Zygfryda “Fryda” Zurawski, 97, passed away on December 18 at Briarleaf Nursing and Rehabilitation in Doylestown, PA after a recent illness. She was born on February 18, 1924 in Warsaw, Poland, the only child of Aniela and Czesław Kowalczyk. When Fryda was a teenager, the Germans invaded and occupied Poland. Early during the war, her father was taken by the Germans and never seen alive again. Decades later his grave was discovered on the site of a former work camp in Denmark. Fryda and her mother spent the entirety of World War II in Warsaw, surviving both the uprising by Polish partisans and the NAZI’s retaliatory destruction of the city. The imprint of these war events never left Fryda’s imagination, even as her memory began to fail her in the last decade of her life. 

At the end of the war in 1945, according to family lore, Fryda walked into her neighbor’s apartment to discover her future husband, Zdzisław Zurawski, standing in his underwear, ironing his pants. Zdzisław had spent the war as forced labor on a German farm. As he made his way back to Poland, he learned that neither of his parents had survived in his native town of Pinsk. Other young Poles returning to Warsaw took him in. The displacements caused by war made it possible for Fryda to find Zdzisław at the ironing board next door that day. They married that same year and he was at her bedside when she passed away. 

Until 1964 Fryda and her husband lived in Szczytno, Poland. Fryda worked as a midwife and Zdzisław as director of the town’s movie theater. Later he ran a photography studio attached to the family home. Their son Jozef “Marek” was born in 1946. A daughter, Beata, was born in 1957. In 1964 the family of four emigrated to America, first settling in Irvington, NJ, and later in Edison, NJ. In the U.S. Fryda worked as a photo retoucher at Lorstan Studios in NJ alongside her husband. Upon retirement the couple moved to Minersville, PA.

Fryda was a devout Catholic and an active member of St. Stanislaw Church in Minersville as long as her health allowed. She was an excellent cook and baker and took pride in her kitchen skills--her two grandchildren inherited her love for cooking. She was also an animal lover, and during her life both here and in Poland had several dogs. Despite her piousness, she appreciated a good dirty joke, and was not above impish antics during family gatherings. 

She is survived by her husband, Zdzisław of Minersville; her son Jozef “Marek” and his wife Elizabeth of Sarasota, FL; her daughter Beata Levin of Rome, Italy; her grandson Paul of Queens, NY; and her granddaughter Magdalena of Athens, GA. 

Family will receive relatives and friends on Thursday, December 30th, 2021 at 12:00pm to 12:30pm at Our Lady of Czestochowa Shrine, 654 Ferry Road, Doylestown PA 18901 at the Chapel.  The Chapel is located on the cemetery grounds.  Travel through the cemetery gates to the end of the road and the chapel is on the left.  Fryda’s Mass of Christian Burial is at 12:30pm.  Interment will immediately follow the Mass.  Arrangements by Donahue Funeral Home, 215-348-9421.