Following the outbreak of the Polish-German war, a young married couple of Malwina and Roman Gross escaped from Sosnowiec to Tarnopol – their hometown. Soon, the city fell under the Soviet occupation. In the summer of 1941, when Tarnopol was taken over by the German forces, the couple was first deported to the city ghetto, and later sent further to one of the nearby forced labor camps.
In July 1943, the rumors about the plans of the camp liquidation began to spread. Roman Gross came into contact with his pre-war acquaintance Józef Regent, when he was leaving the camp on his way to work. Józef promised to help him. At the time when Tarnopol had been invaded by the Soviets, Józef Regent had been arrested, but Gross, who was a lawyer, had defended him and prevented his deportation into the USSR territory. Now Regent, together with his elder brother Roman and his wife Janina, who lived in the same house as Józef, dug out a bunker under the farm building that served as a garage.
After their escape from the camp, the Gross couple hid in the bunker until April 1944, when Tarnopol was again taken over by the Red Army. Both Regent brothers worked as railroaders and belonged to the Home Army. After Tarnopol was incorporated into the USSR, the Regents were repatriated to Poland; they settled in Jelenia Góra.
The Gross had returned to Sosnowiec even earlier. Both families maintained contact with each other for many years.
