New Righteous honored in Opole
The Ambassador of Israel to Poland Zvi Rav-Ner presented the distinctions to the relatives of the late heroes.
“What these people did during the Holocaust was the most human of gestures a man can do in his life. Most of them were modest people, modest heroes. In times when many people could not rescue – they rescued” – said Zvi Rav-Ner during the ceremony.
The title “Righteous Among the Nations” was given posthumously to Anna and Piotr Szyszka, who lived in the town Stanisławczyk, currently located in Ukraine, and rescued two Jewish families: Beniamin Friedmann with his daughter Róża and Mr and Mrs Szpilka with their daughter.
At first, they used to hide under the beds of their hosts but later the Szyszkas prepared them safer shelters in their barn, where they stayed for 3 years. Anna and Piotr Szyszka also helped Jews who were hiding in the nearby forests.
During the hiding, there were many dangerous moments. “A patrol of Ukrainian police shot the Szpilkas’ daughter in front of our house. My parents managed to convince the policemen they didn’t know that child and that it entered their house without their consent, just to drink some water. It was a real tragedy. That girl wasn’t much younger than me” – recalls Kazimierz Szyszka, son of the Righteous.
When he was presented the medal in the name of his late parents, he said: “One could only get a bullet in his head for helping Jews. I’ve seen people killed for that many times. Despite that, we risked our lives. They were our neighbors after all. People we had known for many years (…). When the Nazis entered, hunts for Jews started. People started to come to our house, asking for help. They weren’t strangers, they were Jews who used to be our neighbors for many years. We couldn’t refuse, although we knew what the punishment was”.
In 1944 the Szyszkas tried to escape to Lviv but they were caught and sent to a labor camp. Their family managed to buy them out. They settled at a presbytery in Ożarów. Piotr Szyszka was shot by supporters of Bandera.
After the war, they settled in Kluczbork. The Jews they had rescued contacted them in the seventies and it was on their initiative that the Yad Vashem Institute honored them with the title “Righteous Among the Nations”.
The title was also given to Antoni Ławrynowicz, his wife Zofiaand her brother Antoni Ejmont from Szawle in Lithuania. They helped rescue seven Jewish women. After the war the Ławrynowicz family escaped to Wrocław and became Polish citizens.
The ceremony in Opole was part of the inauguration of the Days of Jewish Music and Culture. At the Philharmonic, an exhibition of photos devoted to the history of Israel was opened. Musicians from the Opole Philharmonic conducted by the Israeli composer and conductor Noam Sheriff performed the 3rd a-moll symphony by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, the symphonic poem “American in Paris” by George Gershwin and a piano concert by Ella Milch-Sheriff.
