Chaim Rymarz and Hinda, an orphan taken in by Chaim’s parents during the war, were both 14. For more than a year, they barely survived in the Międzyrzec ghetto. When the Germans surrounded the ghetto in September 1942, in order to round up the last of the Jews and take them to Treblinka, the two decided to flee. Always in hiding, they made their way to the village of Przechodzisko, where, back before the war, Chaim’s father was often a guest of the Kiryluk family.
The Kiryluk house was located on the village’s outskirts, far from any neighbors. The family consisted of Józef, the father, the mother – Anna, and their three sons: Bolesław, Franciszek and Jan. No one would have blamed them if they decided not to shelter anyone. The times were very hard, and in addition their youngest son Jan suffered from incurable tuberculosis. The Germans often used to conduct searches or inspect whether the farmers gave up their quota. “It was so many times that they trembled with fear at the Germans pacing the yard, checking the cowhouse and the barn”– Waldemar Kiryluk recalls his father’s stories. Despite all that they were determined to help.
At night they would bring out their wards for a walk among the meadows, then hide them again during the day in a wooden shed, or, in the summer, in the attic of the house. Food was brought in by the then 22-year-old Franciszek.
Chaim and Hinda were hidden until the end of July 1944, when the Soviet army entered Międzyrzec. No other members of their families survived. Maybe this was what for them to make their own: they were married two years later.