Unlike in other countries of German occupied Europe, in occupied Poland there was only one punishment for helping the Jews - death. Usually the whole family of the helper were executed alongside the main person. In some cases whole villages were completely destroyed for hiding Jewish neighbours.

In 1988 Poland's Main Commission for Investigation of Crimes Against the Polish Nation, issued a list of 1,181 names of Poles who had been killed for helping Jews during World War II.

Those interested in this subject matter should visit the Polish Righteous website.

This is a list of the Polish people from Staszow and neighbouring villages who helped the Jews during the war and who were awarded the title of The Righteous Among The Nations:

Andrzej Dajtrowski
Anna Dajtrowska
Leokadia Kawalec (born Dajtrowska)
Maria Dajtrowska
Wladyslaw Dobrowolski
Stanislaw Dobrowolski
Zofia Dobrowolska
Janina Dyl
Michal Dyl
Irena Dyrcz-Freeman
Maria Hara
Maria Gawel
Szczepan Gawel
Franciszek Korczak
Mieczyslaw Korczak
Czeslaw Kubik
Jan Rogala
Bronislaw Rzepecki
Maria Szczecinska
Jerzy Szczecinski
Regina Szlezak-Gawlak
Wiktoria Szumielewicz
Stanislaw Szumielewicz
Antoni Tutak

There were other Poles helping Jews. Some of them paid the ultimate price for their bravery. Jan Kalina, who was a farmer in Rytwiany near Staszow, was shot in November 1943 for helping Jews in hiding.

Leokadia Kawalec (nee Dajtrowska) and her family saved eight Jews by hiding them in their barn for nearly three years.

This is the house in which Maria Szczecinska was hiding 16 Jews.
Click here for the list of their names

              Maria Szczecinska
(photo courtesy of Jack Goldfarb)

Plaque Honoring the 'Righteous Persons' of the Staszów Area During the Holocaust