Before the War, Roman Kasprzak, an engineer by profession, and his wife Stanisława lived with their four children in Ruda Rogoźno, outside of Poznań. Shortly after the outbreak of World War II, the Nazis forcibly resettled the family to Sokołów Podlaski. Once there, the Kasprzak’s youngest daughter, Zofia, found work at a pastry shop that received its cookie supply from a Jewish family named the Skowrońskis.
In July of 1941, Zofia offered to hide the Skowrońskis’ four-year-old daughter, Rysia, in her home. “I just felt sorry for her when I found out that her parents were gone (…) they had left and were somewhere outside the city, and she had stayed here all alone – that’s why,” Explains Zofia Bublik, née Kasprzak, “Because, I mean, she didn’t have a home anymore – she didn’t have anything – so where else was she supposed to go? Who else could she go to?”
In 1943 the Kasprzak family received an anonymous message advising them to “get rid of that superfluous piece of furniture.” Fearing for their lives, they moved – together with the child – to the Warsaw suburb of Skolimów, and later to Chyliczek. In January of 1945, Rysia’s mother came to retrieve her. She had lived through the War using false Aryan documents and had managed to visit her daughter at the Skowronskis’ a number of times. They were the only two members of their family to survive the War. Afterwards, they emigrated to Israel. In 1989 Rysia – now, Ruth Lethan – traveled to to Poland and was able to track down Zofia Bublik. They remain in contact to this day.
