The Counterfeit Countess: The Jewish Woman Who Rescued Thousands of Poles During the Holocaust

Historians White and Sliwa (Jewish Childhood in Kraków) delve into the life of Jewish mathematician Josephine Janina Mehlberg (1905–69), who masqueraded as the Polish countess Janina Suchodolska and helped free and feed thousands of Polish people imprisoned in the Majdanek extermination camp. Drawing upon Mehlberg’s unpublished memoir and archival research, the authors tell this incredible story, describing how Mehlberg, born into a wealthy Jewish family, fled with her husband to Lublin, Poland, where they obtained new identities. Their connection with Count Andrzej Skrzyński allowed Mehlberg the opportunity to feed and rescue the prisoners, even providing them with Christmas trees and holiday treats. Although Mehlberg’s interactions with the SS were terrifying, she refused to let her fear show, as her commitment to helping the Poles remained foremost in her mind. Narrator Gilli Messer brings Mehlberg’s story to life with a calm and even voice that does not detract from the gravity of this tragic yet astonishing story.