Jan and Franciszka Sasin lived in Franciszków, some 20 km away from Warsaw, near a railroad leading from Warsaw to Treblinka. In summer 1943, they took in Adam Kapitańczyk, an escapee from a transport to the death camp.
Before the war, Adam Kapitańczyk had lived in Warsaw, where he owned a small factory that produced metal parts. In 1940, he was sent to the ghetto together with his wife and son. Adam’s family did not survive, and he ended up in one of the transports going from Warsaw’s Umschlagplatz to Treblinka. The man was able to jump out of the moving train, but was severely injured during the escape. He was lying in the bushes near the road, close to the Klembów station, and calling for help. The Sasins’ relatives came across the suffering man. The next day, they took Adam to the house in Franciszków.
Zofia Ludwiniak, the daughter of the Righteous’ recalls:
I was not at home when they brought Adam. When I came, mommy was preparing dinner. And I see that she puts [food] into [different] pots and I asked:
- For whom are you setting it aside? Daddy is at home…
Often, when daddy was working in the field, we brought him food there.
- I will explain later.
And later mommy tells me that there is a man of Jewish origin…
In the attic the Sasins prepared a hiding place for Adam, which had a specially-built additional wall. Adam spent there two years. During this time he almost never left his hiding place out of fear of exposure. Zofia recalls that she rarely entered the attic, but her younger siblings, Staś and Władzia, often did. Despite that, the family was able to keep their secret until the end of the war. The children knew perfectly well they could not tell anyone about the man hiding in their house. The Sasins cared for the man as if he was a member of the family. They helped him regain his health and secretly visited Adam and brought him food even when they themselves were forced out of their house.
After the war, Adam Kapitańczyk established a new family and moved to Łódź. He stayed in touch with the Sasin family, referring to Jan and Franciszka as his own parents. Adam’s children treated the Sasins as their grandparents and undertook efforts to award them the title Righteous among the Nations.
