Anna Borkowska (Sister Bertranda)

Anna Borkowska (at that time called Mother Bertranda, O.P.; 1900 –1988), was a Polish cloistered Dominican nun who served as the prioress of her monastery in Kolonia Wileńska, near Wilno, Poland (now Vilnius, Lithuania). She was a graduate of the University of Kraków who had entered the monastery after her studies. During World War II, under her leadership, the nuns of the monastery sheltered 17 young Jewish activists from Nazi persecution. In recognition of this, in 1984 she was awarded the title of Righteous among the Nations by Yad Vashem.

Vilnius was taken over by the Germans on 24 June 1941, in Operation Barbarossa, and the killing of the Jews began almost immediately. Mother 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 German occupation forces would destroy church property and kill any Christian(s) found to be aiding Jews.

Acting on her own initiative, Mother Betranda then took in 17 members of Hashomer Hatzair, a local Zionist group, and hid them within the grounds of her monastery. The activists included Abba Kovner, the movement's leader, Abraham Suckerwer, Arie Wilner and Edek Boraks. They helped the nuns with working their fields, while Kovner, realizing the goals of Hitler's Final Solution, worked on organizing a political resistance to the occupation and writing his manifesto for the later uprising. When several of her nuns objected, Mother Bertranda reportedly threatened them with expulsion from the monastery and excommunication from the faith. Some of the Hashomer Hatzair members later decided to leave their monastery hideout and to return to the Jewish Ghetto in Vilnius, where they organized an underground resistance movement.

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