Further Righteous Honoured in Dukla
The medals and certificates were presented by the Israeli Ambassador Anna Azari to the descendants of those who, during the German occupation of Poland, selflessly risked their lives to help Jews. Those honoured posthumously were Dominik Głowacki, Agnieszka and Franciszek Jakieła, Franciszka and Franciszek Welcer, and Bronisława and Feliks Ząbkiewicz.
The Yad Vashem Institute decided to honour Dominik Głowacki for helping to save Maria Kirschenbaum and her three daughters - 19yo Regina, 17yo Miriam and 15yo Rysia. Before the War, the Kirschenbaums ran a grocery store in Radomyśl. They were amongst the few Jews to have managed to survive the liquidation of the local ghetto in the autumn of 1942. The medal and certificate were accepted by Dominik Głowacki's son Andrzej Głowacki.
Agnieszka and Franciszek Jakieła lived in Jasionka near Dukla. During the Holocaust, for close to three years, they hid and helped Bronisława Szopa in their farm. In the beginning, Bronisława hid in the forest by the village of Cergowa near Duklą. With the oncoming winter when conditions would become very harsh, she came to her friends, the Jakieła family, for help. They offered her shelter in their attic, gave her food and other aid.
"We received the priceless gift of the chance to live. That rescuing of my grandmother and a small boy, my father, gave us that chance. I thank you and will always remember. Despite the fact that the Jakieła couple are no longer alive, thememory of them and their family, their home in Jasionka, will survive through future generations", said the daughter of the rescued, Małgorzata Żychowska. Both families share a deep friendship to this day. The medal was accepted by one of the Jakieła's daughters, Julia Welcer.
Franciszka i Franciszek Welcerowie mieli 5-dzieci i mieszkali we wsi Cergowa k. Dukli. Przez dwa lata ukrywali w swoim gospodarstwie dwóch żydowskich uciekinierów – Joszuę i Józefa Guzików. W imieniu rodziny ocalonych głos zabrał wnuk ocalonego, Shlomo Guzik z Izraela. Medal odebrała odznaczona pani Anna Szubrycht.
Mr & Mrs Ząbkiewicz had been already honoured as Righteous in 1985, on the testimony of the SIlberman family. When those rescued turned to Yad Vashem to honour their saviours, they could not remember the exact Zabkiewicz surname and so the medal never found its way to their heroes. Two years ago, the matter was again raised with Yad Vashem - this time by the Ząbkiewicz couple's daughter, Genowefa Pietranowicz. She described how her parents had saved a three year old Jewish girl, Marysia Willner. Due to Mrs Pietranowicz being 90 years old and the state of her health, the medal was accepted by her daughter, Helena Budna.
The Days of Jewish Culture "Let Us Restore Memory" is organised by the Dukla Shtetl Association, the Dulka Historical Museum and the local cultural centre.
