Righteous
Among the Nations This is a list of Non-Jews who risked their lives and/or lost their lives aiding Nowy Korczyn Jews during the Holocaust. It is not be any means a complete list but hopefully both Jews and Poles will submit their stories so the list will grow and become more complete. The following proclamation was issued by Dr. Ludwig Fischer, the German district governor of Warsaw, on November 10, 1941: "Concerning the Death Penalty for Illegally Leaving Jewish Residental Districts...Any Jew who illegally leaves the designated residential district will be punished by death. Anyone who deliberately offers refuge to such Jews or who aids them in any other manner (i.e., offering a night's lodging, food, or by taking them into vehicles of any kind, etc.) will be subject to the same punishment. Judgment will be rendered by a Special Court in Warsaw. I forcefully draw the attention of the entire population of the Warsaw District to this new decree, as henceforth it will be applied with the utmost severity." Bronislaw
Kupis & wife Bronislaw Kupis & wife Information from: www.citinet.net/ak/polska_27_f2.html Jozef Piwowarczyk The above people looked after Izrael Wajnbaum, his wife Layeh Wajnbaum and their young child Adash (Albert) Wajnbaum. This letter to the editor was written by Izrael Wajnbaum to the editor of a Polish newspaper in 1973. Dear Editor, On the eve of the 30th
anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto upraising, it would be unjust for me
not to mention the heroism of Mr.Wladyslaw Piwowarczyk, his wife Maria
and their children, and especially their son Wacek. I would like here
to raise my voice and be reminded about those nightmarish days.
In our bunker, I was the
person in charge, the commandant. It was the role of the commandant to
stand and defend to the end, and in the last moment to put to death the
ones who were still alive including myself. The reason for such action
was not to be able to give away any information to the Nazis about the
people who had helped us. A few weeks later, the second terrible news reached us. A heart-breaking loss, Jozek Sliwa, who had helped us with food packages, left the bunker and was on his way to his family home. He was rounded up. Someone had denounced him. He was tortured terribly, they burned his feet, he was hacked to death. He never wilted under this torture, did not tell them where we were hidden nor the locations of others. This lad was full of life and he was only 20 years old. Again after this loss, we were on the edge of total collapse. As the front was getting closer our survival in the bunker our survival was going to be impossible. Our much appreciated Wladek Wozniak managed to find some building materials for construction of a new bunker. This bunker was built on the quiet during June and July of 1944. It was built under the barn belonging to Wladek Piwarorczyk. We had survived in that bunker until the 14th of January 1945. For the last two weeks, we were all alone, with the enemy posts above us. The whole village was deported. Wladek Piwarorczyk, together with his son Wacek had managed to supply us with some fresh water and some raw potatoes, beetroot, carrots and onions in the darkness of the night. They had given us all they had. Wladek was the person who led us out of the bunker into the daylight. The Gehenna was over. Today, writing these words to the editor, I feel that I am telling only a small part of what Jozef Piwowrczyk, his brother Wladek with his wife Maria, together with their sons Wacek and Jozef and their sister Janina did for us. This list is enriched by addition of Jozefa Wojtaszewicz together with her husband and her children, Gertruda Rejdych, Pawel and Stach Buczakow, Wladek Wozniak and his brother Bronek. Who were those people?
They were simple men and women. Jozef Piwowarczyk was a friend of mine
with whom I used to go to school together in Nowy Korczyn and our friendship
had flowered from that time. This friendship continued to blossom in Lodz,
where I had brought Jozef and employed him in my small textile factory.
He was full of energy and life. He, together with my brother Szymon had
made a good team singing Jewish songs, and together they fell in the bunker.
Jozef was a very kind man, he was also a good speaker. He was a communist
party member and during the war he was in the People's Army. Just before
the Lodz Ghetto was closed, both of us left Lodz and made a pact to survive.
Jozef did not make it, he died as a hero together with his Jewish friends.
Together, they were put to rest in a common grave. I am enclosing the photo of all the Piwowarczyk family, which was taken last year. I would be obliged, if you could kindly publish this photo in your paper. They are worthy of it. Izydor Wine Kurier Polski April, 1973 Translated by Mr Frank Dobia
Jozef & Stefana Macugowski hid nine people in a bunker under their house. They were Leib Radca, his wife, three daughters Sarah, Golda (later changed to Zahava) and Miriam, Leib Radca's neice, Sarah, and three people who came later to the bunker who were not affiliated with the Radcas' and they were Allen Kupfer and another man and women from Nowy Korczyn. The bunker was approximately 3 metres by 3.5metres and 1.5metres high. The bunker was built by Jozef Macugowski and Nussbaum (the fiance of one of Leib Radca's daughters) . As the sand and debri could not be taken out of the house it was taken by bucket to the first floor and spread on the floor of the unfinished structure - quitely and only at night so as to keep the work a secret. The Macugowski's were honoured as Righteous among the Nations in a ceremony at the David Yellin Teachers College in New York, USA. |
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