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Inquiry2 Evidence1 Ruiz S
Inquiry2 Evidence1 Ruiz S
was aware that they were Jews, and knowing that by hiding them she was
risking death. She took them to her home. They slept on the floor and she
would lock them in when she went to work. She also mentioned that a
neighbor was aware of their presence in her home. Not being able to read or
write, she signed her statement with three crosses.
Faced with the grave accusation of having hidden Jews, Karolina probably
chose to say she was motivated by greed rather than by the wish to
undermine Nazi Germany's persecution of the Jews. In fact, by that time,
considering the war economy and in view of the fact that salaries had been
frozen by the Germans and that the prices had soared, the sum of 300 Zloty
per week was very modest, and the two Jews, who had been on the run for
some time, probably had little money left anyway.
On August 10, 1944 Karolina Juszczykowska was transferred to the prison in
Piotrkow awaiting trial. Two weeks later, on August 23, 1944, the Piotrkow
Sondergericht (special courts set up in parallel to the German judicial system
to summarily sentence political opponents) condemned her to death. Despite
having sentenced her to death, the three judges, von Seydewitz, Brand and
Dr. Woyte, added a special plea requesting to pardon her. "We recommend
pardoning the accused who was sentenced to death, because her hiding the
Jews was not motivated by her wish to prevent their deportation or to profit
from it. The accused is in a difficult financial situation and succumbed to the
temptation to improve her life. 300 Zloty per week for hiding and upkeep of
Jeanne Daman
In 1942 Jeanne Daman was a young teacher in Brussels at a time when the
Jewish community was setting up its own kindergartens, after the children
director of the childrens chain of vacation homes) and Jean Herinckx, (mayor
of Uccle, with whom there was daily contact). Thanks to their cooperation,
Daman was able to whisk the children to safety.
After the Jewish school was closed by the authorities, Daman was asked by
Perelman to continue her rescue efforts, now of a clandestine nature. An
ever-increasing number of children became instant orphans and someone
had to accompany them to their hiding places. Daman often escorted them
and kept in touch with them continuously. She traveled all over Belgium, for
example, to see Father Rausch in Felenne, in the southern part of the Namur
province on the French border, who had taken in fifty of these children. The
work became increasingly secretive, and sometimes she had to collect
children at tram-stops.
As the roundups became more frequent, Perelman and Daman also dealt
with adults who needed shelter; they developed a network of Jewish women
placed as maids in Belgian households. Daman took them to their future
employers and provided them with false identity papers and ration cards,
which she usually received from Perelmans husband, Chaim. The
placements did not always turn out well and often had to be changed.
Daman also tried to relay information to these women about their children
who were in hiding elsewhere.
Perelman (who was called Dumont during the war) introduced Daman to
Albert Domb of the Jewish underground, who asked her to assist with the
liquidation of collaborators. Jeanne was asked to coordinate the timing and
to track down the whereabouts of these people. Jeanne then assumed a new
identity and became a social worker with the Secours dHiver (Winter Help, a
welfare organization set up by the Germans). Her new connections and her
uniform opened new doors to her.
Towards the end of the war she also became involved with the illegal work of
the MRB (Mouvement Royal Belge), which dealt with operations prior to the
liberation, and for which she used to transport arms on her bike. As an
Intelligence agent she was active in the Brussels corps of the Arme Belge
des Partisans (Belgian Partisans Army).
After the war, she assisted in returning young Jewish orphans to their families
and helped with the special care of those children who had returned from the
camps. In 1946 she left for the United States and helped with fundraising for
Israel through the UJA (United Jewish Appeal). On October 12, 1980 she
received the Entraide medal from the Belgian Jewish Committee 1940-45,
under the patronage of the King of Belgium.