LEWICKA, Jaroslawa (1935 – )
Jaroslawa Lewicki (right) together with one of the people she rescued.)
Immediately after the occupation of the town of Zloczow, in the Tarnopol district in July 1941, Aleksander Lewicki came to the aid of his Jewish friends who were in troublep. When the Germans introduced measures restricting the movement of Jews and forbidding them to purchase food and began confiscating their apartments, Lewicki began supplying his Jewish friends with food and medicine.
He would not have been able to do so without the help of his courageous granddaughter, Jaroslawa, who acted as his courier without awakening the suspicions of the Ukrainian guards. In December 1942, when a closed ghetto was set up in Zloczow, Lewicki, his daughter Katarzyna, and his granddaughter continued to help the incarcerated Jews until the liquidation of Zloczow’s Jewish community in April 1943. Among the handful of survivors of the massacre perpetrated by the Germans and Ukrainian nationalists against local Jews were two Jewish girls whom the Lewickis sheltered and looked after until July 1944, when the area was liberated. The Lewickis also helped another group of 25 Jewish refugees who were hiding in the basement of a ruined house two kilometers away by bringing them food despite the distance and the danger accompanying the purchase of such large quantities. In throwing in their lot with their charges, the Lewickis were inspired by deep compassion and Christian love, and never expected anything in return.
On September 21, 1989, Yad Vashem recognized Aleksander Lewicki, his daughter, Katarzyna Lewicka, and his granddaughter, Jaroslawa Lewicka, as Righteous Among the Nations.
(Excerpt from”The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations”, Poland, Yad Vashem Press, p. 454-455)
