Kamilla Pelc
Poland

Whether a person is among the rescued or is in the position of a rescuer can be influenced in profound and complicated ways simply by the time and place of one's birth. These are factors over which no one has any control. The story of Kamilla Pelc illustrates this very well. At one point the Pelc family was harassed from the East by the military forces of what was then the Soviet Union. Kamilla's husband died in a Soviet prisoner of war camp. She was left alone with her six-year-old son, Karol.

Next, the German forces from the West presented another kind of harassment, especially to Jews. In 1941, a Jewish family was seeking someone to care for their two-year-old child, Irene. The adults in the family were being sent away to a work camp. In a giant leap of faith and trust, they put their proposition to Kamilla. She agreed to take on the role of caregiver for this toddler. Little Irene became very much a part of the Pelc family as a daughter and a sister to Karol. Fortunately, Irene's parents survived the forced labor ordeal and returned for their child three years later. However, their gaunt appearance frightened the child and she did not want to leave with them. The only parent she had really known was Kamilla. Kamilla agreed to keep Irene for another six months. Happily, at the age of six, she was able to be acceptant of her birth parents and to live with them.