Originally posted on Instagram 27th December 2022

Background

Przemyśl, Poland, was occupied by Nazi Germany on September 15th 1939. Stefania Podgórska had moved there some years earlier after finding work in a grocery store owned by the Jewish Diamant family, who treated Stefania like a daughter and welcomed her into their home when war broke out.

The town was briefly occupied by the Soviets, but it quickly fell back into Nazi hands on June 28th 1941, at which time there were around 16,500 Jewish occupants.

Anti-Semitic activity followed and, less than a month later, a ghetto was established, into which the Diamants were forced.

Stefania and Helena were not Jewish, born into a Catholic farming family living in a nearby village. Still, their mother and brother were taken to Germany for forced labour, leaving the girls alone (their father having died of illness in 1938).

Stefania, then just 17, had to look after her seven year old sister – a hard enough task on its own during the war years. She ended up working as a machine tool operator, but they remained poor.

Then, one day in 1943, the sisters received a knock on the door. It was Max Diamant, recently escaped from the Przemyśl ghetto, which was in the process of being liquidated. He needed help.

Despite their young ages and their situation, Stefania did not hesitate to take in Max. She had prepared for it, in fact, having moved into a two-room cottage with an attic on Tatarska Street.

Helena, Stefania, and Max were the first to move into the cottage, but they would not be the last – the sisters agreed to harbour thirteen Jews.

The occupants of Tatarska Street

In total, fifteen people lived in the cottage:-

• Helena and Stefania
• Max Diamant
• Henek Diamant (Max’s brother) and his wife, Danuta
• Dr. William Shylenger and his daughter, Judy
• A dentist and his son
• A widowed friend of the dentist and her two children
• The dentist’s nephew and his wife
• A mailman

The widow threatened to report the sisters if they refused her and her children refuge.

Life in the cottage

Life was hard. Stefania spent all of her earnings from the factory on food for everyone, which she often bought on the black market. At home, young Helena cleaned the Jews’ bodily waste, washed their clothes, prepared food, and stood guard.

At some point in early 1944, a German officer entered the cottage and demanded that Stefania and Helena vacate the premises in two hours. The Jews, thinking their time was up, begged the sisters to flee.

Stefania prayed to Black Madonna of Częstochowa and decided: “I am not leaving you.”

There was another scare when a German hospital was established across the road and SS men moved into one of the sisters’ two rooms.

Thankfully, after a tense eight months, the SS moved on, not having detected the thirteen Jews sheltering just above their heads.

Helena and Stefania hid the thirteen until 27th July 1944, when Przemyśl was liberated by the Soviets. They emerged emaciated and weak, but alive and free.

After

Following the war, Max changed his name to Josef Burzminski. He and Stefania were married and, in 1961, the couple emigrated to the United States. They had a son and a daughter.

Stefania Podgórska died 29th September 2018, aged 97.

Helena remained in Poland, where she married and became a physician. She lived there until her death on 5th December 2022.

In 1979, both sisters were honoured as Righteous among the Nations by Yad Vashem.

See also:

• Blog post: Hai Bà Trưng
• Blog post: Las Mariposas