Amidst the wartime struggles, on the fifth floor of the Warsaw 15 Żurawia Street building, there lived the Boruńs: the married couple, Maria and Stefan, and their three adolescent children, Janina, Eugeniusz, and Aleksander. In 1943, following the liquidation of the Warsaw ghetto, Olek brought home a Jewish friend by the name of Alusia. A couple of days later, he invited five further people. The capital city was buzzing, and the Germans searched everywhere for the hiding Jews.  Meanwhile, the Boruńs kept their charges safe. For a number of weeks, they protected them all in their apartment, amid great stress. A year later, the brothers Aleksander and Eugeniusz would die during the Warsaw Uprising. Alusia survived.

PHOTOS

  • Stefan Boruń

    Stefan Boruń