Wartime Rescue of Jews by the Polish Catholic Clergy

During the search, another Gestapo man started hitting a peasant quite viciously. … He ordered the pharmacy cordoned off more securely from the ghetto.

“It’s a miracle we survived,” Woińska says. …

The young priest who arranged for the Shapiros’ second hiding place, and who escorted them on their short but hazardous journey, was Vicar Józef Chwalko. His superior, Rector Bolesław Czarkowski, reiterated in his sermons that “one must help people” who were in need. A priestly word, a priestly example, carried enormous moral authority in a congregation such as Brańsk’s …

… the Nazis announced a hunt for the hidden Jews. The Catholic priest, to his credit, preached a sermon in which he told people to “wash their hands” of such murderous activity, and enjoined them to help those in need. …

… in July 1943 a priest named Henryk Opiatowski, who was a member of the Home Army, was executed for helping Jews and Soviet deserters from labor camps. …

The forest partisans continued to function and even to grow, adding people who escaped from Białystok after the liquidation of the ghetto and even from the train transports to Treblinka. From 1943 on, there were more than eighty Jews trying to survive in this way. They organized themselves into a unit, consisting of a “family camp,” which sheltered those who could not use weapons, and a defense camp. Their supply of arms was replenished by “intelligent Poles,” who were sympathetic to their plight and who included schoolteachers and a priest.
Eugenia Wirszubska obtained Aryan papers for herself and young daughters Regina and Ada from a family friend, Lidia Lichnowska, the daughter of the prewar mayor of Wysokie Litewskie. After the liquidation of the Prużana ghetto, they survived with the help of a number of Poles. They were extended protection by two priests, Rev. Jakubowski and Rev. Kardasz, in the town of Narew where they took refuge.⁴⁷² (Account of Regina Szymańska, “Fear and Dread,” in Gutenbaum and Latała, The Last Eyewitnesses, volume 2, pp.301–302.)
Just before the establishment of a ghetto in Wysokie Litewskie (one was created there as well), thanks to the intensified effort by Lidka Lichnowska, we obtained Aryan papers. We could then leave for Narew. It was Lidka Lichnowska, I believe, who brought us the news that a ghetto would be created. Her father, who was the prewar mayor, continued to carry out his duties during the war. His attitude toward us remained very friendly. …

I think that people did not treat us any differently as Jews in Wysokie Litewskie, because of our assimilation and the type of life my parents led.

During the war, on two occasions, we managed to escape virtually “from under the knife,” once, from the ghetto in Próżana [Prużana], the day before its liquidation, and afterward, from Wysokie just before a ghetto was established there. From Wysokie we found our way first to Bielsko [Bielsk Podlaski]. We stayed with friends of Lidka Lichnowska, physicians. We were there for two or three nights. From there, equipped with letters of recommendation, we went to Narew, where we spent the rest of the occupation. We were helped by a Catholic priest to whom we were referred by Mrs. Lichnowska. It is difficult to say whether the townspeople knew we were Jews.

My mama was very likeable, pleasant, hardworking, and very obliging. We did not go to school. We played practically the whole time with the local children. My sister, in spite of having very dark brown hair, had a sub nose and never looked Jewish. Therefore, she could move around freely. With me, it was different; I have a long nose and chestnut-colored hair. During the entire occupation, Mama kept me hidden and bleached my hair with peroxide. My hair was so damaged by these treatments that I had to wear a white crocheted beret the whole time. Mama told everyone that I had bad sinuses, and that is why I had to be shielded from the sun. I think that people might have suspected the truth; however, they were tolerant.