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From
Losice history:
...On Saturday
August 22,1942, the S.S. and the Ukrainian police sealed the ghetto. They
were assembled in the central square of Losice, near the municipality
building, and from there continued walking in the direction of the town of
Mordy. On the outskirts of Losice, the German soldiers started to shoot,
murdering especially women and children, about 200 in total. The deported
continued to walk in rows in the direction of the train station of Siedlce.
During this terrible journey the Germans killed another 800. Fifty-five
hundred Jews arrived in Siedlce, from where they were transported by train
to the death camp of Treblinka.
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Two Rescue Stories from
Łosice
Contributed by Viktor Lewin
Source:
Sara Bender & Shmuel
Krakowski, The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the
Nations, Poland, Yad Vashem,
Jerusalem 2004,
pp 326
I
In
August 1942, during the liquidation of the Łosice
ghetto in the
Warsaw district (formerly the
Lublin district),
Chaya Gitla
Zylbersztajn escaped with her daughter,
Stella. After wandering for some months, the mother was caught, and despite
possessing (forged) documents, murdered. Stella continued
on her own, wandering from place to place. Despite
the antisemitic environment, she miraculously met
people who were ready to risk their lives for her. Among those who agreed to
shelter Stella for various periods were: The
Romaniuk
and
Zbucki
couples and
Wladyslawa
Piotrowska
from the town of
Łosice*;
Aniela
Kalicka
and the
Radzikowski
family from the
village of
Wyczolki;
the
Ulasiuk
family from the
village of
Kornica;
and the
Mroz
couple from the
village of
Blazejki.
In May 1944, two months before the Red Army liberated the area, Stella
converted to Christianity. After the war, she became a nun and entered the
convent in
Czestochowa. In 1968, she immigrated
to
Haifa,
Israel, and
changed her name to Zahava
Tzur. In 1987, Tzur visited
Poland and met
her saviors. At various dates, she sent their names
to Yad Vashem for
inclusion in its Department of the Righteous Among
the Nations.
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On April 2, 1981,
Yad Vashem recognized Aniela Kalicka and Waclaw Radzikowski as
Righteous Among the Nations.
On June 27, 1985,
Yad Vashem recognized Irena and Ezechiel Romaniuk as
Righteous Among the Nations.
On May i8, 1989, Yad
Vashem recognized Halina and Zygmunt Lugowski,
Jozefa and Andrzej Zdanowski and their son, Stanislaw,
Rozalia and Franciszek Wielgorski, and Jozefa
and Jan Ulasiuk as Righteous Among the Nations.
On September 21,
1989, Yad Vashem recognized Janina and Stanislaw Mroz
and Wladyslawa Piotrowska as Righteons Among the Nations.
On April 16 1991,
Yad Vashem recognized Helena Kazmierczuk Gruszka and
Lucyna and Marian Piechowicz as Righteous Among the
Nations.
On June 25, 1991,
Yad Vashem recognized Jozefa and Jozef Zbucki as Righteous
Among the Nations.
On November 26,
1992, Yad Vashem recognized Anna Radzikowska as Righteous Among the
Nations.
On March 9, 1994,
Yad Vashem recognized Waclawa Jezierska (née Radzikowska) as
Righteous Among the Nations. |
The Losice ghetto 1941 -
photograph contributed by
Warren Grynberg
I I
Source:
Sara Bender & Shmuel
Krakowski, The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the
Nations, Poland, Yad Vashem,
Jerusalem 2004, Volume I1, pp 598-599
Sara
Riwner (née
Weiman) was nine years old when her mother fled with
her before the liquidation of the Łosice ghetto in
the
Warsaw district, where she was born.
As a local citizen, Weinman had many acquaintances
among the local residents and she hoped that one of them would agree to hide
her. To her great disappointment, however, all those she turned to slammed the
door in their faces. Because there were many Germans in the town and the hunt
for Jews was unremitting, Weiman in her
desperation, told her young daughter to escape on her own. Running with all her
might, young Sara arrived at the grocery store owned by
Roman and Maria
Perycz, acquaintances of theirs who lived in the
center of town. Roman Perycz was stunned to see the
Jewish child in his shop, and immediately took her to his apartment where his
wife Maria hid her behind their bed. The next day they told
Sara that her mother
had been murdered and they had decided to take her under their wing and hide
her. From that day on, they cared for Sara as if she were their own daughter.
Roman and Maria
Perycz had three children of their
own, Zbigniew, 13, Wieslaw,
10, and Zofia, 8. The
Perycz
children received Sara warmly and cared for her as if she were their own sister.
Because the Peryczs were very busy with their work,
they left it up to the children to watch over and guard Sara, which they did
willingly and very naturally. Despite their young ages, they knew that they had
to keep the presence of the Jewish girl in their home a secret and they made
sure she never left the house. When there were Germans in the area, they would
lock her up in the outhouse, and never left her alone at home. The children were
told by their parents never to invite friends over, and saving Sara became a
family mission. Everything they did was motivated by pure altruism, for which
they never asked for nor received any remuneration. Sara stayed with the
Perycz family for about two years. After the war,
when no one came to claim her, they brought Sara to a Jewish
children’s home. Sara eventually immigrated to
Israel, from
where she remained in touch with the members of the Perycz
family.
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On March 19, 1987,
Yad Vashem recognized
Marian and
Roman Perycz as
Righteous Among the Nations.
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The deportation from the Losice
ghetto to Treblinka
death camp - photograph
contributed by
Warren Grynberg
The Rynek after the
deportation (source:
"Lochamei Hagetaot" - Ghetto Fighters' House Holocaust and Jewish Resistance
Heritage Museum)
The Polish Righteous, at
ZCHOR
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Site
Last updated July 10th,
2009