The Righteous Among the Nations medals for the inhabitants of Zachodniopomorskie Voivodship

red., 16 November 2016
On November 22, 2009, seven persons from Zachodniopomorskie Voivodship were given the titles of the Righteous Among the Nations. The medals and diplomas were handed over in Książnica Pomorska by Yahel Vilan, the vice-ambassador of Israel in Poland, to the descendants of those who selflessly rescued Jews during the World War II.


One third of 6 thousand people who were granted the title comes from Poland – emphasized the ambassador. – I believe that what your grandparents and parents did should be your moral guideline, a guideline which every human being ought to follow.

„The Righteous Among the Nations" medals were received by: Henryk Łuczak from Goleniów, the grandson of Maria Karpiuk, who hid a Jewish family of six, the Soroks, in Motwica; Stanisław Lisowski from Lubiszyn and Janusz Lisowski from Gorzów Wlkp., the sons of Maria and Jan Lisowski, who hid Awsiej, Anna, Szulla and Zofia Bezdański in Vilnius; Przemysław Łukasiewicz from Szczecin, the grandson of Łucja and Witalis Łukasiewicz, who hid Roman Liebes in Lviv; Mikołaj and Miron Tkacz from Kołobrzeg, Michał Tkacz from Białograd and Olga Miturzyńska from Koszalin, the children of Maria and Andrzej Tkacz, who hid the family of Melech Segal in Łukowe.
- I’m sorry, it is still difficult for me to talk about it – Miron Tkacz’s voice faltered when he recollected the years of war, insecurity and friendship with Melech Segal.

His parents, Maria and Andrzej Tkacz, hid the big Segal family from the Nazis in Łukowe, in the Bieszczady Mountains, twice. When the Segals moved to a different place, they were killed during a raid. Only 16-year-old Melech, whom the Tkacz family successfully hid for 8 months before the Russians arrived, survived.

In the house of Maria and Jan Lisowski in Vilnius there was a broadcasting station operating during the World War II. Moreover, they hid Awsiej Bezdański, his wife Anna and their two daughters, Szula and Zofia, in a hiding place they had dug up.

- Nazis searched the house but they didn‘t find the hiding place – remembers the son, Stanisław Lisowski.
- Owing to Paweł Knap from the Institute of National Remembrance, I met Roman Liebes, who unsuccessfully looked for my grandparents, Łucja and Witalis Łukasiewicz – says Paweł Łukasiewicz, the grandson. – Roman, who could be my grandfather, became my friend.

- After all those years, they are rubbing salt into their wounds, but they want to thank the people who saved their lives - says Ewa Rudnik, the head of the Department of the Righteous at the Embassy of Israel in Poland, about Jews saved by Poles during the World War II.

The article was based on the text by Marek Rudnicki / Głos Szczeciński