Survivors Meet After 60 Years
A survivor of the Holocaust is to be reunited with the Polish family that saved her 60 years ago.
Ruth Gruener, whose father ran a confectionery shop in the pre-war Polish city of Lwow (now Lviv, Ukraine), was hidden by two Polish families during the Nazi occupation. The last surviving member of those families, Joanna Zalucka, now in her 80's, will be flown to America this week by a Jewish Foundation For the Righteous.
Young Ruth Gruener was spirited out of the ghetto underneath the overcoat of Mrs Zalucka's father in 1941. Several months later she was reunited with her parents, who had been saved by a second Polish family.
The penalty for harbouring Poles of Jewish descent was unequivocal, and death sentences were regularly meted out. In practice, the sentence was often extended to the entire family of the harbourer.
Whilst Polish Jewish relations were often troubled, the Israeli Yad Vashem Institute records that Poles saved more Jewish lives than any other occupied nation, in spite of the fact that Poles faced the ultimate penalty. Official figures refer to 5900 cases of Polish heroism, but retired Yad Vashem director Israel Gutman believes 40,000 is a more accurate figure.
Ruth Gruener eventually settled in New York, where she set up an interior decorating business. She has two sons and four grandchildren.