be best for their adoptive child if she did not know the truth, they told her she was their own child, from whom they had been separated in the war and with whom they were now reunited. The newly created family immigrated to Israel, where Inka, now called Sabina, grew up. Meanwhile, the Roztropowicz daughters tried to find Inka, but since her name had changed again to Sabina Goszczewski, they were unsuccessful. In the mid 1990s they deposited all the documents in the Jewish Historical Institute, where they were found by Gafny. After discovering the truth, Sabina travelled to Poland to meet with the surviving members of her rescuers. She was able to close some of the gaps in her past, and turned to Yad Vashem in 2000 to request that her rescuers be recognized as Righteous Among the Nations. Today she knows that her real parents were called Kagan, but their first names remain unknown. On May 28, 2000, Yad Vashem recognized Józef and Natalia Roztropowicz as Righteous Among the Nations. On December 18, 2001, Yad Vashem recognized Zofia Stramska-Holub as Righteous Among the Nations. On October 23, 2002, Yad Vashem recognized the daughters Janina Roztropowicz-Krajewska and Stanisława Roztropowicz-Szkubel as Righteous Among the Nations. File: 8890