[1] During World War II, together with her husband Jan and their sons Stanisław, Kazimierz, and Jerzy, she ran a farm in the village of Zucielec near Trzcianne.

[2] In 1942,[3] when the German occupiers began liquidating the ghettos in the Białystok District, she and her husband agreed to shelter Jewish escapees.

[4] Shortly thereafter, the Wasilewski family provided refuge for brothers Zvi[a] and Dawid Mroczkowski (whom Jan knew through their father and grandfather), as well as Marja (Maśka) Fiszko.

[1][7] In testimony given after the war to Yad Vashem, Zvi Mroczkowski emphasized the kindness that the Wasilewski family showed him and his brother every day.

At another point, partisans reportedly arrived at the farm demanding that the Jews be handed over, but Anna firmly refused.

According to her sons' testimony, she approached Father Stanisław Mikulski – the parson in Trzcianne at the time, considered the informal leader of the "partisans"[c] – asking for help in recovering the stolen horses.

[13][14] Additionally, according to the accounts of Trzcianne residents, referenced by Mirosław Tryczyk in his book, Anna allegedly identified one of the attackers during a mass when he appeared in church wearing a shirt stolen from her deceased husband.

[14][16] According to the Wasilewski brothers, Father Mikulski refused to give her a Catholic funeral, supposedly as punishment for identifying the attackers after the first assault.