”Whoever Saves a Life...”

The book edited by Agnieszka Namysło was compiled as a part of the research project of The Institute of National Remembrance, “Poles who rescued Jews”, and is a collection of several popular science texts. Their authors describe strivings of inhabitants of towns and villages from all over the country to help Jews who were in hiding.
We will learn, among others, about the Daughters of Charity and the Salesians from Supraśl, who hid Jews among the pupils of the establishments they ran. During inspections, the sisters who took care of the youngest, hid the Jewish children in a press, in place of stones they removed. The sisters and the priests gave long-lasting help to eight people and temporary help to about twenty people.

Another story is dedicated to the Gołembiecki family from Brańsk in the region of Podlasie, who in the end of 1942 provided a hiding place for two pairs of Jewish siblings. One pair, a brother and a sister, were hidden in a small room in the house, while two other brothers hid in the farm buildings. In case of any danger, the Gołembiecki family built a 30-metre-long tunnel, the beginning of which was located under the table in the house. In the summer of 1943, military policemen appeared in the farmyard. The brother and the sister, who were hidden in the house, died in the shooting. The two other brothers managed to escape. The farm buildings of the Gołembiecki family were pulled down as a punishment for helping Jews, and the family were in hiding till the end of the occupation. Only one of the Jews who escaped survived the War. He was the one who testified to the Gołembiecki family’s help, thanks to which they received titles of the Righteous Among the Nations in 1989.