Stasia was born as Hadasa Chajmowicz on November 24, 1930 to Wolf and Elka Chajmowicz in Warsaw, Poland.  When she was 9 years old, Germany invaded Poland and changed her life forever.  As Jews in Nazi-occupied Poland, her family was imprisoned in the Warsaw Ghetto. 

 In 1942 her father managed to smuggle her out of the ghetto and into the care of Maria Bortnowska, a section chief of the Polish Red Cross.  As rumors spread and hiding her became dangerous, she was moved around to other friends of Mrs. Bortnowska.  In time, they were able to obtain the birth certificate of a dead Polish girl, Stanisława Janowska, of about the right age and appearance, and so Stasia took on that identity.  She was transferred to a Catholic orphanage in Turkowice which successfully hid about 20 Jewish children through the war.

She was treated well in the orphanage by the nuns and other children, but it wasn't without its hardships. On Easter of 1943, Gestapo came into the orphanage and commandeered the older children,  Stasia among them,  into a nearby labor camp to work on building an airstrip.  But Stasia was able to escape a few months later, and make her way through a forest back to the orphanage, surviving for three days on apples and berries.  She remained at the orphanage until the end of the war.


As the war ended and nobody came to claim her from the orphanage, Stasia discovered that she was the sole survivor in her extended family in Poland.  She decided to keep her Polish name, and with the help of Mrs Bortnowska, was able to obtain a reconstructed birth certificate that contained her correct birth date and included her parents, although under the Polish names of Wladyslaw and Eleonora Maria Janowska.  She was transferred to an orphanage in Lublin where she finished High School.  In 1950 she enrolled in the Medical Academy in Lublin and graduated in 1955.  Three days after graduating, she started her first job as a pediatric doctor at the Children's Hospital in Toruń where she enjoyed a satisfying career, becoming a well-liked and respected division head.

Stasia continued to search for surviving family members, especially her brother, but was unsuccessful.  However, her search lead to a connection with an aunt, her mother's sister,  who emigrated to the United States before the war.  The aunt and her husband came to Poland to visit her in 1966, and in 1967 Stasia came to the US to visit them.  While she was here, a government-sponsored wave of anti-semitism was sweeping through Poland following the Six Day War in Israel, and after much consideration, Stasia decided to not return to Poland.

Stasia learned English, passed the medical exam, went through internship, residency and pediatric board again, and in 1970 moved to Boston and started another successful medical career, working at MGH and Children's Hospital, and area health centers, with a stint with NATO in Brussels Belgium as chief of their Development Unit.  She retired in 1992.

In 1975 she met Samuel (Sam) J. Rabinowitz.  They clicked immediately, and married in 1978.  They divorced in 1998 but maintained a warm friendship until his death in 2021, and she enjoyed a good relationship with his children.

In retirement, she travelled extensively throughout the world, as well as enjoying classical music concerts and visiting with friends.  In 2008, she was contacted by a second cousin on her father's side and discovered a whole extended family in Israel, as well as new information about, and photos of, her father, all of which brought her much joy.

Send to someone

Share this obituary with others

https://everloved.com/life-of/stanisawa-janowska/obituary/

Copy