Fear is a human thing. Władysław Dec’s wife didn’t want him to help the Jews. They had three small children, and she well knew what the Nazis could do for such help. Therefore in his struggle for a life of hiding Jews, Władysław could only count on his brothers.
The Jews were hiding in a forest near Pantalowice, in Subcarpathia, his family village. Among them were: Juda Harmfemst, Jankiel Nadel, Hana Nadel, Józef Hoch, Brnadla Hoch, Berek Adler. The Decs brought them food, and some other Poles also helped them.
In December 1942, Małka Szinfeld, one of the people in hiding, was caught by the Germans. She could not withstand the torture and gave the names of the people who were helping them.
“I well remember my father being arrested.” Irena, Władysław Dec’s daughter, says. “The Germans came, searched the house and took everything that had any value. They led my father out barefoot, they had ordered him to take off his shoes and took them. They shot him in the backyard of a house belonging to one of the inhabitants of Pantalowice.”
After they murdered Władysław Dec, the Germans went to Hadle Szklarskie, a nearby village, where they shot his brothers, Stanisław, Bronisław, and Tadeusz, at night.
Irena’s mother only returned to the house after the Germans had left, as she had been warned about the tragedy taking place there. When she found a couple of Jews sleeping in the stable on the following day, she ordered them to leave.
