The year was 1941; the place the Bialystok ghetto in Poland. A baby boy was fighting for his life, his father a freedom fighter and his mother murdered by the Nazis. A young Polish woman named Genowefa Majcher was asked if she would take the baby. Her immediate answer was, “Yes, I’ll take him!” She smuggled him out of the ghetto and became his mother. She herself was unmarried and ran a great personal risk if the Nazis found she was harboring a Jewish baby. Undeterred she gave him a Christian name, Michael, and had him baptized in public. She gave him all the love and care that a mother can give, and on a long-awaited day in 1945, his father returned. Seeing his beautiful son, he knelt down and wept. Michael left with his father, but he stayed in touch with his “Mama” for the rest of her life. She was recognized as Righteous Among the Nations in 2003 and died the same year. A true heroine.
