A CARD FROM THE CALENDAR - MARIAN AND IRENA KRAL
They were a childless, middle-aged couple. They lived in Lwów, where they operated a thriving bakery. Before the war, Marian Kral had been consulting with a Jewish lawyer by the name of Izydor Heler. They knew each other very well. Once the Lwów ghetto was established, Heler, his wife Bronia, and their daughter Ruth, still in her first year of life, were forced to move there. They knew what was in store for them, so they did everything in their power to save their child by passing it on to the Krals. The Poles took her with a blessing and lots of devotion. In order to avoid troublesome questions from their neighbours and acquaintances, they took the little Ruth (later Łucja) to Warsaw, where they aroused no suspicion: they were simply an ordinary family of three. Łucja Kral survived the war, and the Krals remained her lifelong family. She learned of her descent only as an adult, after her parents had died. Marian and Irena Kral were awarded the “Righteous Among the Nations” title by the Yad Vashem Institute.
