It was also the home of Gen. Bolesław Wieniawa-Długoszowski who became "President of Poland for a day" in 1939. During the Second World War Bobowa became a "concentration village" where the Jews from the surrounding area were imprisoned. The General's brother Kazimierz was the mayor and was able to save at least one Jew. Almost all were finally killed. One of the few survivors, Professor Samuel P. Oliner of Humboldt State University, California, describes these events in his autobiography "Restless Memories". He devoted his academic career to the study of altruism, having himself been rescued by a Polish peasant woman called Balwina.