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RIGHTEOUS AMONG THE NATIONS – FEMALE SAVIORS
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CHRIS MCDONOUGH, EDITOR [THE FOUNDATION ASKED ME TO REDUCE LONG BIOGRAPHIES TO BIO-NOTES,.]
Francisca Halamajowa, Poland
During several aktions in the Sokal Ghetto in 1942, Francisca Halamajowa, a Polish Catholic in her late 50s, hid Jewish families in the hayloft over her pigsty.
In 1943, a child cried so long and loud that everyone, including Mrs. Halamajowa, risked discovery. The family decided to sacrifice the child’s life to save the other fourteen. They gave her a spoonful of poison; she stopped crying, closed her eyes, and stopped breathing. That night Mrs. Halamajowa returned with a burlap bag for the body, but the child had a pulse and her life was spared.
When her neighbor discovered the Jews and demanded they be thrown out Mrs. Halamajowa said she would take the blame and go to prison with the Jews.
After D-Day, June 6, 1944, her home was packed with retreating German officers, who left on June 10.
On July 19, 1944, Mrs. Halamajowa bade farewell to the fifteen Jews whose lives she saved.
In 1943, a child cried so long and loud that everyone, including Mrs. Halamajowa, risked discovery. The family decided to sacrifice the child’s life to save the other fourteen. They gave her a spoonful of poison; she stopped crying, closed her eyes, and stopped breathing. That night Mrs. Halamajowa returned with a burlap bag for the body, but the child had a pulse and her life was spared.
When her neighbor discovered the Jews and demanded they be thrown out Mrs. Halamajowa said she would take the blame and go to prison with the Jews.
After D-Day, June 6, 1944, her home was packed with retreating German officers, who left on June 10.
On July 19, 1944, Mrs. Halamajowa bade farewell to the fifteen Jews whose lives she saved.