A CARD FROM THE CALENDAR - LEONTYNA AND STANISŁAW SZCZĘŚNIAK
“Take of your clothes, they’re filthy with lice” – said Leontyna to Zigban Elimelech. Her son’s 14-year-old friend was extremely scruffy, physically and psychologically exhausted. Leontyna approached the boy with great tenderness and began tending to his wounds. She had tears in her eyes when she cut his hair: the whole scalp was covered in scabs and lice bites. Every nook and cranny of his woolen sweater was swarming with parasites, and he had not a single stretch of clear, pristine skin. The Sczęśniaks spent a couple of weeks nursing Zigban back to health. They tended to him and hid him in their house for eight months. They even taught him the catechism and baptised him for safety’s sake. After that, his presence didn’t raise any suspicions among other villagers. He went to live with Leontyna’s cousin, Franek, where he helped with farm work until the war ended. In 1947, he left for Israel.
