|
|
NEWS
Polish Righteous Gentile Honored
by Yated Ne'eman Staff
Yad Vashem posthumously honored Michalina Jasko of Krakow as a Righteous Among the Nations early this week. Her granddaughter Elzbieta Jablonska, who came from the United States for the event, received the medal and certificate of honor on her behalf.
By March 1941, a mere 11,000 of Krakow's 60,000 Jews remained in the city, all of who were incarcerated in the Podgorze Ghetto, south of the city. Among those forced out of their homes were Miriam and Edward Guter, their daughters Franciszka and Halina, and their grandmother Yetty.
In a two-day "Aktion" starting October 27, 1942, the Germans murdered 600 Jews in the ghetto and deported 7,000 to the Auschwitz-Birkenau and Belcez camps. Following the purge, Edward Guter made the difficult decision to smuggle his daughters out of the ghetto and to bring them to the home of his acquaintances, the Jasko family. Michalina Jasko, or the "good angel," as Halina and Franciszka nicknamed her, quickly took action.
She found a hiding place for the Guter family outside Krakow in the village of Lencze and looked after them with great devotion. Despite inclement weather and at great personal risk, she would travel by train and then walk several miles to bring them food, sitting with them for hours to raise their spirits.
The Guters lived in hiding for over two years, and all survived, bechasdei Hashem. Michalina Jasko passed away in 1965.
|
