Jean Kowalyk Berger

Jean Kowalyk Berger was born in 1909 in Cracow, and was Christian. When she was nine years old, she moved with her six siblings to Czortowiec. Her father had served as mayor for three terms; her mother was a midwife and had a diploma; and she herself could play the mandolin and sing without lessons. Her father died was when she was eighteen years old in Czortowiec. His last words were “Oh what she could do if she wasn’t crippled.” The truth was that she did do a lot of things even though she was crippled. The rest of her family moved to Vilna after her father died, but she stayed and bought her own house. Her mother came to live with her after the house was built. She had a Jewish friend named Blumka, and Jean was shot in the knee by a German when bringing Blumka a sandwich. She was helped by a Jewish doctor named Solomon Berger after she was shot. After Solomon helped her, Jean’ brother and Jean’s sister’s husband built a false wall. One night Dr. Solomon begged them to take him in. Soon, even more people came, and it totaled up to fourteen people and they had to send the baby to her brother. She and her mother took food to the child hidden in Cracow with her brother.

After the war, Jean was engaged to a tailor but Dr. Solomon married her instead. She then moved to Czechoslovakia because of the many hate letters she got in Ukraine. Jean then moved to the US but divorced Solomon because their relationship was horrible. Once there, she had money problems and asked the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society to help her but they rejected her because she was not Jewish. She then said “You have the heart to say to me, when I was expecting to be killed every moment with all my family. When people during the night came to me and asked me to help them, to save their lives-I didn’t tell them. Go always because you are Jewish”. She then worked as a seamstress and now lives with her Nephew. She was honored at Yad Vashem in 1985. Jean Kowalyk Berger and her mother knew the risks of hiding Jews. They knew that if their actions were discovered, they would be killed along with the Jews. What was really courageous about her was that she did not reject the Jews who wanted to hide in her house.

In my opinion, Jean Kowalyk Berger is a “Righteous Gentile.” She made life-threatening choices that saved many other lives. Jean’s actions saved a few who would have died if not for her and her family. She was crippled but had done more than many others at the time. What was really interesting about her life was when she was rejected by the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (because she was not Jewish), but before that, she had saved the lives of Jews rather than ignore them and turn them in to the Nazis. My thoughts were deeply changed after I studied her history; her life at first was mostly fun and games. Yet after that, she was able to adapt to the new changes and help others. What was really interesting to me was her one of her quotes: “But I hope this is the end. I’m glad you are doing this book because there are many problems still going on today, around the world, and maybe someone will have to know how to help someone else.” She said that quote on an interview. This quote in my terms is like showing somebody to help someone else. That lesson is quite important because if something like the Holocaust ever happened again, we would know to react and stop it.

References
Sites
Name: Museum of Tolerance Online Multimedia Learning Center
Creator: The Simon Wiesenthal Center
URL: motlc.learningcenter.wiesenthal.org/pages/t007/t00767.html
Short Story of Jean Kowalyk Berger

Name: The International Raul Wallenberg Foundation
Creator: Baruch Tenembaum
URL:www.raoulwallenberg.net/?en/saviors/women/2997/3043.htm
Short Story of Jean Kowalyk Berger’s Life

Books
Name: Portraits of Moral, Courage in the Holocaust
Creator: Block and Drucker published in 1992
Detailed biography/interview of Jean Kowalyk Berger