Alfreda Markowska facts for kids
Alfreda Noncia Markowska (born May 10, 1926 – died January 30, 2021) was a Polish-Romani woman. During World War II, she bravely saved about 50 Jewish and Romani children. These children were in danger of being killed during the Holocaust and the Porajmos (the Romani genocide).
Her Early Life
Alfreda Markowska was born in 1926. Her family was part of the Polska Roma, a group of Romani people in Poland. They lived in a tabor, which is a traveling camp. She was born near a place called Stanisławów in Poland.
In 1939, when she was 13, Nazi Germany invaded Poland. This started World War II. Alfreda was in a city called Lwów at the time. Later, the Soviet Union also invaded Poland. Her family's tabor then moved to the part of Poland that the Germans controlled.
In 1941, something terrible happened. German soldiers murdered almost all of her family, about 65 to 85 people. This happened near a town called Biała Podlaska. Alfreda was the only one who survived. She spent days looking for her family's mass grave in the nearby forests.
She then went to Rozwadów. In 1942, when she was 16, she got married. One day, while visiting Stanisławów, she and her husband were caught in a street roundup. This meant people were gathered by force. Ukrainian police handed them over to the Germans. But Alfreda and her husband managed to escape.
They were later forced to live in special areas called ghettos for Romani people. These were in cities like Lublin, Łódź, and Bełżec. But they escaped from these places too. They finally settled back in Rozwadów. The Germans had set up a labor camp there for Romani people.
Saving Children
In Rozwadów, Alfreda found work on the railway. She got a special work permit called a Kennkarte. This paper gave her some protection from being arrested again.
It was during this time that Alfreda started her brave rescue missions. She decided to save Jewish and Romani people, especially children, from the Nazis. She would travel to places where massacres of Jewish and Romani people had happened. She would look for anyone who had survived.
Alfreda would bring these survivors back to her home. She would hide them and help them get fake documents. These documents protected them from the Germans. She personally saved around 50 children.
Years later, people asked her why she wasn't afraid to help. Alfreda explained that she didn't expect to survive the war herself. So, fear was not a problem for her.
In 1944, the Soviet Union took back control of the area. The Soviet army sometimes forced Romani people to join their ranks. Because of this, Alfreda, her husband, and some of the children she had saved fled westward. They even helped some German children who wanted to escape the Soviet soldiers. They moved first into central Poland and then to western Poland.
Life After the War
After the war, the new government in Poland wanted Romani people to stop their traditional traveling lifestyle. They wanted them to settle down in one place. So, Alfreda and her family first lived near Poznań. After her husband passed away, she moved to Gorzów Wielkopolski.
In October 2006, Alfreda Markowska received a very special award. It was called the Commander's Cross with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta. This award was given to her for saving Jewish and Romani children during World War II.
The President of Poland at that time, Lech Kaczyński, praised her. He said she showed "heroism and uncommon bravery." He also said she had "exceptional merit in saving human lives."
Alfreda Markowska passed away on January 30, 2021, at the age of 94.
See also
In Spanish: Alfreda Markowska para niños
