This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Art LaPella (talk | contribs) at 19:06, 5 August 2008 (Lithuanian is a disambiguation page, so I combined the link into Lithuanian Jews. Also a typo.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 19:06, 5 August 2008 by Art LaPella (talk | contribs) (Lithuanian is a disambiguation page, so I combined the link into Lithuanian Jews. Also a typo.)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Anna Borkowska (Sister Bertranda) (1906–1988) was a Polish nun who served as the Mother Superior of a convent for an order of Dominican Order sisters at a cloister in Kolonia Wileńska, near Vilnius, Lithuania. During World War II, she sheltered Lithuanian Jews from Nazi persecution at her convent.
A graduate of the University of Krakow, Sister Betranda first agitated to save Vilnius’ Jewish population following the start of the Ponary massacre in July 1941. She initially sought to gain the support of the Vilnius Catholic leadership, but they rebuffed her efforts out of fear that the Nazi occupation forces would destroy church property and kill any clergy found aiding the Jewish population.
Taking her own initiative, Sister Betranda gathered 17 members of Hashomer Hatzair, a local Zionist group and hid them within the grounds of her convents. When several of her nuns objected to this action, she reportedly threatened them with expulsion from the order and excommunication from the faith. Some of the Hashomer Hatzair members later decided to leave the convent and volunteered to return to the Jewish ghetto in Vilnius, where they organized an underground resistance movement.
Sister Bertranda, working in conjunction with local resistance factions, supplied hand grenades and other weapons to the Vilnius ghetto underground movement.
In September 1943, Sister Bertranda was arrested by the Nazi occupation forces. Her convent was closed and her order was forced to disperse. After the war, she voluntarily resigned from the Dominican order.
In 1984, the former Sister Bertranda and six nuns from her convent were awarded the title of the Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem. Abba Kovner, one of the young Jews saved by Sister Bertranda, personally presented a medal to her at a ceremony in Warsaw, Poland.