In the fall of 1944, Zigmund and Rosina Stern fled from Bratislava with their nine-year-old son Alfred, and began to wander through remote villages in Slovakia looking for hiding places. They sent their twelve-year-old son, Richard, to his grandparents in Budapest where they hoped he would be safe. They found a hideout for four months in the home of Maria and Jan Matulova, and then hid for a further three months in the home of the Potancok family in the village of Povraznik.
![Chess pieces that Zigmund Stern carved while in hiding in Slovakia, 1944](https://www.yadvashem.org/sites/default/files/styles/main_image/public/2_260.jpg?itok=6mp52dIW)
Yad Vashem Artifacts Collection
Gift of Noah (Alfred) Stern and Miriam Chenchinski , Israel
![Chess pieces that Zigmund Stern carved while in hiding in Slovakia, 1944](https://www.yadvashem.org/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2_260.jpg?itok=9l29fNLW)
![Alfred and Richard Stern during the war. Alfred survived with his parents in hiding. Richard was murdered in Auschwitz.](https://www.yadvashem.org/sites/default/files/styles/main_image/public/3_183.jpg?itok=d4FB17hg)
![Alfred and Richard Stern during the war. Alfred survived with his parents in hiding. Richard was murdered in Auschwitz.](https://www.yadvashem.org/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/3_183.jpg?itok=m5Ittrqy)
![Zigmund Stern.](https://www.yadvashem.org/sites/default/files/styles/main_image/public/4_153.jpg?itok=SRFY4lfM)
![Zigmund Stern.](https://www.yadvashem.org/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/4_153.jpg?itok=pkKuBdWC)
![Rosina Stern.](https://www.yadvashem.org/sites/default/files/styles/main_image/public/5_111.jpg?itok=i5PSv9Nw)
![Rosina Stern.](https://www.yadvashem.org/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/5_111.jpg?itok=YRiGej70)
![Maria Matulova with her husband Jan.](https://www.yadvashem.org/sites/default/files/styles/main_image/public/6_77.jpg?itok=IQxP9APf)
Maria was recognized as a Righteous Among the Nations for hiding the Stern family in her home.
![Maria Matulova with her husband Jan.](https://www.yadvashem.org/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/6_77.jpg?itok=uG26upvH)