{"id":12586,"date":"2018-11-26T12:40:29","date_gmt":"2018-11-26T11:40:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/muzeumtreblinka.eu\/informacje\/12-sprawiedliwych-z-paulinowa\/"},"modified":"2019-07-01T14:12:14","modified_gmt":"2019-07-01T12:12:14","slug":"12-righteous-from-paulinow","status":"publish","type":"portfolio","link":"https:\/\/muzeumtreblinka.eu\/en\/informacje\/12-righteous-from-paulinow\/","title":{"rendered":"12 Righteous from Paulin\u00f3w"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1530965056405{padding-top: 60px !important;padding-bottom: 20px !important;}”][vc_column css=”.vc_custom_1530965062953{padding-bottom: 40px !important;}”][vc_custom_heading text=”The Righteous from the Treblinka area – 12 Righteous from Paulin\u00f3w” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

On the night of 23-24 February 1943, the Germans organised a manhunt and surrounded the village of Paulin\u00f3w in the Sterdy\u0144 commune. They called about 2 thousand soldiers and policemen from Ostr\u00f3w Mazowiecka in order to catch the Jews who had escaped from the ghetto and pass a sentence on all those who helped them. This is how Wac\u0142aw Piekarski writes about the manhunt in the book Obw\u00f3d Armii Krajowej Soko\u0142\u00f3w Podlaski \u201eS\u0119p\u201d, \u201eProso\u201d 1939-1944<\/i>:
\n\u201cOn Wednesday, 24.II.1943, a blockade of Paulin\u00f3w was carried out.<\/span><\/p>\n

For helping Jews in hiding, the Germans shot 11 people from Paulin\u00f3w and nearby localities.<\/span><\/p>\n

The German action, on a large scale, was well prepared and exemplary. A provocation was used here. The reconnaissance was carried out by provocateurs. They were Jews, one from Warsaw, the other from Sterdy\u0144 \u2013 Szymel Helman. The provocateur from Warsaw joined the hiding Jews, claiming to be a French Jew who escaped from a transport of \u201cdisplaced people\u201d transported to Treblinka.
\nThe Jews, mostly from the Sterdy\u0144 ghetto, found shelter in Paulin\u00f3w and the nearby forest. At night they came to the manor buildings. They stayed overnight in the stable where Franciszek Kierylak, the groom, let them in.<\/span><\/p>\n

The provocateur from Warsaw and Szymel from Sterdy\u0144, with whom Czes\u0142aw Kotowski attended the Primary School in Sterdy\u0144, came to Paulin\u00f3w for food. They were looking for shelter and obtained information about the situation in Poland and the world. The provocateurs watched and carefully collected information on who was helping Jews. There were many of them. The Kotowskis found themselves among the \u201cguilty\u201d because their mother gave them bread. In other situation, the careless young man talked about fighting on the eastern front, and the groom allowed them to enter the stable for the night.<\/span><\/p>\n

A large number of soldiers and policemen of all kinds were brought to carry out the action. It is estimated that there were about 2 thousand of them. They arrived in the morning in 60 cars from Ostr\u00f3w Mazowiecka.<\/span><\/p>\n

The farm and the village were surrounded from all sides. A line of manhunt, about 10 km long, ran from the Sterdy\u0144-Soko\u0142\u00f3w road through the Zembr\u00f3w forest, to Wymys\u0142y, then Ratyniec, through D\u0105br\u00f3wka and again to the road. Soldiers were placed densely, every several steps from each other.
\nSuch a picture of manhunt remained in the memory of the inhabitants of Paulin\u00f3w.<\/span><\/p>\n

After Paulin\u00f3w and the nearby villages were closed this way, the provocateur, with the help of the Gestapo and the military police, chose the \u201cguilty\u201d people. First groom Kierylak was shot dead. Then J\u00f3zef Kotowski \u2013 he had one half of his body paralysed \u2013 and his wife Ewa were led out of the house and shot on the stairs. They brought their son Stanis\u0142aw to the square in front of the distillery. Six of the gathered people were put in pairs, led to the forest and shot dead.<\/span><\/p>\n

Czes\u0142aw Kotowski survived because he escaped from Paulin\u00f3w in a cart given to him by Pytel, the Sterdy\u0144 estate administrator. He ordered him to go and not to look back. On the way from Paulin\u00f3w to Zembr\u00f3w he managed to count 24 cars.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Germans shot the following 11 people dead:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Jan Siwi\u0144ski, aged 50,<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Franciszek Augustyniak \u2013 Siwi\u0144ski\u2019s son-in-law, aged 25,<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Franciszek Kierylak, aged 50, the groom,<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. J\u00f3zef Kotowski, aged 56,<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. Ewa Kotowska, aged 54,<\/span><\/li>\n
  6. Stanis\u0142aw Kotowski, aged 25,<\/span><\/li>\n
  7. Marian Nowicki, aged 36, from Kolonia Ratyniec Stary,<\/span><\/li>\n
  8. Ludwik Uzi\u0119b\u0142o, aged 45, from Kolonia Ratyniec Stary,<\/span><\/li>\n
  9. Zygmunt Drgas, aged 25, displaced from the Pozna\u0144 Province, lived at Uzi\u0119b\u0142o\u2019s,<\/span><\/li>\n
  10. Stanis\u0142aw Piwko, aged 31,<\/span><\/li>\n
  11. Aleksandra Wiktorzak, aged 50.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    During the manhunt the shooting broke out. The Germans fired at each other by mistake. Going from opposite sides \u2013 from Zembr\u00f3w and from Ratyniec \u2013 they opened fire to each other. Two German soldiers died, one was wounded. The victims of a fatal mistake were taken to Soko\u0142\u00f3w.
    \nThe executed people were buried in the forest. After the front line passed, the families took the bodies of their loved ones to the cemetery in Sterdy\u0144\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

    A brief mention of these tragic events can also be found in Marek Chodkiewicz\u2019s book entitled Jews and Poles 1918-1955<\/i>, in which the author writes: A disgraceful innovation of the German national socialists was the release of individual provocateurs, usually Soviets, Jews and Poles, who pretended to be refugees from camps or ghettos, asked for help from Polish peasants, and then denounced them. The extent of this phenomenon is not yet known, but we know, for example, that Augustyniak Franciszek, aged 30, a worker living in Paulin\u00f3w near Soko\u0142\u00f3w Podlaski [was] shot dead by the SS unit on 24 February 1943 together with a group of 14 people who were victims of provocation: a few weeks before they had helped a Nazi agent who pretended to be a Jewish fugitive<\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

    To commemorate the deaths of those murdered in Paulin\u00f3w, the inhabitants of the Sterdy\u0144 commune \u2013 Franciszek and J\u00f3zef Pytel from Kolonia Dzi\u0119cio\u0142y \u2013 built a chapel with a statue of the Pensive Jesus in the place where the Kotowski couple died. The memorial plaque was made by W\u0142odzimierz Gru\u017cewski from Soko\u0142\u00f3w Podlaski. The following inscription appears on the plaque:<\/span><\/p>\n

    During the manhunt the shooting broke out. The Germans fired at each other by mistake. Going from opposite sides \u2013 from Zembr\u00f3w and from Ratyniec \u2013 they opened fire to each other. Two German soldiers died, one was wounded. The victims of a fatal mistake were taken to Soko\u0142\u00f3w.
    \nThe executed people were buried in the forest. After the front line passed, the families took the bodies of their loved ones to the cemetery in Sterdy\u0144\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

    A brief mention of these tragic events can also be found in Marek Chodkiewicz\u2019s book entitled Jews and Poles 1918-1955<\/i>, in which the author writes:
    \nA disgraceful innovation of the German national socialists was the release of individual provocateurs, usually Soviets, Jews and Poles, who pretended to be refugees from camps or ghettos, asked for help from Polish peasants, and then denounced them. The extent of this phenomenon is not yet known, but we know, for example, that Augustyniak Franciszek, aged 30, a worker living in Paulin\u00f3w near Soko\u0142\u00f3w Podlaski [was] shot dead by the SS unit on 24 February 1943 together with a group of 14 people who were victims of provocation: a few weeks before they had helped a Nazi agent who pretended to be a Jewish fugitive.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

    To commemorate the deaths of those murdered in Paulin\u00f3w, the inhabitants of the Sterdy\u0144 commune \u2013 Franciszek and J\u00f3zef Pytel from Kolonia Dzi\u0119cio\u0142y \u2013 built a chapel with a statue of the Pensive Jesus in the place where the Kotowski couple died. The memorial plaque was made by W\u0142odzimierz Gru\u017cewski from Soko\u0142\u00f3w Podlaski. The following inscription appears on the plaque:<\/span><\/p>\n

    In memory of residents of the villages of Paulin\u00f3w and Ratyniec murdered by the Nazis on 23-24 February 1943<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

    Augustyniak Franciszek, aged 40
    \nDrgas Zygmunt, aged 23
    \nKierylak Franciszek, aged 53
    \nKotowska Ewa, aged 54
    \nKotowski J\u00f3zef, aged 56
    \nKotowski Stanis\u0142aw, aged 25
    \nNowicki Marian, aged 29
    \nPiwko Stanis\u0142aw, aged 40
    \nPogorzelski Wac\u0142aw, aged 24
    \nSiwi\u0144ski Jan, aged 53
    \nUzi\u0119b\u0142o Ludwik, aged 19
    \nWiktorzak Aleksandra, aged 58<\/span><\/p>\n

    2003, Local community<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

    However, it is worth correcting this information and supplementing it with certain facts from the death certificates of those murdered, according to which:<\/span><\/p>\n

      \n
    • Drgas Zygmunt, aged 23, Pozna\u0144 inhabitant residing in Ratyniec Stary<\/span><\/li>\n
    • Nowicki Marian, aged 29, Pozna\u0144 inhabitant residing in Ratyniec Stary<\/span><\/li>\n
    • Uzi\u0119b\u0142o Zygmunt, aged 19, residing in Ratyniec Stary<\/span><\/li>\n
    • Kotowski J\u00f3zef, aged 56, residing in Kolonia Paulin\u00f3w<\/span><\/li>\n
    • Kotowska Ewa, aged 56, residing in Kolonia Paulin\u00f3w<\/span><\/li>\n
    • Kotowski Stanis\u0142aw, aged 25, residing in Kolonia Paulin\u00f3w<\/span><\/li>\n
    • Kierylak Francis, aged 59, residing in Kolonia Paulin\u00f3w<\/span><\/li>\n
    • Siwi\u0144ski Jan, aged 46, residing in Kolonia Paulin\u00f3w<\/span><\/li>\n
    • Piwko Stanis\u0142aw, aged 30, residing in Kolonia Paulin\u00f3w<\/span><\/li>\n
    • Augustyniak Franciszek, aged 29, residing in Kolonia Paulin\u00f3w<\/span><\/li>\n
    • Wiktorzak Aleksandra, aged 50, residing in Kolonia Paulin\u00f3w.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      All these people died because, despite the threat of repression, they helped Jews who had escaped from the Sterdy\u0144 ghetto (its liquidation began on 23 September 1942). About 1,000 people stayed there, 359 Jews were murdered in Sterdy\u0144 (apart from that several Poles and Soviet prisoners). The rest were transported to the death camp in Treblinka. This is how Franciszek Mosiej, a resident of the village of Dzi\u0119cio\u0142y Dalsze, recalls these events:
      \nIn Sterdy\u0144 2\/3 of all people were Jews.<\/i> They lived in Targowica on both sides, by the main road, by the stream and in Lebiedzie.<\/i> By the stream there was a bakery and they baked bread there. They also helped people in the field, they scythed the crops in exchange of food, one made shoes, and people gave him food. The Jewish women were selling herrings and people were eager to take them, because they were good, and in return they were given eggs and other things. They also had a synagogue and prayed there.<\/i> Even Jews went to school with me \u2013 4 boys and 3 girls. One teacher was also Jewish. And later, when the Germans entered Sterdy\u0144, they killed the children, while the older ones were transported on carts to Treblinka. Those who escaped and somehow rescued themselves, walked around the villages and sought help.<\/i> They also came to our house. We gave them bread because they asked for it and sometimes they were hiding here. Then some of them went towards the Bug river, because there was a border there and when they crossed the river some of them were killed. The rest escaped somewhere in the direction of Paulin\u00f3w where they were hiding in the forest<\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

      In fact, some Jews managed to escape during the liquidation of the ghetto. They found shelter in Paulin\u00f3w and in a nearby forest. They came to nearby farms to get food, and in return one of them repaired shoes. Kazimierz Kusiak from Paulin\u00f3w recalls: There was a shoemaker that made shoes for his life.<\/i> They also came to our house followed by an informer.<\/i> Then the Germans organised the manhunt at night. I didn\u2019t see if they have taken away someone, because I wasn\u2019t a witness to it, but there were a few shot dead<\/i>. They spent the nights in manor house buildings and stables, into which Franciszek Kierylak, the groom and guardian of the estate, let them in. He was the first to die at the hands of the Germans for helping Jews. He was followed by the Kotowski couple (Ewa and J\u00f3zef) who were shot at the doorstep of their own house in front of their daughter Stanis\u0142awa. Their son, Stanis\u0142aw, was also killed. The Germans stopped him and led him to a nearby forest to be shot dead. Together with him they shot Stanis\u0142aw Piwko, Zygmunt Drgas, Marian Nowicki and Zygmunt Uzi\u0119b\u0142o. The following people were killed in the brickyard: Aleksandra Wiktorzak, Jan Siwi\u0144ski and Franciszek Augustyniak \u2013 Siwi\u0144ski\u2019s son-in-law. After the front line passed, the families took the bodies of their loved ones to the cemeteries in Sterdy\u0144 and Kos\u00f3w Lacki.<\/span>Stanis\u0142aw Piwko, who also died at the hands of the Germans for helping Jews, distinguished himself with great courage and heart. Here is an excerpt from the account by Janina Stalewska, S. Piwko\u2019s daughter: My father was eating breakfast when the Jews came.<\/i> I remember it, although I was a little girl.<\/i> And that spy came too.<\/i> He didn\u2019t want to eat, but this Jew said to give him bread.<\/i> \u2018Don\u2019t give them bread. You heard that the Germans said that whoever gave the Jews bread will get a bullet in the head. They would kill us\u2019<\/i>, said my grandmother Kusiaczka. And he heard it \u2013 that spy, and he only had my father written down. If my grandmother supported giving this bread, they would kill everyone.<\/i> Give the bread to the children!, said my father. And he gave the whole piece of bread and said: Take it and go away! Grandma, you\u2019ll bake the bread. We will be fine, we will survive somehow. And he was killed for that slice of bread\u2026<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

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