When Marta Karbowska left her home in Warsaw to go shopping in October 1942, no one expected her to return with a 13-year-old Jewish boy who was threatened with death at the hands of the German occupier. Despite there being a decree on the death penalty for Poles helping Jews in German-occupied Poland, the Karbowskis still saved the teenager.

They lived in Warsaw on Lwowska Street – near the Warsaw University of Technology, where Józef Karbowski worked as the main electrician. His wife, Marta, looked after the house. The Karbowski family had four children: three sons Stefan, Czesław and Jan, and a daughter: Zofia.

She just went shopping

As Zofia Szołoch née Karbowska recollects, when her mother went out shopping in October 1942, someone persuaded her to take a 13-year-old boy. The boy’s name was Nathan Goren. In the Karbowski household, however, he took the name Zenon Machałowski. Zofia gave him her room. Years later, she remembered him extremely warmly – A very nice boy. Kind, clingy and a true part of the family; we all looked after him, the whole family – she said.

Nathan’s mother

The boy was visited by his mother in the Karbowskis’ house, who also received false documents and was hiding from the Germans. After one visit, someone knocked on the door and began to ask questions about her, describing her appearance. The risk of being exposed began to increase. Nathan’s mother dressed up in Zofia’s clothes and was led by one of her brothers through the back exit to a safer place.

In 1943, the Karbowskis were ordered to move to one of the apartments, which remained vacant after the Jewish ghetto in Warsaw had been liquidated by the Germans. This brought further dangers and Nathan’s mother moved him to a completely different place.

After the war

The Karbowski family then lost contact with Nathan and his mother. The war, however, had spared their lives. As it turned out later, Nathan also survived and as an adult, he decided to find his saviors. In 1988, he managed to contact Zofia Szołoch née Karbowska, the only member still alive from the family where he was hiding.

Nathan survived the Warsaw Uprising by pretending to be a Frenchman. After the Warsaw Uprising, Zofia was transported by the Germans to Łambinowice, and later to Grossbreitenbach camps.

Righteous family

Nathan died in 1991, however, he managed to pass his testimony to the Jewish Yad Vashem Institute, which deals with commemorating those who saved Jews during the Holocaust. On the basis of the testimony provided by Nathan Goren, on January 1, 1992, this institution awarded the Karbowski family the title of Righteous Among the Nations – it happened on the 29th anniversary of Marta Kabrowska’s death and on the 39th anniversary of Józef Karbowski’s death.

Based on sprawiedliwi.org