During the Second World War, Józefa and Antoni Błoński, and Marta and Andrzej Skop had been hiding the teenage Tzvi Norich on their farms in Woźniki and Koziegłowy for almost two years.
Before the war, Tzvi was living in Chorzów, where his parents had moved in 1928. His father was from Zawiercie and his mother Tenia Bloch – from Woźniki.
On September 3rd, 1939 the Norichs tried to escape from the Nazis on a freight train. On September 6ththey arrived near Wolbrom but they were turned back to Silesia.
In November 1942 they were placed in the Będzin ghetto. During its liquidation (the summer of 1943) they hid in their house. Tzvi was sent to Marta Skop – the sister of his mother’s friend.
The boy reached the house of Marta and Andrzej Skop in Woźniki on July 20th, 1943. He spent 8 months with them. Then, some acquaintances from Chorzów came. As Tzvi recalls: “One of them said he knew me and knew I was a Jew. I couldn’t stay there any longer. I started to wander the nearby villages”.
He finally found shelter in Koziegłowy-Rosochacz – the Błoński family took him in. Tzvi claimed he was Józek Łukasik from Grodziec. “Józek” used to help his new hosts and graze cows. He only admitted to being a Jew after the war. Tzvi stayed at the Błońskis 14 months – until the Soviet army entered.
In August 1945 he left to Częstochowa, to a Jewish committee that sent him to Będzin. In 1948 he emigrated to Palestine. He had been corresponding with his saviors until 1960, when they lost contact.
The Skops and the Błońskis were honored with the medal “Righteous Among the Nations” thanks to Norich and the chairman of the Association for the Development of the Koziegłowy District, Leonard Jagoda. In 2007 Tzvi visited Koziegłowy. Since 2008 he has been in touch with the son of Antoni, Stanisław Błoński. In 2009 he came to the town again – he was invited by the district authorities and met with the local youth.
