The Zajac Family
Józef Zając Husband
born 1909
Bronisława Zając Wife
born 1919
Recognized as the Righteous Among the Nations:
27 April 1998
- Bronisława Zając
- Józef Zając
Help Was Extended to:
Chawiwa Borst
Story of Rescue
March 2011, Magdalena Leszczyńska/translation Richard Biały
Józef and Bronisława Zając lived in the Lublin Province, in the village of Witoldów. Bronisława ran their farm, while Józef was in the army.
There were no Jews in their village, but a considerable number lived in nearby Wojsławice. At the turn of the 18th and 19th century, Frankists – members of a mystical Jewish sect established by Jakub Frank – had settled in this town. Their presence and activities had led to tragic events and in consequence the expulsion of the Jewish population. In time however, Jews had returned and in the interwar period constituted over half of the population.
In 1942 the Germans deported the Wojsławice Jews to the Sobibor extermination camp. At this same time, Luba Hochlerer, a thirteen-year-old Jewish girl from the town, turned up at the Zając’s farm. Bronisława and Józef looked after her as if she were their own child. The local villagers soon realized that the girl staying with the Zając’s was Jewish, but nobody denounced them. She remained in Witoldów till the end of the German occupation.
According to information from the Yad Vashem Encyclopaedia, after the war Luba was placed with a Jewish family, with which she left for Israel. Through correspondence she remained in contact with the Zając’s. In the 1990s she came to Poland to visit her benefactors.
ALL ARTICLES
- Story of Rescue (November 2010)