THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
8—Friday, December 25, 1970
Compassion in a World Gone Mad
Exploits of Itighteous.Gentile Told
BY CHARLOTTE DUBIN
If you save one life, it is as
though you saved the entire
world—the Talmud.
• • it
Romualda Ciesielska has saved
the world many times.
She is a Christian woman, a Pole,
whose heroism and that of her
martyred husband Felix have earn-
ed the coveted recognition of
"Zadikei Umot Olam"—the Right-
eous Among the Gentiles.
In a world gone mad, she made
a moral decision that was to link
her fate with Jews whom she had
sever met yet would risk her life
A wreath in the national colors of Poland is laid in Obel Yizkor,
to save. The number tattooed on
the Tent of Mourning, In memory of Feix Cleslelski, as his widow
her arm is evidence of that deci-
Romualda (fifth from left) looks on. The Ciesielski name was hon-
sion, made in a fleeting second
ored by Yad Vashem, the Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance
in December 1939.
Mrs. Ciesielska, one of the Authority, when Mrs. Ciesielska paid a visit to Israel.
•
•
•
Righteous Gentiles who have, been
honored by the state of Israel, is knew that should she try to con- met one of those whom she res-
cued.
ceal
them
and
be
discovered
as
a
visiting here for three months as
Toward the end of 1941 and into
the guest of a Birmingham school collaborator, the Gestapo would
1942, Mrs. Ciesielska began to
teacher, Irene Zajkowska-Jankie. kill her and her family first.
Mrs. 'ankle met Mrs. Ciesiel-
ska for the first time on a visit
to Poland with her daughter,
Barbie. The Polish woman's
story left a deep impression on
the two tourists; Mrs. Jankie's
own two brothers had been killed
in the war as members of the
Polish underground.
When Barbie died in an auto
accident last year, Mrs. Jankie
decided to do "something Barbie
would have wanted me to do"—to
fulfill an old dream of Mrs. Ciesiel-
ska's to visit the United States.
At 72, Mrs. Ciesielska looks 20
•
years younger, She speaks no Eng-
lish, but conveys experiences and
emotions with such animation that
her audience is compelled to listen,
whether or not they understand
Polish.
For an interview with The Jew-
ish News, Mrs. Ciesielska related
her story with the assistance of
Mrs. Jankie and Dr. John Mames,
a member of Shaarit Haplaytah
(Survivors of 1945)• whose own
knowledge of the Holocaust era
was obtained first-hand. He knew
of the Ciesielskis' heroism from
accounts by Yad Vashem, the Is-
raeli institute dedicated to remem-
brance of the Six Million.
To this day, Mrs. Ciesielska ad-
mits she is amazed at her activi-
ties during World War II, in which
she defied the Nazis again and
again to rescue Jews and other
"non-Aryans". How many she
saved from the crematoria is un-
known. but the estimate goes as
high as 100. Several who survived
the war testified in her behalf when
the Ciesielskis' name was pro-
posed for the Yad Vashem medal.
Interestingly, Mrs. Ciesielska had
had little contact with Jews as her
odyssey began, in fall of 1939.
When the Germans took over
their small city of Bydgoszcz, and
the townspeople were ordered to
leave, Mrs. Ciesielska, her hus-
band, who was a high officer in
the Polish army, and their young
son fled in a cattle wagon.
For three months, they moved
from town to town. In December,
they took refuge in Krakow, their
shelter two offices in a large
apartment building in the .ICazi-
mierz Jewish section. With street
conditions increasingly violent, the
Jewish inhabitants of the building
were dismayed to find an Aryan
family among them. Mrs. Ciesiel-
ska laughs about It now, but at the
time, "they looked darts at me."
In this atmosphere of suspicion
and fear, a compassionate act drew
Jew and Gentile together. At the
sight of Mrs. Ciesielska's little boy,
his legs chapped and bleeding from
the cold, a young woman offered
him a pair of stockings. It was a
small gesture, but it "bought me
for life," Mrs. Ciesielska said. The
debt would be repaid soon after.
Suddenly, the Jewish section was
completely cut off by the Gestapo.
In their two small offices, the
Ciesielskis were joined by 23 Jews.
As the Gestapo neared the
building, all Jewish eyes were
riveted to Mrs. Ciesielska .s. All
- - -
4'4 .11 ol
1 ••••• •'•• •
There was a Catholic prayer-
book in the corner of the room.
Mrs. Ciesielska grabbed it, but
not to pray. She tore it up, and
with a paste made from flour,
mounted the holy pictures on the
wall outside. Her work proclaimed,
"This is an Aryan home." She
had taken the step, and there was
no turning back.
The Gestapo entered the build-
ing, rounding up its inhabitants as
they went from room to room.
They approached the Ciesielskis'
door, its sign defying entry. In
the frightening silence, two women
behind the door fainted, but the
sound was quickly muffled. The
Gestapo moved on.
When the street was opened
again, the Jewish families left. But
the Ciesielskis were now involved.
As the turmoil mounted, and the
ghetto was being formed in 1940,
Mrs. Ciesielska began to place
Jews with peasant families out-
side of town.
A few days after finding shelter
for a woman and her 11-year-old
daughter, Mrs. Ciesielska decided
to visit them and bring food. She
packed a valise and set off for the
neighboring town, only to fmd
when she arrived that the Nazis
were rounding up Jews in the town
square and providing them with
spades to dig their own graves in
the forest.
Mrs. Ciesielska pretended the
heavy valise was light and strolled
away so as not to draw any undue
attention. At the peasant home,
she alerted the women -that the
Gestapo was coming.
With what she describes today
lb
t.ard
Ire,
studies and the Bnai Brith Hillel
Foundation at Brooklyn College to
lay plans for a more intensive pro-
motion and cultivation of Judaic
studies at the various institutions
of higher education in the New
York area.
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HIGHLY STYLED FORMALWEAR
FOR THE BAR MITZVAH BOY
fabricate false identification papers,
identifying Jews as Aryans. For
such an undertaking she enlisted
the cooperation of two Krakow
priests, one Catholic and the
other. Greek Orthodox, who is-
sued birth certificates to make the
documents credible.
The Jews who obtained such
papers acquired new names and
new identities. A friend working
as a clerk in the Gestapo office
applied the official seal to each
false ID. Although some Jews
were caught, Mrs. Ciesielska es-
timates that up to 70 were saved
in this way.
In all her activities she had the
assistance of her husband and an
underground movement of Chris-
(Continued on Page 8)
as God-given inspiration, Mrs.
Ciesielska ordered the older Jew-
ish woman—who looked too Semi-
tic to escape notice—into bed and
told her to pretend she was dying.
A towel was placed over her head,
a cross in her hands and candles
at each side.
Then Mrs. Ciesielska grabbed
the peasant's apron and tied it
on the little girl, who was com-
manded to kneel at the bed and
start weeping. The peasant wo-
man was sent outside to feed
the chickens.
When the Gestapo arrived, Mrs.
Ciesielska told them, in German,
that they must be quiet; here was
a dying woman. The Gestapo left.
But her job wasn't done. Mrs.
Ciesielska ran through the fields
to another village where two Jew-
ish women were being .hidden.
There was even less time to act
here; and should she be found at
a second house, the Gestapo would
surely suspect her involvement.
The women were concealed in
the barn hay loft, and the peasant
ordered to scatter barley on the
floor for the chickens. As the Ger-
mans entered the barn, the chick-
ens flew up into their faces. The
Nazis bid a hasty retreat.
Mrs. Ciesielska isn't certain how
many Jews she saved by placing
them with Gentiles, but 13 cases
have been verified, and she thinks
at least half of them survived the
war. When she was in Israel, she
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