Anna Borkowska

The tree that was planted in Yad Vashem in honor of Anna Borkowska

Anna Borkowska (1900–1988) was the superior of a small monastery of Dominican sisters near Kolonia Wileńska, near Wilna in today's Lithuania . Under her leadership, the monastery opened the gates of the monastery to 17 members of the illegal underground movement of the Zionist pioneers and protected them from persecution by the Nazis . In 1984 she was recognized by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations .

Life

A graduate of the University of Kraków , Anna Borkowska entered the monastery after graduating.

Hiding Jews

Vilna was occupied by the Germans on June 24, 1941 as part of the Barbarossa enterprise . When the mass shootings in Ponary began in July 1941, Anna Borkowska became active in rescuing the Jews. She tried to get the support of the Roman Catholic Church in Vilna, which, however, rejected it out of fear of the German occupiers. On her own initiative she took on 17 members of the Hashomer Hatzair , who found a safe place behind the monastery walls and were able to continue their political activities. Among them was Abba Kovner , who wrote his famous wake-up call for the revolution there. Abba Kovner grasped the full meaning of the Ponary murders and understood that they were part of a systematic plan to murder all of Europe's Jews. When the pioneers decided to give up the security of the monastery and return to the ghetto to build the resistance movement, Anna Borkowska tried to stop them, but was unsuccessful.

Ghetto uprising

Anna Borkowska wanted to join the Jews in the ghetto, but Kovner dissuaded her. When Anna Borkowska asked how she could help, Kovner replied that they needed weapons. It was Anna Borkowska and the other nuns who smuggled weapons and ammunition into the ghetto. The uprising in the ghetto, organized by the Fareinigte Partisaner Organisatzije (United Partisan Organization), was put down on September 1st and the ghetto was liquidated.

In September 1943, Mother Bertranda was arrested by the German occupation forces and deported to a labor camp near Perwejniszki, near Kaunas . The monastery was dissolved and the sisters broke up. Eventually Mrs. Borkowska asked to be relieved of her monastic vows, but she remained a deeply religious person.

Honors

In 1984, Anna Borkowska and six sisters from her monastery were awarded the title “Righteous Among the Nations” by Yad Vashem. Abba Kovner planted a tree in her honor on the Mount of Remembrance in Yad Vashem. At the time she was 84 years old and lived in a small apartment in Warsaw.

Web links

• Anna Borkowska on the Yad Vashem website