Zofia Żydek was a farmers' daughter from Uniszowice, near Lublin. Her father died in October 1942 and her mother was left with three children to bring up alone. Having experienced hardship herself, she sympathised with the misfortunes of others; for this reason she became involved in helping a Jewish family that was in hiding.
This family, the Cawels and their son Moniek, had a hideout a kilometre from Zofia’s house, in a semi-dugout previously belonging to a Polish woman known locally as Jakubow’s granny. Zofia had no idea how they found themselves there. Her job was to take them food in a basket and she carried out this task until the end of the German occupation in May 1944.
After the war, the Cawels moved to Lublin and soon after to Palestine. They did not keep in touch with Zofia's family.
