Żarczyńska Aniela ; Husband: Żarczyński Jan

Żarczyńska Aniela Żarczyński, Jan Ella and Szulim Dichter lived with their children, Chana, Abe (b. 1922), Herschel, and Isaac in Klewań, Poland. The family, not very well off, was being supported by sporadic contributions from a relative in the United States, but they were barely making ends meet. Thus Abe was sent to learn the tailoring trade, to help support his family. When the war began, the village was bombed, and Szulim, the father of the family, was killed. Ella and the children decided to go east to their relatives in Selesz, where they stayed for a while, until the Ukrainian militia forced them to continue on their journey. They arrived in the Kostopol Ghetto, where the Jews of Równo and its environs had been gathered. The ghetto was not fully closed, and when rumors of the ghetto’s liquidation spread in late summer 1943, the family decided to flee and seek a hiding place. They went to the forest: it was cold there and difficult to hide. When the hunger became unbearable, Chana and Herschel went to town to look for some food. They never came back, and later, Isaac was lost while on the same mission. Ella did not want to live without her children, and she told Abe to wait for her in the forest while she went to fetch food. In fact she tried to commit suicide by jumping into a well. It was not deep enough, however, and some Germans dragged her out and shot her. Abe was left alone. He was starving and afraid and saw no other solution than to knock on a door in the village. He came upon the home of Aniela Żarczyńska and her family. They opened the door, invited him in, fed him, and gave him a change of clothes. It was too dangerous for all involved to let him stay, so they agreed that he would go back to the forest but come to their house every other day to be fed and sometimes given shelter as well. On nights when it was very cold, Abe would sneak into their stables, sleep there, and eat the horses’ food. Because he was a tailor, by day he helped Aniela sew: in this way he contributed to the family’s well-being, helping them and himself at the same time. Eventually, the family was attacked by Ukrainians, who drove them out of the village. They went to the village of Aleksandrija, where Aniela’s brother Jan lived, and invited Abe to join them. The Germans there searched Jan’s house for Jews, but when they did not find any, they burned the house down. In fact, another Jewish person was hiding in the house, a woman named Kipa Goldberg. The family stayed together and kept Abe with them until the Red Army arrived to liberate the area. On December 2, 2014, Yad Vashem recognized Aniela and Jan Żarczyński as Righteous Among the Nations.