Sowina, Poland… Spring 1940 – When the Germans entered the ghetto in Kolaczyce, Poland, Abraham and Helen Krueger and their seven children, Ann, Sally, Mary, Thelma, Henry, Jean, and Edith, fled into the woods. In the hope of saving his family, Abraham split them up and miraculously found neighbors who agreed to hide his large family. Anna and Stanislaw Kopec hid Abraham and Henry for the duration of the war. Sally also hid with Anna and Stanislaw at different times during this period. The mother, Helen, and youngest child, Edith, lived with the Stasiowsky family for the entire war. Jean and Thelma were hidden by the Hendzel family until liberation. Ann, the eldest sister, traveled from family to family working as a seamstress. Sally and Mary spent two years hiding in the homes of different neighbors including Anna and Stanislaw Kopec, Conegunde and Jan Fronczek, and Adela Liszka. In 2002 the JFR reunited Anna with Ann, Sally, Mary, Thelma, Jean, and Edith.

To read more about Anna Kopec click here.