She brought a bit of Ukraine to Minnesota

Anna Kramarczuk, the matriarch of the family that runs the northeast Minneapolis sausage-making company and deli by the same name, fled her native Ukraine during World War II bringing with her recipes for delicacies still featured at the family restaurant.

Kramarczuk, who as a teenager helped the underground against the Germany Army during World War II, died of complications from juvenile diabetes on Dec. 4 at her Minneapolis home. She was 81.

She learned the recipes for the tortes she served from a German baroness, for whom she worked while in a refugee camp in Bavaria after the war ended.

"She was happiest when watching her customers eat the food from her recipes and have a good time," said her son, Orest, of Blaine, a partner in the firm. "She'd stand behind the counter and smile."

She grew up in a village in western Ukraine. During the war, she ran grenades to Ukrainian fighters. When the Germans retreated and the Soviets advanced, she and her family fled, hiding by day and moving at night, traveling through the former Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Austria.

The family settled in a refugee camp in southern Germany, where she became a nanny for the baroness and learned to bake. She also attended business school.

There she was reunited with Wasyl Kramarczuk, who was from her Ukrainian village. They married.

They worked and saved $5,000 to open a meat market, but a would-be partner absconded with the money. In 1954, they were able to buy Central Provisions, one of the oldest butcher shops in Minneapolis, renaming it the Kramarczuk Sausage Co. It has been located at 215 E. Hennepin Av., since 1967.

Anna Kramarczuk's pierogi, cabbage rolls and tortes have been served in the deli and restaurant since they opened in the late 1970s.

"My father was the brawn of the business and my mother was the brains," said her son. Up until a week ago, she continued to do a little work for the company.

Mike Gordienko, who has worked much of his career at Kramarczuk's and is now a partner in the firm, called her "an astute businesswoman."

"She steered the ship," said Gordienko. "She did the books, and made sure we got value out of the vendors."