Jan Haslinger - Righteous Among the Nations

, 16 November 2016
Yesterday, 13th May 2013, the Jewish Community of Bielsko-Biała hosted a ceremony where Jan Haslinger was honoured with the title of Righteous Among the Nations. The award was presented posthumously for saving Jewish peasant, Józef Sroka, from the Holocaust.

His wife, Barbara, received the Yad Vashem medal and certificate from Israeli Ambassador, Zvi Rav-Ner.

Józef Sroka came upon Haslinger in 1943. He was sixteen years old. Earlier, together with his mother and sister, he lived in the Przemyśl ghetto, from which he had managed to escape. The family separated, with Józef travelling to Kraków. At the beginning, he lived with the Dąbrowski family but, due to the risk of being denounced by a female relative of his hosts, after a few months he was forced to find somewhere else to hide.

Through his mother’s connections, he found shelter with Jan Haslinger, a nephew of a former patient of his father’s. Jan and his relatives cared for Józef until the Red Army arrived in January 1945.

When the occupation ended, the boy reconnected with his mother and sister. In late 1945 and early 1946, the Sroka family left for Palestine. Today, Józef Sroka lives in Haifa. He has six children and seventeen grandchildren. He still maintains contact with Barbara Haslinger.

Source: PAP