Before the Holocaust

Karolina Juszczykowska was born in Bukow, Poland in 1898. As a child and adult she never attended school. She lived with her parents until she was thirteen in Poland. She then relocated to Mecklenburg, Germany for 5 years to do farm work. After working for five years she returned to Bukow, Poland and lived with her sister there until 1934. In 1934 after leaving her sister, she moved to Tomaszow, Poland until the war began in 1939. Karolina also was a single mother to her daughter.

The Holocaust

The Holocaust was a big part of World War II. Adolf Hitler was elected the German leader and brainwashed everyone to think the Jews and other groups are bad and were the reason the German economy was weak. He also told them that the Jews and other groups of people were the reason they lost World War I. He had his own army ,the Nazis. The Nazis took over Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Denmark, Yugoslavia, Greece, Norway and Western Poland. Karolina was in Tomaszow, which is in Western Poland when the Nazis invaded . In most of these countries, the Nazis would round up the Jews and immediately take them to concentration camps where most of them were gassed. If they weren't immediately shipped off, they would go to ghettos and then be taken to concentration camps. Many Jews tried to hide, escape, or disguise themselves as non-Jews.

Karolina's Life During The War

Karolina lived in Tomaschow until the war began to take place. She worked on road construction, as a laundress, and also as a maid; she also worked for an organization called Organization Todt which was an engineering company. She also had many other jobs that aren't mentioned to this day. Karolina’s new life began when she met two boys on the street, Janek and Paul, who were willing to pay Karolina 300 zloty for each boy if she would be willing to shelter them. As she was in need for some money to feed herself and her daughter, she accepted the offer. She housed the two boys in her apartment for 6 weeks until the neighbors got suspicious. In July 1944, the Gestapo came and the two Jewish boys were immediately shot. Her daughter was sent to work on a farm and never saw her mother again. As for Karolina, she was sent to prison and awaited trial. After her trial she was found guilty and was sentenced to death. She was put to death on August 23, 1944 for hiding Jews from June to August . She was 47.

How Karolina Is Remembered

Even though Karolina is not popularly talked about to this day, she changed this world. She changed the world by hiding Jews and standing up for what she believed was right, even though she knew it was a risk. Karolina's granddaughter Francis was also trying to get Karolina's name in a honorary garden and roll in Israel that remembers people for trying to save Jews during Holocaust. This was successful and she is now in the Righteous Among The Nations. She was entered on May 17th 2011.

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