Museum of the history of polish jews

"Am I dreaming?"

Mr Ryszard got her address from the Polish Red Cross, and the phone number from the information office. He called a few times, but always failed to start the conversation. The sixth time he was asked which language he wished to speak in, he answered Polish.
“Polish? Rysiu is that You?! Rysiu are Your parents alive? I can't hear, I can't see , I am an old woman, I can hardly managed to walk, I should actually use a wheelchair. Listen, write me everything, write, come, because I have to see you before I die.”

The only thing Mr Richard could do was to buy a ticket to Melbourne and fly. By a weird coincidence his relatives lived in Melbourne. They were on a contract in Africa, and when martial law was established in Poland in 1981 instead of returning home they flew to Australia and settled down there. They took care of Mr Ryszard and he met with Mrs Paulina and Jasia, his peer who was very ill at that time. Mrs Paulina proposed to Zielinski's family for the “Righteous among the nations” award. On 26th of May 1999 the Yad Vashem institute in Jerusalem posthumously awarded Zbigniew Kazimiera and their son Richard Zielinski for selfless help during the war which they gave, risking the life of their entire family.



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