30 October 2003
Yad Vashem will recognize members of the Daniluk family of Poland as Righteous Among the Nations. Yad Vashem confers this honor on any Gentile proven to have saved Jews during the Holocaust at risk to his or her own life. The members of the family to be recognized include the late parents Wlodzimierz and Anna, their late daughter Luba, and their daughter Raisa Borowska. Borowska will accept the award at a ceremony which will take place at Yad Vashem on November 2 at 11:30 AM. Officiating will be Director General of Yad Vashem, Ishai Amrami. Also attending will be Etti Netzer-Berman, daughter of one of the Jews saved by the Daniluk family, and dozens of family members.
During the Holocaust, the Daniluk family lived in the village of Slonitzky in the Polish province of Bialystok. On January 8, 1943, two Jews, Palter Lopata and Yitzchak Kuplinsky of the town of Zablodow, knocked on the family’s door and asked for food and shelter. The family took them in. Lopata and Kuplinsky had just escaped a Nazi transport train to a concentration camp, and they had nowhere else to turn for help. The Daniluk family secretly harbored Lopata and Kuplinsky for several months, during which time they took in two of Lopata’s friends, Moshe Flicker and Israel Bramzon. The Daniluk family knew of the great risk they were taking, as it was common knowledge that the Nazis usually killed anyone who harbored Jews.
The village of Slonitzky was liberated on July 23, 1944. Lopata, Kuplinsky, Flicker, and Bramzon went free, but the Daniluks’ neighbors were surprised and angry that the family had hidden Jews in its home. On May 9, 1945, the Daniluk family invited the four Jews, family members, and neighbors to their home to celebrate the Allied victory. At 11:00 PM, at the height of the celebration, an armed mob broke into the house and sprayed gunfire in all directions. The murderous mob, which belonged to the AK (a Polish underground movement), then set the house on fire. They did not take into consideration the fact that two Polish children, ages 4 and 7, were in bed in the house at the time. Seven people were killed, and many others were seriously wounded. The mob thus expressed its fury at the rescue of the four Jews.
Among the dead were Wlodzimierz Daniluk, his daughter Luba, Moshe Flicker, two relatives of the Daniluks, and two neighbors. Anna Daniluk was seriously wounded, as were her 14 year-old daughter Raisa and her 7 year-old son. Kuplinsky and Lopata were wounded, but they succeeded in escaping. Bramzon was not present at the celebration, due to illness.
The request to recognize the Daniluk family as Righteous Among the Nations was made by Israel Bramzon’s daughters. In accordance with its eligibility criteria, Yad Vashem’s committee for the Righteous Among the Nations recently decided to confer the honor on Wlodzimierz and Anna Daniluk and their daughters Luba Daniluk and Raisa Borowska. Luba had encouraged her parents to render aid to the fleeing Jews. Raisa had actively assisted them, and was badly injured during the AK mob’s attack. The committee’s decision was made on the basis of testimony given by Bramzon’s daughter Etti Netzer-Berman, and that given by Palter Lopata in 1948.
A person recognized as a Righteous Among the Nations is awarded a specially minted medal bearing his name, a certificate of honor, and the privilege of his/her name being added to those on the Wall of Honor in the Garden of the Righteous at Yad Vashem. The awards are distributed to the rescuers or their next of kin in ceremonies in Israel, or in their countries of residence through Israel's diplomatic representatives.
