Janina Pawlicka worked in Lodz as housemaid to the Aronson family, owners of a textile plant. When they fled to Warsaw, she joined them. Janina helped dozens of Jews in the ghetto. The Aronsons, like hundreds of others, fell prey to the infamous Hotel Polski Trap, which offered visas to South America. They were not given visas; they were transported to concentration camps.
Janina rented a small apartment in Warsaw’s Aryan side. Eventually, eleven ghetto escapees hid there in one room camouflaged from the rest of the apartment. Gestapo agents raided the apartment twice, but found no one. Janina moved the Jewish fugitives to a series of hiding places. All survived.
After the war, Janina could not find employment because she had helped Jews. In 1956, a Jewish survivor whom she met after the war offered to take her to Israel with his family. Janina accepted, grateful for a new home and family in Israel.
Sources
- What Do We Owe the Righteous Gentiles?
by Malka Drucker, April 1988 - Saving Jews
