A historical hideaway has been demolished

, 16 November 2016
A hideout where Jews used to hide during the German occupation in the tenement house at 4 Kopernika Street in Warsaw has been demolished. The hiding place has been dismantled by a married couple living in the flat. It was the only preserved hideout in all of Warsaw. The tenants have been charged with destroying a landmarked object.

The hideout was accessed through a wardrobe door. The married couple living there decided to adapt the place into a kitchen annex. In order to do this, they did away with the wardrobe and connected the former hiding place with a room. The old wardrobe was discarded and thrown away in the rubbish bin.

This hideout was one of four concealment sites that were designed for Jews to hide in during the occupation by the engineer Julian Ambroziewicz. Leon Jolson together with his wife and mother hid in the place on Kopernika Street. The object has been landmarked. In 1989, a memorial plaque was affixed to the wall of the tenement house, with the following inscription: ‘W tym domu znajduje się specjalnie zbudowana zamaskowana skrytka, w której w okresie okupacji tropieni przez hitleryzm ukrywali się Żydzi polscy matka, syn i synowa. Ocaleni upamiętniają to miejsce potomnym Leon i Anna Joselzon vel Jolson’ (In this house there is a special concealed hideout where Polish Jews, mother, son and daughter-in-law, found shelter during the Nazi occupation. The survivors are commemorating this place lest the next generations forget – Leon & Anna Joselzon vel Jolson’).

Now only a plaque remains.