We are seeking people rescued in Różanówka

Władysław (born 1910) and Elżbieta (born 1915) Ostropolski had a farm in the village of Różanówka, located in the Tłuste parish, Zaleszczyki county, former Tarnopol province (current Ukraine). During the Second World War, together with the mother of Elżbieta, Tekla Stelmach and her brother Jan Stelmach they were hiding 9 people of Jewish descent. At first, 11 people were sheltered in the attic, but two of them soon left.

The Ostropolskis hid their prewar friends, owners of the local shop – two families, probably by the name of Koch and Rot. The youngest among the hidden, a dark-haired girl, was 2 years old. She was probably the only child in both families.

Władysław Ostropolski probably took the Jews from the labor camp in Różanówka or from the ghetto in Tłuste, which existed from March 1942 to June 1943. Each time he only took one person, whom he hid under the coachman’s seat and covered with a feed bag. 

The Jews spent about 8 months in the attic above the stable. They used to eat cooked broad beans. The 4-year-old son of the Ostropolskis, Józef, was not aware of their presence. He once heard voices coming from the hiding place and, interested, climbed the ladder, which accidentally had not been removed. The rescued repeatedly recalled this situation in their postwar letters.

When the front moved, both the Jews and their hosts hid in a bunker dug in the barn. Its entrance was hid under the manger. They stayed there until the end of the war.

The Ostropolskis were repatriated after the war. They settled in Goliszów near Legnica. They met with the rescued – the youngest girl and an adult fair-haired man – several times in Wrocław. Afterwards, the Ostropolskis received letters from Israel, Canada, and the United States. In the seventies they got an invitation to Israel, to the wedding of one of the rescued, but they were not able to come. Unfortunately the whole correspondence and all the photos were lost during their move.