Kazimierz Miłobędzki was born and lived inSokołów Podlaski. In July 1941, he was appointed, by the occupying forces, to the Zarząd Nieruchomości (Real Estate Board) as an official responsible for receiving confiscated Jewish property, as well as, for collecting rent from Jews living in the ghetto and in the surrounding district. Thanks to this appointment, he was able to freely move around the sealed-off area. He could even take with him, through the gates, five Jewish helpers.
He exploited this position of trust to help those being persecuted. Moreover, thanks to acquaintances in the Arbeitsamt (Employment Office), he obtained ”Aryan papers” for Jews and enabled their travel for work in Germany. There, in a foreign environment, it would be easier for them to survive.
One of those who survived in this manner was a cousin of Dr Holcer’s, who came from Łódż. During the occuption, she went under the name of Korczak. Prior to the liquidation of the Sokołów ghetto, at the doctor’s request, Kazimierz took the girl to Warsaw and led her to an assembly point on Skaryszewska street. With Kazimierz’s help, one of his co-workers at the Board, Gołda Hochberg, left to work in the Reich. Under the false name of Franciszka Drewicz, she worked in a munitions factory in Berlin.
Kazimierz Miłobędzki also obtained a referral ”for work” for Perla Morgensztern, granddaughter of the Sokołów Podlaski rabbi, who was in hiding under the name of Genowefa Głowacka. Perla had earlier avoided being killed when the Germans had murdered four hundred Jews with whom she had worked in Szczeglacin. The girl had wandered away from the group a few hours earlier and had stayed overnight with a friend in Karczew, Mrs Wronkowska and her husband. Jan Wronkowski then obtained a birth certificate for her and referred her to Kazimierz Miłobędzki.
Following the liquidation of the ghetto, Kazimierz collected all the clothing that was left behind in the abandoned homes and distributed them to Jews who had been sent to nearby labour camps. He also provided them with food from his father’s farm.
Following liberation, Perla and Gołda returned to Sokołów. Gołda, then a minor, came under the care of the Międzynarodowa Organizacja Żydowska (International Jewish Organisation). Perla married Rabbi Newman. Later, both survivors emigrated to the United States.
