They met daily and help each other out. They live alone but are not affluent. Janina lives alone in modest apartment and Maria’s parents were anti-Nazi underground activists so they sheltered Janina and her mother. Janina’s mother died of tuberculosis. The young Janina clung desperately to her new family and was baptized to become part of the family to avoid being detected and killed by the Nazis so she gave up the chance to live with an uncle in the United States. During the Warsaw Uprising, the girls had to fend for themselves and Maria's father was sick and her mother was demonstrating against the Nazis Maria was like a mother to the younger Janina. Her father died in Auschwitz. And the death of her beloved mother fills her with pain to this day because Janina lost both parents. Her only sibling survived the war but later committed suicide and they suffered from severe cancer. She contacted the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum in Jerusalem and bestowed the title of "Righteous Among the Nations" to Maria and to her parents, Henryk and Janina Jetkiewicz to recognise Maria and her parents for saving her during WWI. Maria receives $1,200 per cash reward to improve Maria’s financial situation.