Before the War, Ludwik and Kazimiera (nee Pleszak) Skory lived in Nowa Kazimierówka, in the Vilna region. They had many Jewish friends amongst the Jewish families in the nearby small town of Duniłowicz, today in the Witebski Province of Belarus. Among them was the Bensman family, who ran a textile shop. The Skory brothers ran a carpentry service in the small town and the Bensman family were among there customers.
During the Soviet occupation, Władysław Skory worked together with Bernard Bensman in the Borowce forests. When the Nazi persecution of the Jews began, Skory supported several Jewish family – the Bensman, Muszkat, Cepelowicz and Gendel families – supplied them with food in the ghetto which had been established in autumn of 1941.
On 24th November 1942, all the inhabitants of the ghetto were shot. Amongst the victims were the parents of Bernard Bensman who, alone, ahd managed to escape. As Antoni Skora recalls, ”In 1942, on the first Saturday of the month, a tragedy occurred in Duniłowicz. In the morning hours, we heard shooting (…). From peasants coming from that direction, we learned that no one was allowed into the town, that the ghetto (…) had been surrounded by Nazis and that they were shooting the Jews”. During the night, Bernard managed to reach the Skory house. They took him in and gave him food. Because of their past friendship and having had his religious nature aroused, Skory decided to help him.
He spent the next two days hidden in the barn. At night, he would return to the house, while during the day he would be hidden by being covered in hay. Every day, Antoni would bring him food and would remove the waste. At that time, Władysław made contact with a friend of Bensman’s who lived in the nearby village of Kality. It was arranged that, during the night, Antoni would take Bernard to the new hiding-place. When Soviet partisans appeared in the area, Bensman joined them and stayed with them, in the forests, until the end of the War. Over that time, he often visited the Skory family who welcomed and fed him.
In July 1944, Antoni was called up into the Soviet Army and, after the War, remained in Poland. In the meantime, Bernard had emigrated. Over many years, he remained in contact with Władysław and, when Władysław died in 1989, he renewed contact with Antoni.
