The Domanski Family
Stanisław Domański Father
born 1898 – died 1949
Władysława Domańska née Żak Mother
born 8 November 1907 – died 22 December 1969
Jerzy Domański Son
born 24 April 1927 – died 1969
Krystyna Kowalska née Domańska Daughter
born 27 February 1931
Recognized as the Righteous Among the Nations:
13 December 1994
- Władysława Domańska née Żak
- Jerzy Domański
- Stanisław Domański
- Krystyna Kowalska née Domańska
Help Was Extended to:
Rozalia Oberländer
died 1971
Sabina Oberländer
born 1908 – died 1985
Irena Oberländer
born 15 September 1930 – died 1997
Amalia Żak née Oberländer
born 1932 – died 2008
Story of Rescue
September 2010, Alicja Placha
Before World War Two, Władysława and Stanisław Domański lived with their children in Falenica near Warsaw. Stanisław was a pastry baker and Władysława was in charge of their household. They owned two houses –they lived in one of the mand the other they let to summer visitors.
Stanisław was arrested at the beginning of the War. The Nazis released him a couple of months later, when he already was seriously ill. Władysława became the family’s breadwinner. She started a bakery.
In the spring of 1942, an elegant Rozalia Oberländer came to Władysława Domańska’s bakery and asked if there was a chance of renting out the house to her and her three daughters. Domańska agreed. When the woman revealed to Władysława that she was a Jew, the woman did not change her mind.
The children oft heDomańskis were not aware that the new tenants of the summer house were Jews. Krystyna, who was 11 then, recalls: “Four people came to us. Mom said: »They will live here. If someone asks, say that they’re cousins« ”.
The Oberländer family rented the house in Falenica until the end of the War, without anybody suspecting a thing. Thanks to Domańska’s help, Amalia went to school. She and the woman’s daughter, Krystyna, were in the same class. Domańska would also sell food to her tenants: she had bread from her own bakery, set up a vegetable garden near the house and kept animals. The tenants helped Władysława with her household chores.
The two families formed a friendship. Rozalia and her daughters stayed at the Domański house until 1947, when they returned to Zakopane. The women would spend every holiday in Falenica until Władysława’s death.
