23 August 2005
A former Monash University staff member has accepted a medal, awarded posthumously to her father and uncle, who saved the life of a Jewish child in Poland during the Second World War.
Mrs Halina Hankus accepted the award honouring the late Mr Jan Ciechanowski and his brother Mr Stefan Ciechanowski as Righteous Among the Nations. She received the medal from the Israeli Ambassador to Australia, Mr Naftali Tamir.
The title Righteous Among the Nations is granted to non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust.
The Protestant Ciechanowski family of Krakow took in three-year-old Eva Pass and raised her as their own when her immediate family was sent to concentration camps by the German authorities occupying Poland. Mrs Hankus, who was five at the time, treated Eva as a sister.
The Ciechanowskis ran the risk of immediate execution if they were discovered. The story had a happy ending when Eva was reunited with her family at the end of the war.
Mrs Hankus, who worked as a technical officer at Monash University's Clayton campus from 1968 until 1996, attended the award ceremony at the Jewish Holocaust Centre in the Melbourne suburb of Elsternwick on 14 August.
"My father, my mother Marylr and my uncle were very brave, because the penalty for helping Jews at the time in Poland was death," Mrs Hankus said.
"There were more than 20 people, including the extended family and boarders, living in a small house and no-one betrayed their secret," she said.
Ms Hankus's daughter, Mrs Dorothy Bendix, who also works at Monash, said the award was significant. "I am proud of the actions of my grandfather's family during such a trying time," she said.
As of January 2005, 20,757 people had been recognized as Righteous Among the Nations.
For further information contact Ms Robyn Anns, Monash University, on +61 3 9905 9317 or 0417 568 781.
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