Mira Ledowska, born Mira Krum in 1937 in Tlumach, within the territory of today’s Ukraine, is a Holocaust survivor and a Polish language teacher in Israel. \u00a0During the liquidation of the Jewish district, Mira’s grandmother and her mother’s sister, Ludwika Hartenstein, were deported to the Belzec extermination camp, marking the beginning of a perilous chapter in her life. In a desperate bid for survival, Mira, along with her parents, fled Tlumach. Their escape was facilitated by a local farmer who hid them in his cart, smuggling them out of the ghetto. This escape came at a profound cost; Mira’s newly born brother died just before they left. \u00a0The family found temporary refuge in Mr. Dwoli\u0144ski’s mill in Beremiany. However, their safety was short-lived, and they were forced to hide in the forest. Following a denunciation by a Polish forester, Mira Ledowska’s father was shot by a German soldier in front of her and her hidden mother<\/p>\n
Despite these unimaginable losses, Mira and her mother found sanctuary in Pu\u017cniki, under the care of Antonina Dzia\u0142oszy\u0144ska. With the assistance of the local parish priest, Dzia\u0142oszy\u0144ska secured false documents for them, allowing them to assume new identities as Adela and Maria Kowalik, cousins of Dzia\u0142oszy\u0144ska’s late husband. This guise enabled them to survive the remainder of the occupation. Afterwards, \u00a0Mira and her mother moved to Wroc\u0142aw, where Mira embarked on her educational journey, attending a teacher training college and beginning her studies in Polish philology. However, her academic pursuits were cut short in 1957 due to an anti-Semitic incident at the university, prompting her to emigrate to Israel. In Israel, Mira married Bronis\u0142aw Ledowski, a fellow survivor from the \u0141\u00f3d\u017a ghetto, and completed her studies in Hebrew. She dedicated 36 years to teaching Hebrew subjects, touching the lives of countless students with her knowledge and resilience. Since 2001, Mira has been associated with the Polish Institute in Tel Aviv, where she continues to educate young people about her family’s history and the “Righteous Among the Nations.”<\/p>\n<\/div>