Exactly 100 years ago Marianna Krasnodębska was born. She was a brave woman who, together with her parents and brothers, aided Jews during the German occupation.

Marianna Krasnodębska, née Jarosz, was born on 10 October 1923 in Piaski, about 25 kilometres east of Lublin. Her parents Ignacy and Anna were widely respected residents of Piaski, a town near Lublin, where most of the inhabitants were Jewish (2,700 of 4,000 in 1921). Marianna had six brothers and one sister.

Her parents tried to provide their children with a proper education, bringing them up also with respect for others. Marianna managed to finish primary school in Piaski before the war, her further education at a trade school was interrupted by the aggression of Germany and the Soviet Union against Poland in September 1939.

After the outbreak of the Second World War, the town was occupied by the Germans. The Nazis additionally began the forced resettlement of the Jewish population from the territory of the Third Reich to Piaski. This is how the Lewins from Szczecin joined the Jarosz family in 1940. After the establishment of the ghetto in 1941, the Lewins, along with the rest of the Jewish population, were resettled into it. The Jarosz family tried to continue to help them, even though such help was punishable by death according to the occupying German law. At the same time, Marianna and her brothers committed themselves to the work of the Polish Underground State.

Unfortunately, in February 1941 the Germans arrested two of the brothers, Jan and Wacław, who, after a brutal investigation, were sent to KL Auschwitz, where they were soon murdered. This fact did not affect the activities of the rest of the family, who continued to help the Jews. It took a variety of forms, from supplying food and medicines to handing over false documents enabling people to stay outside the ghetto or finding places of refuge.

Escapees from the ghetto also found rescue in the Jaroszs’ buildings. Marianna took an active part in hiding them, entering the ghetto many times, and maintaining contact with the Jewish Combat Organisation. Unfortunately, in August 1943, in two days’ time, two more of the Jarosz brothers, Czesław and Stanisław, were killed by the Germans. Marianna, threatened with arrest, was forced into hiding, continuing her underground activities.

In 2001 the Yad Vashem Institute honoured Marianna Krasnodębska, her parents Anna and Ignacy, and brothers Aleksander and Maksymilian with the medal “Righteous Among the Nations”.