Rescuers of Jews

     In 1941, the residents of Anglininkai village in the Trakai district, Ivan Kukolewski (Jan Kukolewski) and his wife Zofia Kukolewska (Zofia Kukolewska), together with his sisters Helena Zienowicz and Janina Zienowicz (later Maria Janina Zagała), who lived in Vilnius, became the rescuers of three Jewish adults and three Jewish children: five-year-old Renana Gabaj, her ten-month-old brother Benjamin Gabaj, and four-year-old Vilijus (Wilinkė) Fink.
     One day in September 1941, Dr. Abel Gabaj of Butrimonys learned from a police officer he knew that a mass execution of the Jews of Butrimonys was being prepared. The doctor immediately decided to flee the town with his family. At first, Abel Gabaj, his wife, and their children found refuge with the Jankowski farming family. There they met other fugitives, including his close friend Jakub Fink with his young son, Janina Zienowicz, who had arrived from Vilnius, and several others. After discussing their situation, they all decided to travel to Vilnius, hoping that it would be easier to hide and survive the horrors of war in a large city. Since travelling with small children under such difficult circumstances was extremely challenging, the farm owner, Anna Jankowska, harnessed her horse and offered to take Dr. Gabaj’s family to Vilnius. Janina Zienowicz, who happened to be staying with the Jankowskis, accompanied her. On the way, they stopped to rest at the home of Zofia and Jan Kukolewski in Anglininkai village, Trakai district. There the refugees learned that the Jews of Vilnius had been confined to the ghetto and were being taken in groups to Paneriai and shot. This shocking news completely changed the plans of Dr. Abel Gabaj and Jakub Fink to hide together with their children in Vilnius. At the suggestion of Zofia and Jan Kukolewski, it was decided that the adults would remain with the Kukolewskis, while Janina Zienowicz would take responsibility for finding shelter for the children in Vilnius.
     After bringing the children to her sister Helena’s home, Janina initially tried to find other guardians for them, because after the Nazi occupation of Vilnius both sisters had lost their jobs and struggled to support themselves. Furthermore, Helena Zienowicz lived near the Gates of Dawn, where the streets were always crowded, making it highly likely that someone would notice the Jewish children and report them to the authorities. News of the sudden increase in Helena Zienowicz’s household quickly spread throughout the neighborhood. Unfortunately, everyone Janina approached was afraid to hide Jewish children. Realizing this, Helena, a nun and religion teacher, declared: God has brought these children into our home, and here they must remain. We cannot oppose God's will. She told everyone they were her brother’s children, although many suspected otherwise. Fortunately, no one reported them. A priest whom the sisters knew obtained Aryan identity documents for the children, and Helena’s and Janina’s former students also helped care for them. Throughout the entire period of the Nazi occupation, however, the sisters’ most important and constant supporter in rescuing the children was their family friend, philosopher and expert on the history and archives of Vilnius, George Orda (Jerzy Orda).
     They endured many hardships. Food, firewood, and warm clothing were constantly in short supply, and the children were often ill. Nevertheless, under the care of Helena and Janina Zienowicz and their friend Jerzy Orda, all three Jewish children survived until the end of the Nazi occupation. After the war, Vilijus Fink remained with Helena Zienowicz, who became his second mother. He took the name Wilhelm Józef Zienowicz, emigrated to Poland, became a physician, and lived in Warsaw.
     Wilhelm Józef Zienowicz later wrote: I have two mothers. One gave birth to me, the other, Helena Zienowicz, saved my life and raised me. I also shared an exceptionally close bond with Dr. Jerzy Orda. Until my departure in 1959, he supported me, a Jewish orphan. I remember life during the German occupation from my childhood. From 1941 onwards, I grew up together with two other Jewish children hidden in the home of Helena and Janina Zienowicz – Renana and Benjamin Gabaj. Dr. Jerzy Orda visited the house frequently and became sincerely attached to the three of us. He taught us poems and songs. When tragedy struck our home – the Gestapo arrested and murdered the nineteen-year-old brother of our guardians, the Zienowicz sisters, and later their father and grandmother died – Dr. Jerzy Orda often took care of the three of us. He was someone we could trust completely. During the occupation he surrounded us with immeasurable kindness and often cheered us up with his jokes. After one of my guardians, Janina Zienowicz (now Zagała), moved to Poland, Dr. Jerzy Orda resolved to support me together with Helena Zienowicz, helped me complete my secondary education (which was not easy because of my visual impairment), and loved me as his own son. Although I was never legally adopted, I regard him as my adoptive father and Helena Zienowicz as my adoptive mother.
     After the war, Helena Zienowicz’s sister Janina settled in Warsaw, married, and became the distinguished art historian Professor Maria Janina Zagała.
     While the children were being hidden in Vilnius, Abel Gabaj, his wife, and Vilijus Fink’s father, Jakub Fink (whose wife Riva had died of typhus before the war), remained in hiding with Zofia and Jan Kukolewski in the remote village of Anglininkai, on the edge of the Rudniki Forest. When it became too dangerous to remain there, with the help of compassionate people Dr. Abel Gabaj, his wife, and Jakub Fink reached Vilnius, where they were forced into the ghetto. During the war, Abel Gabaj’s wife – the mother of Renana and Benjamin – succumbed to the hardships and died. Dr. Abel Gabaj survived the Holocaust and in 1959 repatriated to Israel with his children via Poland. Jakub Fink emigrated to the United States.
     In 1992, Yad Vashem recognized Helena Zienowicz, Ivan Kukolewski, and Zofia Kukolewska as Righteous Among the Nations. By decision of the Yad Vashem Memorial Institute, their names are included in the list of the Righteous of Poland.
     In 1993 Helena Zienowicz, and in 2023 the other participants in this dramatic rescue of Jewish children and adults – Ivan and Zofia Kukolewski (Jan Kukolewski and Zofia Kukolewska), Maria Janina Zagała, and George Orda (Jerzy Orda) – were also awarded the Lithuanian state award, the Life Saving Cross.