Bialystok, Poland, The portrait of partisan Bronka Klibanski, 1942
On 23 February, Bronka Klibanski (née Winicka) - Holocaust survivor, fighter, researcher and author - passed away, leaving behind a heritage of resistance, courage and admiration from all who knew her. Born in Grodno, Klibanski was a member of the Dror Youth Movement who joined the Bialystok ghetto underground and worked closely with its leader Mordechai Tenenbaum, about whom she recently published a book. Klibanski became a kasharit (courier) - one of the brave young Jewish women who took on assumed non-Jewish identities and risked their lives on missions of reconnaissance, food and weapons smuggling in and out of the ghetto. These couriers were brazen in their courage as they used their looks, wits, and whatever other method they could to carry messages, smuggle documents and weopons, and provide information to Jews in ghettos around Poland.
After the war, Bronka was dedicated to Holocaust remembrance and research, and she was one of a last of the generation of Holocaust survivors who also worked professionally and objectively to commemorate the Shoah.
Bronka was a noble and brave woman who gave her all to her people during their hour of need and to Yad Vashem and its archives in their memory and their honor. As a member of the Yad Vashem Council, she was active in its work here for the rest of her life. We salute her resilience and courage and will treasure her legacy that continues to inspire us all.
