WACLAWIK, Stefania, wife
WAJCMAN, Zofia, wife
WALAS, Marcin
WALCZAK, Stanislaw

WALCZAK-CHOINSKI, Leokadia (not related)
WALICKI, Zofia, daughter


Jadwiga Walkow lived at Kamionka Strumilowa. Being a professional nurse she worked during the occupation in a German hospital. Towards the end of 1942 she hid in her apartment Dr. Henryk Zinger, who had escaped from the transport to Belzec. In March 1943 the doctor's wife and her brother came over to her. She also took them in and cared for them till the "liberation" by the Soviets, in July 1944. After the war Jadwiga Walkow married Mr. Szejnbaum and left with him for Israel. See: Grynberg, op. cit.

WALO, Jozef
WALTER, Ryszard
WALTER, Magdalena, wife
WANDA, Sister, a nun
WARENICA, Stanislawa, wife

WARSZAWSKI, Eleonora (1899-1945)
WARSZAWSKI, Czeslaw (1920-1980) son

Eleonora, a widow, lived with her two sons in Wolomin, near Warsaw. The Germans formed the Wolomin ghetto in September 1940. They liquidated it in October 1942, deporting the inmates to Treblinka and killing 600 on the spot. At that time, the Rubinsteins, seven (7) persons, came over to the Warszawskis. The Warszawskis placed them in the attic and later made a hideout in the cellar. Five of them survived. Rubinstein's cousin and a 4 years old child died. They buried them in the garden. After the war the Rubinsteins transferred their remains to the Jewish cemetery in Wolomin. See: Grynberg, op. cit.

WARYCH-MIELCZAREK, Aleksandra see MIELCZAREK, Rozalia, mother?
WASILEWSKI, Albin's wife

WASILEWSKI, Jan (not related)
WASILEWSKI, Anna, wife
WASILEWSKI, Jerzy, son
WASILEWSKI, Kazimierz, son
WASILEWSKI, Stanislaw, son

WASILEWSKI-MATUSZAK, Maria (not related) see MATUSZAK, Katrzyna, mother
WASYLINKA, Katarzyna, wife
WASZCZEWSKI, Janina, wife
WASZCZEWSKI, Janusz, son
WASZKINEL, Emilia, wife

WAWAK, Ignacy (1898-1965)
WAWAK, Krystyna (1901-1966)

The Wawaks lived in the village of Bujakow, near Bielsko-Biala. In the same village there lived also Krystyna's sisters: Jozefa Hankus (q.v.) (1894-1975) and Rozalia Porebski (q.v.) (1906-1989). Toward the end of 1943 Adela Zawadzki with her child (3) and her sister Rozia came to the Hankuses. The three had escaped from the Sosnowiec ghetto. Soon they got their false documents. Rozia went to the Blachownia camp, where her betrothed, Elek Jakubowicz worked. A supervisor and a railway man, Johan Brys (q.v.), helped her to get him out. Brys gave Elek Jakubowicz his uniform and his documents, in order to facilitate the trip by train, and took him and Rozia in. Adela Zawadzki also spent some time in the Brys house. Later, Rozalia Porebski sheltered them at Bujakow, as they could not stay with the Wawaks: the police was searching for their son. Adela Zawadzki changed her place of shelter several more times. In her 1981 declaration to Yad Vashem, Adela Zawadzki affirmed that she was fortunate to find herself and her child under the protection of all that magnificent family. Johan Brys and Rozia also helped other Jews from Sosnowiec. Brys led some to Hungary. In 1944 he and Rozia were arrested and sent to Auschwitz. Only Rozia returned. See: Grynberg, op. cit.

WAWRYNIUK, Maria, wife
WAWRZYCKI, Stanislaw
WACHALSKI-SAWICKI, Anna see SAWICKI, Maria, sister

WADOLOWSKI, Eleonora, wife

Cipora and Szlomo Stalik escaped in 1942 from the Wolomin ghetto. For a certain time they wandered in search of a refuge, which they found finally at the home of Jozef and Eleonora, where they stayed for half a year. The Wadolowskis, recognized as "Righteous" were honored on Dec. 15, 1999 in Warsaw. It was Eleonora who got their medal and certificate from the hands of Yigal Antebi, the Israeli Ambassador in Poland.

WASOWICZ-DUNIN, Krzysztof and mother Janina see DUNIN-WASOWICZ, Krzysztof and mother Janina

WASOWICZ, Wieslawa (not related)

WASOWSKI, Eugenia, or Sister ALFONSA (does not appear in the 1999 List, but in Paldiel, op. cit.

Sister Alfonsa was a Sister of Charity of St. Joseph in Cracow. This main convent sent her to that of Przemysl, to help in the care of the 47 orphaned Catholic children there. A mother with her four years old girl, Hedi, roamed for two years, seeking shelter. Exhausted, she told the girl: "From now on your name is Jadwiga Kozowska and you are a Christian Pole". She placed the child at the door of the convent and hid behind a tree. The sister heard the weeping of the child and took it in, where she remained for two full years. She was the first Jewish child to be admitted. The mother superior, with the approval of the Cracow convent, decided to shelter Jewish children. The Sisters ended up with thirteen (13) of them. As two mothers superior died one after the other, Sister Alfonsa was put in charge of the Jewish children's section. She slept with them in the same room, and cared for them like the best of mothers. Hedy' s mother found work in a nearby village and sometimes brought food to the convent but could not show that she was Hedy's mother. The fear of detection was a constant threat. Sister Alfonsa relates: "We took the children to church along with Polish children not because we were trying to make them Catholics, but just so nobody would suspect they were Jews." Sister Alfonsa saw to it that her children did not lack food and clothing in spite of the prevailing dearth. She calmed and consoled them when they had sudden bursts of hysterical weeping, throwing their food on the floor, screaming at night and wetting their beds. Upon the "liberation" she immediately returned all the 13 children to the Jewish Committee. "They were Jewish children and belonged with Jews", she said. After the war Sister Alfonsa was cautioned not to discuss her experiences. She left for Australia, and then in 1980 she went to Israel in search of her charges. She reunited there with six of them. "This is the happiest moment of my life", she said. Miriam Klein, one of them, remarked: "I was privileged to experience calm and mental relaxation, and there I discovered the best and the most beautiful women". See: Paldiel, op. cit.

WASOWSKI-LESZCZYNSKI, Eugenia (1906-1987) (not related)

Eugenia Wasowski, came from a peasant family. She completed her Political Science Studies in Warsaw. She held important posts in the field of publicity and social affairs. Being connected with the workers' movement she helped political prisoners. From 1940 she tried to help Jews, but involved herself completely in that activity with the creation of Zegota. Her apartment at Zorawia Street became the seat of the Council for Aid to Jews. Here was its secretariat, here took place its meetings. The following met in her appartment: Ferdynand Arczynski (q.v.), Emilia Hiz, Ignacy Barski, Witold Bienkowski, Wladyslaw Bartoszewski (q.v.), Julian Grobelny (q.v.) Tadeusz Rek (q.v.). Eugenia Wasowski cooperated closely with the members of the Jewish resistance operating on the "Aryan" side: Adolf Berman, Icchak Cukierman, Leon Feiner, Arie Wilner and others. From January 1943 to the end of the Warsaw Uprising she hid in her apartment the main activist of the Bund, Ignacy Samsonowicz, going under the name of Tadeusz Leszczynski, her future husband. In her apartment she kept arms for the ZOB, the secret Bund archives, and money in local and foreign currencies for the needs of the underground and for help to Jews. The last of these meetings took place just the day before the Warsaw Uprising. Even during the Warsaw Uprising her apartment still served many such persons. It is absolutely
unbelievable that with so many people knowing that address and meeting there for the underground activity on both sides of Warsaw, there was not one mishap. Her attitude and work commands respect and admiration and her name will remain forever in the memory of the martyrdom of the Polish Jews and of the Poles who tried to save them. See: Grynberg, op. cit., Prekerowa, op. cit.

WASOWSKI-RENOT, Eugenia (not related to the other Wasowskis)

WASOWSKI, Ewa, wife
WASOWSKI, Halina, daughter
WASOWSKI, Jan, son
WASOWSKI, Jerzy, son
WASOWSKI, Longin, son
WEINGLAS, Kazimiera, daughter

WENCEL, Jozef (1907-)

Jozef lived in Cmielow, Tarnobrzeg prov. He worked as a foreman in an iron-mine, which was situated in the vicinity of two forced labor camps. His neighbors, Jozef and Mordechaj Kohn, brothers, and Berek Bretstein worked there as inmates. First he brought them food and later got false documents for them. In October 1943 the Germans liquidated the two camps. At that time Wencel managed to get them out and took them into his house. After a certain time he helped them to leave "voluntarily" for work in Germany. After the war they returned to Poland and later left Poland for the USA and for Canada. In 1971 the Kohns invited Wencel to Canada and he stayed with them for 45 days. See: Grynberg, op. cit.
WESOLOWSKI, Walentyna, wife

WESOLOWSKI, Jozef (not related)

Jozef Wesolowski was well known in the Nalewki Street area before the war. He had business relations with the Berman, a company of leather goods. Jozef was the head of the American Singer sewing machines branch in Poland that operated in the ghetto. Due to their overly intensive use (more than 10 hours daily) in the ghetto, hundreds of machines were in a lamentable state. This could be seen in every case in which a shop was taken over. Wesolowski's company did not spare any effort to repair and keep the machines in good order, thus allowing the Jewish workers in the ghetto to earn money. The Singer Company branch in Poland was practically fully Polish. It employed only Poles, who maintained contacts with the ghetto, facilitating communication and the supply of spare parts from abroad, and even escapes from the ghetto. Jozef was the soul of that activity. See: Bednarczyk, Zycie Codzienne op. cit.

WEYMA N, Karol
WECKOWSKI, Kazimierz, Dr.

WEGLOWSKI, Florian (1887-1979)
WEGLOWSKI, Maria (1893-1974) wife
WEGLOWSKI, Franciszek (1890-1943) Florian's brother
WEGLOWSKI-KLEPUSZEWSKI, Stanislawa (1912-1987) daughter
WEGLOWSKI, Stanislaw (1925-) son
WEGLOWSKI-SZACHNIEWICZ, Helena, (1929-) daughter

The Weglowskis lived in the village of Stara Huta, near Kostopol in Volhinia. They
knew many Jews. In the first months of the occupation there, (June to November 1941), there were many pogroms by the Ukrainian nationalists helped by the German occupant. In contrast to the other parts of Poland, the Germans generally did not organize ghettos in the eastern parts of Poland, but killed Jews outright, by special units called "Einsatzgruppen" on the spot, outside of the towns, approximately 50,000. The Weglowskis offered food and later shelter to those who managed to avoid these massacres. In June 1942 Rachela and Jozef Weksler, their daughter Chana (6) and Mircia Sztatlin came over to them. After a certain time the Weglowskis moved them to the forests and brought them food there, but they kept Chana and Mircia at home. Jewish partisans used to come to their farm for food. The family never refused it to them and treated them always with good will. After the war the Weglowskis and the Weksler family of nine moved to the western provinces and later emigrated. In 1985 Rachela Weksler, from Canada, and in 1986 Mircia from Brazil confirmed these facts. See: Grynberg, op. cit.

WEGRZYNOWICZ, Remigiusz (1922-) scholar

Born in Lvov, and residing there, Remigiusz studied veterinary medicine. On Nov. 15, 1942 he found at his mother's apartment a friend of his, Tadeusz Slowik (q.v.) with a Jewish woman, Scharlotta Katz. Tadeusz asked him to take her in for a short time. As the conditions for hiding her were not good at Remigiusz's flat, Scharlotta was transferred in January of 1943 to Podburze and stayed there with Tadeusz Slowik until the "liberation". See: Grynberg, op. cit.

WEGRZYNOWSKI, Dorota, daughter
WEGRZYNOWSKI, Michal, son (the four do not appear in the 1999 List, but did before)

WIANECKI, Jan (1910-)
WIANECKI, Franciszka (1919-)

The couple lived at Dabrowka Pniowska, Tarnobrzeg prov. In August 1942 Jan met at his parents' home a schoolmate of his sister, Regina Schreiber from Wadowice. As his sister did not have proper conditions to conceal her, Jan took her to his house. After 5 weeks her colleague recognized her. Jan paid 2,000 zlotys (a hefty amount at that time) for a faked Kennkarte with which she was able to go to Germany for work. She and her husband maintain contacts with Jan. See: Grynberg, op. cit.

WIATER, Helena, wife
WIATR, Tadeusz

WIACEK, Katarzyna, wife
WIACEK, Aniela, daughter
WIACEK, Franciszka, daughter
WIACEK, Karolina, daughter
WIACEK, Ludwika, daughter
WIACEK, Maria, daughter

The Wiaceks resided at Strzelczyska, Lvov prov. They hid on their farm, from October of 1941 till the "liberation", three Jews: the two Brudner sisters, Itka and Matla and Abram Doren. After the war Abram joined the Polish Army and later settled in Warsaw. The Brudner sisters went to Israel. They maintained steady contact with Jan Wiacek. See: Grynberg, op. cit.

WICHEREK, Mieczyslaw
WICHEREK, Mieczyslaw's wife
WICHEREK, Jozefa, daughter

Minna Rosner of Winnipeg related in The Canadian Jewish News of Sept. 28, 1989, p. 7. under the title: "Courageous Pole helped 6 Jews to survive" the following story: (here abbreviated)
In June 1943 the German occupant perpetrated their 6th "Aktion" to make Buczacz (a town now in Ukraine) "Juden frei", i.e. Jew-free. Minna's family paid a hefty sum to a Polish woman, who after taking everything from them, betrayed them and all were killed. Minna, whose husband was taken to Russia and who had lost already her 3 years old son, refused to the last moment to go into a shelter. But after finally going to one, she soon left it to make place for others. A different Polish family, the Wichereks, took her in, with a Jewish couple and their child and their two cousins. The Wichereks were poor peasants in some village inhabited mostly by Ukrainians. -[Editor's note: the name of that village, appearing in this text, have been probably changed]. They had one large room with a hall containing a built-in bread oven. Mieczyslaw, 6 feet tall and strong, removed the oven and built tiers for the six fugitives. There was a ladder to the attic in which they hid in moments of particular danger. His diminutive wife of delicate features and white complexion always worried whether they would find their charges on their return from the fields. Once the hidden Jews overheard a neighbor saying that if she knew anyone concealing Jews, she would denounce them. But in spite of that Wicherek did not ask them to leave. The Ukrainians after finishing the Jews went after the Poles. - [Editor's note: For the sake of truth, it is necessary to add that less than 1 percent of the Ukrainian nation, the nationalists, OUN and UPA, collaborating with the Germans, took part in those killings. Many Ukrainians protected Poles and even lost their lives for them]
One day "dziadek" (a gentle diminutive for grandfather, or for an old man) i.e. Mieczyslaw, told them that he heard that in Buczacz there are already Russian soldiers and that it will take only 3 hours and a half to be free. But that turned into three months and a half, as they were in a war zone between the two armies. A bomb fell in their yard and killed Dziadek's tiny wife, who only exclaimed "Jesus, Maria" and expired. His married daughter died from wounds the next day. Because of the Ukrainian raids, the Poles fled each night into the woods. There were many such cases, mentioned here previously. But Dziadek never left them, and "Juzia", his teenage daughter, remained with the fugitives in the bunker. On such nights, Dziadek stood behind the door with an axe. Fortunately Ukrainian nationalists never came to their place. In September of 1944 the Russians occupied the area and they were free. It was announced that the Poles and the few remaining Jews could go to the west, as the raids of the collaborators started again, - [Editor's note: not without Soviet complicity this time]. The six persons saved and the Wichereks went to Silesia. In January 1946 Minna's husband returned from Russia. On Sept. 28, 1948 the Rosners arrived in Canada. Dziadek remained with "Juzia" in Silesia and Minna wrote him often, until he passed away. Now she corresponds with "Juzia". Minna says at the end of her story: "I bow my head in memory of his heroism for saving six Jewish people. Was he a saint.? Who was he?" It is a great pity that we do not know the family name, nor the first name of his tiny wife on whose shoulders fell surely a great weight for that remarkable rescue. On the photograph appear from left: daughter Juzia, "Dziadek" Mieczyslaw Wicherek, Minna saved by them with five others. Standing behind: them Minna's husband.

WICHERT, Stanislaw

WIDY-WIRSKI, Feliks, Dr.
WIDY-WIRSKI, Marta, wife

Dr. Widy-Wirski is one of many physicians who in the years 1940 to 1944 cooperated with the Committee of Democratic and Socialist Doctors in Warsaw, who were very active in helping Jews. See: Grynberg, op. cit. and in this list see under Dr. Feliks Kanabus, Dr. Andrzej Trojanowski, etc.

WIECHNO, Wojciech, Prof. The same as Dr. Widy-Wirski, above
WIECZKOWSKI, Felicja, wife

WIECZOREK, Aleksandra
WIECZOREK, Antoni, son
WIECZOREK-AWNI, Zofia Marta, daughter

The Wieczoreks lived in Warsaw. They helped several Jews, whom they knew from before the war: Irena Don, her mother and her daughter, Liliana Stern and three other persons. The family rented an apartment in which they hid and fed them. After the war Liliana went to Australia, the others to Israel. Zofia Marta Wieczorek, who married Avni, one of the rescuees, also settled in Israel. See: Grynberg, op. cit.

WIECZOREK, Jerzy (not related)
WIEJAK, Aleksander
WIEJAK, Helena, wife
WIELEBA Katarzyna, wife
WIELOGORSKI, Rozalia, wife

WIERZBICKI, Jozefa, wife

The couple received the following attestation: "We express our deep gratitude and love for our dear and beloved Mr. Jan Wierzbicki and his beloved wife, Jozefa Wierzbicki, and their children. Their generosity for 17 months (Oct. 24 1942 - March 17 1944) saved twelve(12) Jews from certain death at the risk of their lives with feelings of noble mercy towards us. During all this period, they stood day and night as our father and mother to protect us, to feed us and to care for our health, showing us their love and compassion. Dubno, May 1, 1944. Signed: Grossblatt Mojsze, Sztaler Cyla, Grosberg Aron, Wajsberg Chasia, Grosberg Klara, Kac Estera, Kram Sonia. I attest that all that is written here corresponds to the truth and it is the holy duty of every Jew to show gratitude to all those who saved Jews. Dubno, May 1, 1944. Signed: Mojsze Lewi Sztemberg, the rabbi of the town of Brady, now rabbi of the town of Dubno". Translated from the Hebrew. See Wronski & Zwolakowa, op. cit.

WIERZBICKI, Anna, wife

WIERZBICKI, Slawoj (not related)

WIERZBICKI, Wladyslawa (not related)
WIES-KRZYSZTANIAK, Irena see KRZYSZTANIAK, Kazimierz & Barbara, parents
WIECKOWSKI, Maria (not related)
WIECKOWSKI, Anna, daughter
WIECKOWSKI. Jadwiga, daughter

In December 1984, Anna Wieckowski (77), her mother and sister Jadwiga were recognized as "Righteous among the Nations" by Yad Vashem. The recognition was dated Sept 6, 1984 and was signed by the director of the Department for the Righteous, Dr. Mordechaj Paldiel. He asked that Anna come to Jerusalem to receive the medal and plant a tree in honor of the family. Anna's memory returned to those terrible times of massive street executions of Poles and also of the heart-rending cries and weeping of the Jewish women at the nearby Gdanski railway station, from where they were taken to various extermination or concentration camps. During the war, Anna' s family lived at the Avenue Wojska Polskiego, at Zoliborz, (a Warsaw suburb). Eleven (11) persons were massed in the small apartment, among them two families with small children, driven out by the occupant from Ostroleka and Suwalki. The old mother, Maria, trembled for the life of the family, so much more so, that an active member of the resistance often hid there for the night, after completing his military assignments. Nevertheless, the three Wieckowski women took in two more Jewish women. One of them was the well-known poet, Hanna Mortkowicz, married name Olczak (1905-1968) who thus described the atmosphere of Warsaw at that time: "Long lasts the gloomy night. In the bitter toil courage fails. We do not ask for an easy victory, we ask for dignity and strenght." [This researcher's translation] That prayer was granted. One day a German in uniform with pistol at his belt, in company of a Volksdeutch as translator, entered the apartment. The Volksdeutch saw the Jewish woman and exclaimed: "Jude, Jude!" i.e. Jewess, Jewess! Death appeared imminent and unavoidable. In that moment the the old Maria, with utmost composure replied:"She is not a Jewess, she is an Armenian". "How come? An Armenian in Warsaw?"-. "We lived in the Caucasus, in Tbilisi; my daughters went to school with her." The two intruders started a heated conversation. The officer looked a long while at the Jewish fugitive and at the old Polish lady, turned around and went out. At the door he said: "Yes, yes, it is impossible that a grey haired lady, with such a face, would tell a lie." Maria's son did not take part in those events as he was then in the Polish Army fighting with the Allies in the West. Anna did not even want to hear about any recognition and only after a long persuasion on his part and on the part of the others and of the Jewish woman saved, Mrs. B., Anna finally agreed to sign the requested documents. From the letter of Maria's son to this researcher, dated June 23, 1985

WIGLUSZ, Maria, wife
WIGLUSZ-KOT, Anna, daughter? (does not appear in the 1999 list, but did before)
WIGLUSZ, Jozef, son
WIGLUSZ-FERENC, Katarzyna, daughter
WIGLUSZ, Stanislaw, son
WIKIEL, Maria, wife
WIKTOR, Stanislaw
WIKTOR, Henryka, wife

WILCZEK-BISKUP, Paulina (1907-)
Paulina Wilczek lived in Katowice. In the summer of 1943 Emma Majtlis, an acquaintance from before the war, appeared at her appartment. She had lost her parents and sisters, deported to Auschwitz, and she herself had escaped from the Bedzin ghetto. At the same time, a Silesian man, an anti-fascist, came to Paulina's house. He was threatened with forcible induction into the German army. Paulina led them to the apartment of her sister who had passed away and the two lived there till the end of the occupation. In 1984 Emma Maitlis wrote to the ZIH (Jewish Historical Institute) in Warsaw, confirming these facts and stating that Paulina acted with total unselfisheness, only from humanitarian concerns. See: Grynberg, op. cit.

WILCZEK, Stanislaw (not related)
WILCZEK, Janina, wife
WILCZENSKI, Maria, wife, born SKRZYPEK
WILCZENSKI, Boleslaw, son

WILEMSKI, Bronislawa, Sister, a nun

Sister Bronislawa Wilemski was recognized as "Righteous" together with bishop Albin Malysiak (q.v.) and honored with him on Sept. 13, 1994. They are credited with saving five (5) Jews. Maria Rolicka, one of the persons saved, was in atttendance. They procured them false documents and placed them in Helclow House for invalid people in Cracow. See: "Gazeta". Toronto, Sept. 14, 1994.


Before the war Lucjan lived in Wloclawek. Being a professional soldier, he fought near Kutno in September of 1939, was wounded and became a POW. The Germans released him in November of 1939 due to his sickness. At Dolina he met his old acquaintances, Stefan and Maria Engel, who were on "Aryan" papers. All survived, as he took care of the couple and their small child. See: Grynberg, op. cit.

WILK, Bronislaw
WILK, Katarzyna, wife

WILK, Zofia (not related)
WILK, Jozef, Zofia's son

WILKOSZ, Barbara (1903-1979)
WILKOSZ, Tomasz (1915-1953) brother-in-law
WILKOSZ, Adam (1926-1979) son
WILKOSZ, Jan, (-1989) son
WILKOSZ-FILO, Stefania (1924-) daughter

The Wilkosz family farmed in the village of Groble, Cracow prov. On their farm they harbored for 18 months six (6) Jews from Cracow: Herman and Roza Silverman, their daughters Hanna and Nina and the mother and the sister of Roza Silverman, Rozalia Neiger and Irena Sweszewic and that until the arrival of the Red Army. After the war the Silverman family went to Israel Hanna Silverman and Rozalia's daughter, Irena Sweszewic correspond with Stefania Filo from France, where the latter visits them often. See: Grynberg, op. cit.

WILNIEW(SZ)CZYC, Maria, wife
WILSKI, Ludwika
WILUSZ-KUROWSKI, Emilia see KUROWSKI, Jan & Maria, daughter
WILUSZYNSKI, Stefania, sister

WINCEWICZ (WINCZEWICZ?) Rozalia (Stanislawa?) (1882-1972)
WINCEWICZ, Jozef, (1905-1980) son
WINCEWICZ, Franciszek (1908-1988) son
WINCEWICZ, Stanislawa, daughter

The Wincewicz family lived at Dunajow, Tarnopol prov. They helped many Jews, among them: Erna and Mozes Eisenstein, Jozef Hecht, Jehuda Hochberg, Hela Anisman, Mendel Law, Chana Proff, Hela Tanger and Mozes Trajman. On Feb. 13, 1947 Jozef Hecht and Mendel Law stated before the Jewish Committee in Bytom, that Franciszek Wincewicz, concealed, besides them, 15 17 in total) Jews without any reward, from Dec. 1, 1942 till July 22, 1944 (18 months). They invited Franciszek to Israel in 1962. In 1983 he wrote in his letter to ZIH (Jewish Historical Institute) that they received him very warmly, that they organized for him a big reception of over 100 persons with the rabbi. Even people whom he did not know showed him much respect and goodwill. The Proff family gave him many presents for his wife and daughter. "They received me with soul and heart, and this for me was the most important". See: Grynberg, op. cit.

WINIARSKI, Maria, wife
WIONCZEK, Mieczyslaw
WIRSKI-WIDY, Feliks and Marta see WIDY-WIRSKI, F. and M.
WISLOCKI-MILKOWSKI, Maria see MILKOWSKI, Adolf & B. parents?

WISZNIEWSKI, Kazimiera, wife

Barbara Medynski stated in Cracow that in the Wiszniewskis' house she found not only shelter, but also help in all difficulties. When the Gestapo came to their apartment looking for her, the Wiszniewskis said that they knew her from before the war as an "Aryan" and they would take complete responsibility for that. Besides her, they hid Dr. Aleksander Wertheim and his wife. Mrs. Wertheim was the chief of the Radium Institute in Warsaw. They also confirmed being hidden by them. When the Gestapo searched for her brother, the Wiszniewskis took him with his family, together six (6) persons. They kept them several weeks without registration (which was obligatory for everyone under severe punishment) When Mrs. Einham had to flee from Warsaw, Mrs. Wiszniewski accompanied her to Radzymin and helped her as much as she could. She also offered Barbara Medynski her help in getting out of the ghetto her father and harbored him at their house. All her Jewish acquaintances needing assistance came to her and always found meaningful help. Among others, they were Alfred Helman, Halina and Marietta Teich, now in France, and Roma Rolewicz. "Mrs. Wiszniewski's attitude toward Jews merits the highest praise and her generosity and heroism the highest reward", said Barbara Medynski. See: Wronski & Zwolakowa, op. cit.

WISNICKI, Aleksander

WISNIEWSKI, Ludwik (not related)
WISNIEWSKI, Aleksander, son
WITEK-KACZMARCZYK, Stanislawa see KACZMARCZYK, Jan, brother

WITEK, Zofia (not related)
WITKOWSKI, Aniela, daughter
WITKOWSKI, Ryszard, son
WITOMSKI, Ignacy, son
WITOMSKI, Jan, son
WITOMSKI, Kazimierz, son

WITTI(N)G, Lech (1912-1990)
WITTI(N)G, Halina (1921-) wife

The Wittigs lived in Otwock in a wooden house that had several apartments. In June 1943 an elderly woman with a 12 years old girl moved to an apartment next to them. The other apartment occupied a young railway-man. The Wittigs found out that they were a Jewish family, the Spielreins: Maria, the mother, Aleksandra, the daughter and Ryszard, the son. When a Blue policeman started to blackmail their neighbor, Lech gave him several thousand zlotys and a watch; but being a member of the AK, he complained to his authorities and the blackmailing stopped. When it became necessary to get the little girl, with very Semitic features, to a hospital, they bandaged her head so as to cover her face. Lech got for her secret medical care from a physician, also member of the underground. He said later that that trip with the Jewish girl to the hospital was one of the most dangerous he had made. The Spielreins moved to Australia. See: Grynberg, op. cit.

WLOCZEWSKI, Zuzanna, daughter

WLODARCZYK, Marian (not related)
WLODARCZYK, Zofia, wife

WLODARCZYK, Piotr (not realted)
WLODARCZYK, Wiktoria, wife

Piotr and Wiktoria Wlodarczyk, concealed in their house at Swider three Jewish families till July 1944. All of them survived. They were honored as "Righteous Among the Nations" on Jan. 14, 1999 in Warsaw, as announced the Israeli Embassy in Poland.

WLODAZ-SZLAMA, Stanislawa see SZLAMA, Stanislaw & Marianna, parents?

WLODEK, Wladyslaw (1900-1957)
WLODEK, Maria (1902-!978), wife

The Wlodeks farmed at Lekawica, near Przemysl. They had three children. Jozef Reich and Mr. Grossmann escaped from the transport to Auschwitz and hid in the forest. Wladyslaw found them there, brought them food and took them to his farmstead. He made for them a hideout in the barn and with the help of his family, provided them with food. Jozef Reich settled in Israel and confirmed these facts, adding that after the war he proposed a sum of money to Wlodek, who refused to accept it. See: Grynberg, op. cit.

WLODEK, Stanislaw (not related)
WLODEK, Jadwiga Maria, wife
WLODEK, Janusz, son
WLODEK, Krystyna, daughter


Adolf Berman, the secretary of Zegota and representative of Warsaw Jews, beside Leon Feiner, wrote that the Poles headed many Jewish underground self-help units organized by the ZKN, Jewish National Committee and by the Bund. Many scholars, writers, artists, social workers, laborers and peasants brought salvation to the persecuted. A time will come that a great Golden Book should contain all their names. He mentions: Irena Sawicki (q.v.), Dr. Zofia Podkowinski, Janina Buchholtz-Bukolski (q.v.), Prof. Maria Grzegorzewski, Stefania Sempolowski, Aleksandra Dargiel, Jadwiga Leszeczanin, Antonina Roguski, Mrs. Wyrub, Mrs. Petkowski, Roza Zawadzki, Stanislaw Papuzinski, Zofia Rodziewicz, Maria Laski and dozens of other names. He concludes this list as follows: "The Poles mentioned in this essay, are only a tiny fraction of those who at the risk of their life helped to save Jews from the Hitlerite beasts". In contrast to this eminent Jewish activist, Wladka Meed from the Bund, affirms that only a very few helped, most were reserved, and acts of blackmail and denunciations were much more numerous that acts of help. Meed mentions only a few Polish friends, whom she met or about whose help she heard. Among them she mentions Wanda Wnorowski. Wanda employed young escapees from the Warsaw and Piotrkow ghettoes in her tailor shop. Her apartment at Wspolna Street 39 was a meeting-point of many hiding Jews. She organized for them false documents, found them shelters, and distributed pecuniary aid, unwilling to accept for herself anything but flowers for her birthday. A second such woman, (according to Meed) was Julianna (Jasinski) Larisz, (q.v.) owner of a prosperous restaurant. Julianna devoted the profits thereof mostly to helping Jews, providing them with food, clothing and books. She even baked matzoth (unleavened bread) for Passover. From the 21 Jews she led out of the ghetto, 17 survived. Berman, on the contrary, mentions several Poles that paid with their lives, among others: Dr. Ewa Rybicki, Janina Kunicki, and Irena Prochnik. Those here mentioned that do not have "(q.v.)" after their names are not recognized as "Righteous among the Nations". See: Bartoszewski & Lewin, op. cit. and Prekerowa, op. cit.

WOCHELSKI, Maria, sister
WODNICKI, Jozefa, wife
WODYK, Kazimiera, wife
WODZINOWSKI-STOPKA, Wincentyna, see STOPKA, Andrzej, husband
WOHANSKI, Wladyslawa, wife

WOJCIECHOWSKI, Tadeusz (not related)

WOJCIECHOWSKI, Ksawery (not related) see WOYCIECHOWSKI, Ksawery
WOJCIESZUK-ZAKRZEWSKI, Regina see ZAKRZEWSKI, Franciszek.& Aniela, parents?

WOJDYLAK, Jozef (1908-)
WOJDYLAK, Anna (1907-) wife

The Wojdylaks farmed at Zielonka, near Przemysl. In July 1942 the Germans formed the Przemysl ghetto from which they deported the Jews to Belzec. Dr. Marek Turkel, his wife Diana and their two children (14 and 8), the lawyer Aleksander Kronberg and his wife, Mundek Fast-Falat and his wife Stefania and Jakub Reinbach came to the Wojdylaks for shelter. All of them survived and most of them left Poland. Jakub Reinbach, who lives now in Przemysl, confirmed the saving of these nine (9) people, who maintained cordial contacts with the Wojdylaks. See: Grynberg, op. cit.

WOJEWODA, Maria, wife
WOJNAROWICZ, Elzbieta, wife
WOJNEROWSKI, Maria, wife
WOJTOWICZ, Antoni, brother
WOJTOWICZ, Kazimierz, brother

WOJTOWICZ, Apolonia (not related)
WOJTOWICZ, Kazimierz, son
WOJTOWICZ, Wieslawa, daughter

WOJTON, Julia, wife

The Wojtons lived at Wzdow, Rzeszow prov. During the occupation they concealed the four members of the Wilner family: Jakub and Blima, Jakub's father Chil, and Blima's brother. The Wilners after the war went to Israel. See. Grynberg, op. cit.

WOJTUNIK, Janina, wife

WOLANSKI, Stanislawa (1899-1976)
WOLANSKI-BAK, Danuta (1920-) daughter
WOLANSKI, Eugeniusz (-1988 son
WOLANSKI, Wladyslaw (1924-1986) son

The Wolanskis farmed one hectare in the village of Jacmierz, near Sanok. They harbored on their tiny farm four persons of the Silberman family, known to them before the war: Avon, his sister Golda, Samuel and Frida Silberman who had probably escaped from the Sanok ghetto towards the end of 1942. The Wolanskis hid them in their barn, which the fugitives left only at night. As they did not have any reserves they were completely dependent on these very poor farmers. All survived and left for Israel, the USA and Australia. See: Grynberg, op. cit.

WOLANSKI, Walerian (not related)
WOLANSKI, Emilia, wife

The Wolanskis resided in Grodno (now in Bielorussia). At the beginning of 1941 the Germans formed the Grodno ghetto, where they massed 25,000 Jews. After murdering many of them on the spot, they deported the others to Auschwitz in January 1943. Among them was Dr. Sulamit Majzel, married and mother of a small son. Her mother-in-law entrusted Dr. Majzel's boy to the Wolanskis. She herself died with other members of the family. After the war the Wolanskis were repatriated from Soviet Russia to Poland with the Majzel child. Dr. Sulamit Majzel survived Auschwitz and reclaimed her child from the Wolanskis who lived then in Lodz. See: Grynberg, op. cit.

WOLF, Alfred

WOLF-PRZYBYLSKI. Jadwiga (not related) see PRZYBYLSKI, Zdzislaw & Jadwiga, parents?

WOLINSKI, Henryk (1902-1986) , alias WACLAW, later ZAKRZEWSKI

At the beginning of the occupation there was no Jewish underground organization, so the Polish underground authorities contacted Jews unofficially. On Feb. 1, 1942 a Section for Jewish Affairs was instituted, headed by Henryk Wolinski, a lawyer. He was at the BIP (Biuro lnformacji i Propagandy, i.e. Office of Information and Propaganda) at the AK (Home Army) headquarters. He was in contact with the Jewish intelligentsia involved in the administration of the ghetto. Before that, the Polish leaders had been in touch with the Bund through the PPS (Polish Socialist Party) and the Hechaluc, through the Polish Scout Association. Private, professional, business and social contacts were maintained. Thanks to these contacts, the Polish underground had all the information needed about the situation of Jews in the ghettoes and in the country as a whole, to present it to the world. Wolinski was the co-author of the report of the underground authorities to the Polish government-in-exile in London, especially about the mass deportations from the Warsaw ghetto to Treblinka from July 21 till mid September 1942. Over 300,000 Jews from the Warsaw ghetto were transported under the guise of "resettlement for work in the East". He received daily reports from railway men about the number of trains and of people in them. Thus, the Polish government informed the Allied governments and the western mass media about the enormity of German crimes in Poland and particularly against its Jewish population. Henryk Wolinski belonged to that group of people who came out with the initiative of creating a special institution to assist Jews, realized shortly after by the creation of Zegota (Council for Aid to Jews). He contacted Adof Berman, the representative of the ZKN (The Jewish National Committee), Leon Feiner, representative of the Bund and Arie Wilner, representative of the ZOB (The Jewish Fighting Organization). Due to his intervention it became possible for Arie Wilner to contact the Polish underground, its military and civilian authorities, in September 1942. In November 1942 Arie Wilner presented a written declaration on behalf of the ZKN and the ZOB to the delegate in Poland of the Polish government-in-exile (in London) and to the commander-in-chief of the Home Army. On Nov. 11, 1942, the latter, General Stefan Grott Rowecki, recognized the ZOB as a paramilitary entity, to be organized along the directives laid down for the AK and urged that all possible aid be given to the Jewish Fighting Organization. That aid was small, insufficient for the enormous needs, but the AK had itself only a very limited amount of arms and ammunition and in the Warsaw Uprising a year and a half after the Ghetto Uprising, the Polish insurgents were even less equipped than the ghetto fighters. Wolinski transmitted to Arie Wilner the approval of the government's delegate for Poland. The ZKK (Jewish Coordinating Committee) was set up to include also the representative of the Bund, which at first had been unwilling to join the ZKN. Wolinski and others from the BIP had many Jewish friends on both sides of the ghetto wall. He and the others helped the Jews in many ways, getting false documents, finding employment, places of shelter - often in their own apartments. What more, Wolinski established on behalf of the High Command of the AK an organization which on Aug. 1st, 1944 sheltered 283 Jews and himself he harbored in his apartment over 25 of them for a period going from a few days to several weeks. See: Bartoszewski & Lewin, op. cit., Grynberg, op. cit., Iranek-Osmecki, op. cit., Lukas: Out of the Inferno, op. cit., and Prekerowa, op. cit.

WOLNY, Maksymilian
WOLNY, Joanna, wife
WOLNY, Bozenna, daughter
WOLNY, Zbigniew, son

WOLSKI, Feliks (not related)
WOLSKI, Maryla, wife, born ABRAMOWICZ

Maryla and her husband helped several Jews. She organized the risky transport of Dr. Gabaj's family and of a certain Fink to the Vilna ghetto, which at that time seemed safer. Maryla particularly assisted Jews with great devotion and energy. Janina Zienowicz-Zagala tells in her account that their home was a veritable factory of help". See: Bartoszewski & Lewin, op. cit.

WOLSKI, Jadwiga (not related)

WOLSKI, Malgorzata (1879-1974) (not realted)
* WOLSKI, Mieczyslaw (1912-1944) son
WOLSKI-MICHALECKI, Halina (1920-) daughter
WOLSKI-SZANDURSKI, Wanda (1921-) daughter

A Jewish woman named Wiska was the first to come to the Wolskis. She went to the ghetto several times, often in Mieczyslaw's company, and brought from it other Jews, who were harbored in the Wolskis' house, at Grojecka Street in Warsaw. When there were 34 of them, the Wolskis decided to build a bunker. Mieczyslaw and his nephew, Janusz Wysocki (q.v.), built in his garden, under the greenhouse, a 5 by 7 meter shelter, with tiered beds, a table, benches, electric light and water. They called it "Krysia" (little Christine). To reach "Krysia" it was necessary to go across two back yards, enter the greenhouse and find the secret entrance. According to Wanda's account to the ZIH (Jewish Historica Institute) of 1988, Mieczyslaw directed the whole operation. Janusz Wysocki and Wanda had to buy food and bring it in and take the waste out. Halina was in charge of correspondence, and she also went out with their mother, for meat and other foodstuffs. In their house, their sister Leokadia had a shop, which facilitated matters greatly. On March 7, 1944, the Germans and the Blue Police entered "Krysia", took Mieczyslaw, their sister Maria, Janusz Wysocki and all the Jews, and leaving guards, left. The other family members managed to flee. Halina saw her brother brought back in a terrible state. He was taken with Janusz Wysocki and with all the Jews to the Pawiak prison and executed in the ruins of the ghetto. No trace of Mieczyslaw Wolski and of Janusz Wysocki was found. "Krysia" and their house was ransacked completely and Krysia" was burnt. After a certain time Wanda and her mother returned home. Among the Jews sheltered was the famous Emmanuel Ringelblum (1900-1944) a Ph.D. in history, author of scholarly works, who set up clandestine archives about the fate of the Jews under German occupation. From 1940 he wrote a diary in Yiddish. After the ghetto destruction in 1943 he was taken to the Trawniki, camp. Teodor Pajewski (q.v.) got him out of it. While hiding in "Krysia" he wrote in Polish his work, Polish-Jewish relations during the 2nd World War, published later by the ZIH. Ringelblum wrote a glowing report about the entire family. Mieczyslaw Wolski and Janusz Wysocki were awarded the medal of "Righteous Among the Nations" and as such were mentioned here previously in the list of "Those Who Paid with Their lives". See: Bartoszewski & Lewin, op. cit., and Grynberg, op. cit. Paldiel, op. cit.

WOLSKI, Mieczyslaw (another one, not related)
WOLSKI, Janina, wife

WOLSKI, Stanislaw (not related)
WOLSKI, Wincentyna, wife

WOLSKI, Tomasz (not realted)
WOLSKI, Olga, wife

WOLSKI, Wlodzimierz (not related)
WOLSKI, Krzysztof, son

WOLODKOWICZ-LISOWSKI, Maria, sister -in-law

Dr. Jadwiga S-K., a Jewish physician, lived before the war in Vilna under a different name and during the occupation in Warsaw, under a still another name. Maria Wolodkowicz harbored her from the fall of 1942 till the spring of 1943. Maria's husband, Jozef, was at that time in Vilna. He had been deported by the Soviets to the Kazachstan (in Soviet Russia). Their son, Andrzej Wolodkowicz remembers the doctor well. She was employed as one of five persons in the production of meat pies. The daughter of Dr. Jadwiga S-K, Liliana F. was sheltered for several years by Izabela, the sister-in-law of Maria. A bathtub served as her bed. After the Warsaw Uprising (1944) she married a Jewish man, also saved by another Polish family and they live in New Scotland, and both are doctors. In the home of Izabela and Gustaw Wolodkowicz there were two daughters, Elzbieta Dzierzykray-Morawski and Helena Podlewski. Yad Vashem recognized Maria and Izabela as "Righteous on June 10 and July 26, 1982, together with the Kemnitzes, (q.v.) Wojciech and son Edward and the Kmiecinskis, Maria and son Jozef. (q.v.) The letter from Yad Vashem was dated Aug. 5, 1982. Case No. 2309a and 2309b.
On Dec. 13, 1983 in the Israeli Embassy in Canada, in the city of Ottawa, there took place the ceremony of conferring the medal "Righteous among the Nations" posthumously on Maria and Izabela Wolodkowicz. It was Andrzej Wolodkowicz, Maria's son and Izabela's nephew, who received the medal in their name in the presence of the Israeli Ambassador, the entire personnel of the Embassy, the president of the Canadian Jewish Congress and of the mass media. The Ambassador underlined the enormous heroism of harboring Jews during the Nazi occupation in Poland. The TV personnel visited Andrzej in his home to make photos for the evening television show. It evoked so much interest that even several members of Parliament called on Andrzej Wolodkowicz with words of congratulation. See: The article in "Glos Polski" (Toronto) dated Jan 19, 1984. The cause started in 1978.

WOLOSZANSKI, (Wolosianski?) Izydor
WOLOSZANSKI, (Wolosianski?) Jaroslawa, wife

The couple Woloszanski is credited with saving forty (40) Jews on the Szaszkiewicz Street in Drohobycz. The Jews were downstairs and above them resided, incredibly, the Gestapo. In that bunker found refuge also an uncle of Stella Kreshes. The Woloszanski couple fed them and took care of removing the wastes disinterestedly. According to Stella Kreshes they did not get a cent for it. They were recognized as "Righteous" early, in 1967. See: Isakiewicz, op. cit.


WOLOSZYN, Antoni (-1962)
WOLOSZYN, Maria (-1970) wife
WOLOSZYN, Maria (1927-) daughter

The Woloszyn family consisted of six persons. They lived in the village of Wojcza, Kielce prov. During the liquidation of the nearby ghetto in Nowy Korczyn, escaped from it: Benjamin Kolacz, his wife Sara and their two daughters, Chaja and Chawa. Knowing the Woloszyn family they came to them for shelter. The latter made for them a hideout in the barn, and gratuitously provided them with food and necessities. This results from the deposition by the Kolacz sisters Oct. 7, 1983. See: Grynberg, op. cit.

WOLOSZYN, Jan (not related)
WOLOSZYN, Rozalia, wife

WOLOSZYN, Stanislaw (not related)
WOLOSZYNIAK-GRZEBYK, Stefania, wife, daughter of GRZEBYK, Jan & Maria?


Anna stayed with her mother and with Jadwiga Pagowski (q.v.) and her sister in Warsaw. Toward the end of 1943 Jadwiga brought to their apartment a Jewish girl, Izabela Simel. Anna took care of her for half a year until Izabela left Warsaw. She survived. Anna was honored on Jan 14, 1999 as a "Righteous", as announced by the Israeli Embassy in Poland.

WOROBIEC, Janina, wife
WOROBIEC, Henryka, daughter
WOS, Pawel
WOS, Anna, wife
WOS, Zenon, son

WOS, Pawel (another one, not related)
WOS, Helena, wife

WOYCIECHOWSKI, Ksawery Stanislaw (1870-1961)
WOYCIECHOWSKI, Zofia ) 1884-1972) wife
WOYCIECHOWSKI, Wlodzimierz (1910-) son, engineer
WOYCIECHOWSKI, Anna (1915-) daughter-in-law

Ksawery Stanislaw owned the estate Kanie, commune Pawlow, Chelm Lubelski prov. His son, Wlodzimierz, worked in a private company in Dabrowa Gornicza. During the war he administered his father's estate. His father grew vegetables for which he employed a specialist, Chaim Mosze Kohn. Germans ordered to increase the vegetables' production and allowed the employment of several dozen Jews on the estate, among them the Kohn's family. But in 1942 they disallowed it completely. The intervention before the German command to keep the Kohns as specialists was in vain. The Woyciechowskis decided to save them. Wlodzimierz prepared a plan for a bunker in the forest, which the Kohn's sons built in ten days. It had beds for six people, ventilation, and a store for vegetables. It was built so well, that even Wlodzimierz's wife standing on it could not see it. Once a week, Wlodzimierz brought in the vicinity of the bunker big sacks of food: bread, fat, flour, grits, eggs, meat and plenty of onions and garlic and alcohol to cook with. In winter it was very difficult not to leave marks of their walking outside of the bunker, as foresters could not be admitted to the secret. Many people wondered what had happened to the Kohns, especially the Ukrainian village administrator. But the six Kohns survived and after the war left Poland. In October 1950 they confirmed all of the above adding that the Woyciechowskis' help was completely disinterested. See: Grynberg, op. cit.

WOZNIAK, Olga, wife

WOZNIAK, Stanislaw (not related)
WOZNIAK, Janina, wife

Stanislaw lived in Warsaw and during the occupation was a janitor in a house belonging to a Jewish company, which employed him before the war. When that family had to leave their apartment in 15 minutes, to make room for some Germans, Stanislaw took the four persons into his home. At night he sneaked in that vacated apartment, still unoccupied, to take from it articles of value to bring them to their owners. He provided food to them when they were in the ghetto. He also helped the owner's daughter, Zofia Breskin, her husband Michal and her brother, when they got out of the ghetto in January 1943. They could not stay with him for long, as the janitor next door knew them and used to denounce Jews. In July 1964 Zofia Breskin stated to Yad Vashem that Wozniak received them always with great cordiality and understanding of their plight, did not want to accept any money, on the contrary he shared with them his meager food supply. Stanislaw's son was twice in Israel, invited by the Breskins and in 1964 planted the tree on the Hill of Remembrance in memory of his father. His mother was recognized only in 1992.

WOZNIAK, Stanislaw (another one, not related))

WOZNIAK-MELLER, Stefania (not relate) see MELLER, Jozef & Eugenia, parents?

WOZNIAK, Wladyslaw (not related)
WOZNIAK, Marianna, wife
WOZNY, Michal
WOZNY, Andrzej, son
WOZNY, Maria, daughter
WOJCICKI, Anna, wife
WOJCIK, Halina

WOJCIK, Jozef (not related)

WOJCIK, Maria (not related)
WOJCIK-LEWANDOWSKI, Krystyna, daughter
WOJCIK-POCIECHA, Stanislawa, daughter
WOJCIK, Tadeusz, son
WOJCIK-PIEKART, Wladyslawa, daughter

Maria Wojcik and her family lived in Felsztyn, Sambor district. During the occupation they harbored five (5) Jews. At their request Yad Vashem conferred on Maria Wojcik and her children the title and medal "Righteous Among the Nations". See: Grynberg, op. cit.

WOJCIK, Wiktor (not related)
WOJCIK-KULAGA, Emilia, sister

WOJCIK, Wladyslaw (not related)

WOJCIK, Wladyslaw (another one, not related) alias ZEGOCINSKI (1917-1974)
WOJCIK-JANOWSKI, Wanda (1914-) wife
WOJCIK, Helena, Wladyslaw's sister

Wladyslaw Wojcik was the secretary of the Cracow branch of the RPZ (Council for Aid to Jews, or Zegota) as representative of the Polish Socialist Party. (See under the names: Dobrowolski, Anna and Stanislaw Wincenty, Matus, Jerzy, Seweryn, Tadeusz, Strzalecki, Jadwiga) His main task was to find places of shelter in Cracow and vicinity for the persecuted Jews and to organize false documents for some of them. He had a hand in extricating from the Janowski camp Maksymilian Boruchowicz, later called Michal Borwicz, a man of letters, who went on to organize a partisan unit. Wladyslaw concealed prof. Ludwik Wertenstein (1887-1945), a nuclear physicist and his family and participated in their crossing the border to Hungary. Helena harbored in her apartment Robert Kaufman. In that apartment took place the meetings of the RPZ. His wife, Wanda Janowski, sheltered Janina Hescheles (12), whose diary was published in Polish in 1946 by the Jewish Historical Commission in Cracow:, under the title: "Through the eyes of a twelve years old girl". Maria Hochberg-Marianski, the representative of the Cracow Jewish community, found other shelters for Janina, as the Wojciks' apartment served for Zegota's meetings. At the beginning, the Cracow branch received from Warsaw the sum of 50,000 zlotys monthly, which due to its lively activity rose a year later to one million zlotys. In 1944 up to 1,000 persons received some kind of assistance, most of them regularly. See: Bartoszewski & Lewin, op. cit. and Grynberg, op. cit.

WRAZEJ, Henryk
WRAZEJ, Zofia, wife
WROCZYNSKI, Jozefa, wife
WROCZYNSKI-JEDRUSZEK, Jolanta, daughter?
WRONA, Maria, wife

WRONA, Jozef (not related)

WRONSKI, Henryk-Michal

Henryk was a young student (21) in Ostrowiec when he saw a pile of corpses of Jews, patients at a German-occupied hospital. He resolved to save Jews. He met a young Jewish pianist, Leo Spellman and his wife, Mary. They reunited in Toronto after 49 years. "I was crying when he walked out from the hotel. I recognized him right away", Spellman said. Wronski found him through correspondence with his first cousin, a well-known pianist in Poland, Wladyslaw Szpilman. Henryk-Michal rented the back of a vacant store for their first hideout, but was ordered by the Germans to vacate it for a German woman. Then he rented a two-room apartment, right under the nose of the German and Polish police. When he got out he had to padlock the door. Germans often pounded on the door; a Polish neighbor would come out telling them that the student was away. The couple not only had to be totally silent - neither could they cook during the day to avoid being betrayed by the smoke from the stovepipe. Wronski brought them small amounts of food in his briefcase and had to take the waste out. "If they caught him with it, they'd have killed him." Spellman said. "What a risk he took." Wronski arranged two hideouts: a six-foot hole beneath a wardrobe and a hall-closet, plastered up. Once the German police came just when he was digging the hole. He explained that he was preparing a bomb shelter. When the Germans were retreating before the Russians, eight soldiers broke into the apartment and installed themselves in it. For five days the Spellmans remained without food or water, hidden in the closet. Once, when the soldiers got drunk, and went to sleep - what Leo and Maria observed through a peephole, - Leo opened the door and stole a piece of bread. In the morning two soldiers accused one another of stealing the bread. One of them pushed on the door, but the Spellmans pushed back. "We were lucky he gave up." Leo said. He stresses that Wronski saved their lives without payment, except some money for food. See: the article by Ruth Schweitzer, published in the Canadian Jewish News of Nov. 17, 1994, on p. 30.
On the photo appear: Leo Sepllman, his wife Mary in the middle and Michel on the right.

WROBEL, Helena, wife

WROBEL, Stanislaw (not related)
WROBEL, Anna, wife
WROBEL, Janina, daughter
WROBEL, Zygmunt, son

WROBEL, Stanislaw (1861-1956) not related
WROBEL, Karolina, wife (1876-1971)
WROBEL, Stanislaw, son (1920-)

The Wrobel family farmed on two hectares in the village of Wola Zalezna, near Opoczno, Kielce prov. The Frenkiel family from Lodz fled the western provinces incorporated into the Third Reich and came to Opoczno, where lived their relatives. The Germans liquidated the Opoczno ghetto in October 1942. The Frenkiels, Jakub, his wife Sara and their son Henryk (6) as well as Sara's sister, Bela Rozenberg, asked the Wrobels for help. As Stanislaw and his wife Karolina were elderly, all the weight of the responsibility fell on the shoulders of the 22 years old son, Stanislaw. They had just one eroom. First Stanislaw placed the refugees in the attic and then in a hole under the floor. As neighbors often visited them it was not safe. Stanislaw dug a hole in the stable, but fearing that under the weight of the horse the ceiling of the hideout could brake up, he dug another hole on the side of a farm building. Water flooded it from time to time, but the Frenkiels survived in it till the war's end. Stanislaw worked at his neighbors' farms, as their modest means were insufficient to feed all of them. It lasted two years and 58 days. In 1987 he wrote to the ZIH: "I treated the Jews like my own family but I lived in constant terror. I stood guard day and night, paying attention whether anyone approached the place in which the Jews were concealed. It is impossible now to describe what I went through. Until today I wake at night and scream, all in a sweat." The Frenkiels went to the USA. See: Grynberg, op. cit.

WROBLEWSKI, Stefania, wife

WROBLEWSKI, Henryk (not related)

WROBLEWSKI, Stefan (not related)
WROBLEWSKI, Stefan's wife

Ziporah Wind now Preston, was instrumental in placing in Talleyville, Delaware (USA) the first official monument to the Catholic Poles and other Christians who saved Jews. It was unveiled on Dec. 11, 1983. Stefan Wroblewski was probably the friend who helped Leopold Socha and his wife (q.v.) in saving a group of Jews, from Lvov, about whom wrote so eloquently Paldiel, op cit. Krystyna Chiger wrote a most vivid account published in 1947 in Cracow by the Jewish Historical Commission under the title "Dzieci oskarzaja" (Children accuse). In it she relates how Leopold Socha (q.v.), Stanislaw Wroblewski - (probably Stefan not Stanislaw) and Jerzy Kowalow, three Polish sewer cleaners, brought food every day to the twenty (20) Jews hiding in the Lvov sewers for 14 months. Krystyna says that they were very good to them from the very first day, giving them black bread and margarine, even eggs sometimes, fuel for the carbide lamp and conducting them to safer places in the sewers. When the Jews had no more money they brought them food for free. See: Bartoszewski & Lewin, op. cit., p. 381-384 and Paldiel, op. cit.

WRZOSEK, Kazimierz
WRZOSEK, Helena (1920-) wife

The Wrzoseks lived on a small farm in the village of Galkowice, near Zawichost, Tarnobrzeg prov. They also had a small store with articles needed on the country that they bought in Zawichost from a Jew shop-owner, Szulman. The Zawichost ghetto was liquidated in October 1942. At that time Josef Szulman and his wife Chaja, with their daughter, Frida asked the Wrzoseks for shelter. Their farm buildings formed a quadrangle, so that the yard was invisible from the street. At the beginning the little girl could play in it, but once a Blue policeman saw her. The Wrzoseks told him that the girl is the daughter of Kazimierz's sister living in Sandomierz. Soon same people, supposedly partisans, appeared requesting that Wrzoseks give up their Jews. They tried even to search for them but fortunately without result. In 1944 with the front approaching, the Germans occupied the Wrzoseks' household. The farm buildings were burnt during the fighting. The owners and the Jews hid in the cellar in the yard and were nearly asphyxiated. The Wrzoseks' relatives got them out of the cellar to the yard thinking that the Jews were dead. The next day the Wrzoseks wanted to ascertain what happened to the Szulmans; fortunately these survived. After the war they left for Argentina. In the statement of April 23, 1985, the Szulmans attested that from the fall of 1942 till the spring of 1944 the Wrzoseks hid them in the barn or in the pigsty and brought them food when they fed the animals. All their stay with the Wrzoseks was gratuitous. See Grynberg, op. cit.

WUENSCHE, Jerzy alias DOBROWOLSKI (1914-)

Jerzy was born in Radomsk, as son of an old and wealthy German family, von Wuensche, who came to Poland (then under Russia) before the First World War. His father had a furniture factory and had many business affairs with the Jews. Jerzy grew up in a democratic and liberal atmosphere. He married a Jewess, Zosia Zeidman and after his father's death took over his company. When Germans occupied Radomsk, Jerzy moved to Warsaw and supplied furniture to the Wehrmacht (German army) in order to be able to employ Jews in his factories, especially Radom Jews. When all private companies employing Jews were closed, Jerzy took dozens of them into his home. Among them was a schoolmate from Radomsk, Ruth Zarski, whom he met in Lvov. Her husband was taken to Germany and with a baby she was in dire straits. He took both to Warsaw and placed the infant with a Christian family paying for her upkeep. In 1943 The Germans killed Ruth. Her daughter, Miriam Zarski, now Feldman, survived and after the war Jerzy took the 4 years old into his home, until relatives came to claim her. She went to Israel. A similar case was that of Krysia Kowalski, now Leah Buchman. In 1941 Jerzy met in Radomsk Mrs. Buchman, whose husband was in a labor camp. Jerzy offered to take her little girl, Leah, to Warsaw for the duration of the war. The mother accepted. Jerzy put the girl up with some Christian family paying for her upkeep. After the Warsaw Uprising (1944) all trace of her vanished. Jerzy and the mother, with the help of the Jewish Committee in Cracow, found the girl in that city where she was staying with a Polish woman. Avraham also survived and the family left for Israel. See: Bauminger, The Righteous among the Nations, op. cit.

WYDRA, Bronislawa and Jozef, son, see: WYDRO, Bronislawa and Jozef, son
WYDRO, (WYDRA?) Bronislawa
WYDRO, (WYDRA)?) Jozef, son
WYDRYCH-PINDELAK, Helena, see: PINDELAK, Roman & Paulina, parents?

WYGANOWSKI, Helena, (not related) born TOLLOCZK0, 1mo voto KOPCINSKI,

WYPYCH, Stanislaw (1913-1982)

Stanislaw, who as a child lost his parents, was brought up by his uncle and aunt, Jozef and Anna Marcinkowski.(q.v.). With their cooperation he hid five (5) Jews for almost five years, in his house. He lived in Piotrkow Trybunalski. Piotrkow Trybunalski, was a XIII century town, situated on the Warsaw-Katowice railway junction. It already contained camps for Polish POW's in the first days of September 1939 and later forced labor camps. On Oct 8, 1939 the occupying Germans organized there the first ghetto in Poland. The Goodfriend family came to Wypych, the mother and her children first, and then the Dzialowski family. Stanislaw helped everybody who needed it, taking care of all of them. Pola Dzialowski, one of the women sheltered with the best appearance (it means with least Semitic features) went out with Stanislaw to buy food in the town, buying and selling, like everybody else did at that time. Stanislaw beside the nine (9) persons hidden, helped eighteen (18) other Jews. Once he was picked up in a roundup, not knowing if the Germans knew about his activity. Weeks of interrogation, beatings and threats followed. Fortunately he survived. When he reappeared home everybody greeted him in tears. Today that house on the Narutowicza Street does not exist anymore. Stanislaw is an extremely modest man, not able to speak about his exploits. Asked why he did it, he replied: "I just did not think about why I did it. I just did what had to be done." In the Yiddish bulletin "Folks Sztyme", appeared a photograph with the caption: "Goodfriend and Pole who sheltered him" with the notice: "Cantor Isaac Goodfriend visited also his old home-town in Poland, Piotrkow Trybunalski, where he was hidden by a decent Polish family. He brought presents and memories to the house of his savior." The cantor came from Atlanta, USA. The above photograph had first appeared in "Time Magazine" on Aug. 20 1979. Yad Vashem recognized Stanislaw Wypych and the Marcinkowski couple on Sept.12, 1990. The letter was dated Oct. 24, 1990. Case No 4642, started in 1989.


Wanda cooperated with the Social Welfare Department of the city of Warsaw. On Grojecka Street there were shops where worked Jewish women from the ghetto. Sometimes they managed to bring along a Jewish child, in the hope that it might be saved. Wanda brought two girls (6 or 7) from these shops, which she placed in dependable hands. She also cared for Marysia, daughter of the well-known writer and stage manager Jonas Turkow, who survived the war. See: Grynberg, op. cit.

WYRWA, Wladyslaw

WYRZYKOWSKI, Antonina, wife

The couple farmed in the village of Janczewo, near Lomza. From November 1942 till January 1945 they concealed in their pigsty seven (7) Jews: Grodnowski, Berl, Jakub Kobrzanski, Mosze and Elka Olszewicz, Elka Sosnowski.and Samuel Wasserstein. They were denounced. Police searches with dogs followed, but the Jews were not discovered, as Antonina each day poured kerosene on the entrance to the pigsty. After the war, Antonina, feeling her neighbors' disapproval, left for Austria. She returned later to Poland, but to another village. See: Grynberg, op. cit.

WYRZYKOWSKI-SZWAJKAJZER, Wanda (not related) see SZWAJKAJZER, Stefan & Teofila, parents
WYSIADECKI, Franciszka

* WYSOCKI, Janusz (1924-1944)

Janusz Wysocki, nephew of Mieczyslaw Wolski (q.v.) for helping him and his family to harbor 34 Jews, among them Emmanuel Ringelblum, was arrested on March 7, 1944 and executed in unknown circumstances. Awarded posthumously the medal "Righteous Among the Nations", he was mentioned here in the list of "Those Who Paid with Their Lives"(No. 690)

WYSOCKI, Mikolaj (not related)
WYSOCKI, Anna, wife
WYSOCKI-KIELBASA, Helena, daughter
WYSOCKI-MAROSZEK, Maria, daughter

The Wysocki family farmed at Wielki Grabowiec. They were not rich farmers. They had one cow, one horse, one pig, three chickens and a very small piece of land. Nevertheless when two terrified, hungry and dirty teenagers, the brothers Jack and Irving Posesorski came to them asking for asylum, they did not refuse but offered them shelter in the loft of the barn. The two elder sisters, Janka and Maryska Wysocki, also teenagers, volunteered to go to a German forced labor camp to dissuade soldiers from searching the farm. In March 1944 the girls, 15 and 17, were taken to Germany and returned from it only after the war. From Sept. 24, 1942 until Aug. 21, 1944 the two boys stayed with the Wysockis. Their parents and elder sister, Golda, were murdered in March 1943. Helena, who was ten at that time, too young to volunteer for forced labor, was their messenger, keeping them in contact with a cousin also hidden elsewhere. When the sisters returned from Germany some people in the village suggested that the boys should marry the two girls. But it was not to be. They left Poland. Jack, the elder brother, came to Canada with his wife, Yetta, in 1948. He managed his own textile store. Irving and his wife, Dora, came a year later and is now retired. He went to Poland and visited Helena in 1986. When Helena, invited by the brothers, came to Toronto, Jack wept at the sight of her. Helena said that she could have easily picked him out without the aid of Irving. "We lived through the tragedy like one family together", Helena said. "Whatever he had, we always shared." Helena is now an inspector on the Board of education, a mother and a grand mother. It was Irving who undertook the steps necessary for the recognition, with the help of Yetta, after her husband's death. The brothers sent help to the family. See: the article by Susan Reid, under the title: "Brothers saved from Nazis greet 'girl' who aided them", published in the "Toronto Star" on May 23, 1988, p. A7. Yad Vashem recognized them as "Righteous Among the Nations". The letter dates from May 9, 1995. Case No. 6509a; it was started in 1993.

WYSZEWIANSKI-SIKORSKI, Kamilla see SIKORSKI, Wladyslawa, mother and sisters