Jozef Walaszczyk, Poland’s oldest rescuer of Jews, dies at 102
Although he was responsible for saving at least 50 Jews, his story is relatively unknown in Poland and beyond, partly because of his aversion to being celebrated as a hero.
As an undercover partisan in Nazi-occupied Poland, Jozef Walaszczyk had little desire to add any more risks to his plans.
But Walaszczyk, who died in Warsaw on Monday at the age of 102, fell in love with a Jewish woman and became compelled to rescue her and dozens of other Jews from the Holocaust.
Although he was responsible for saving at least 50 Jews, Walaszczyk’s story is relatively unknown in Poland and beyond, partly because of his aversion to being celebrated as a hero.
“It was a process of one thing leading to another. There was a lot of fear and uncertainty,” he told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in 2020.
Walaszczyk was recognised by Israel in 2002 as a Righteous Among the Nations, the Jewish state’s title for non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews from the Holocaust. He was believed to be Poland’s oldest living Righteous, according to the From the Depths Holocaust commemoration group. (That title now belongs to Stanisław Wróbel, who was born six months after Walaszczyk. He and his family hid Jews in their attic and were recognised as Righteous in 1989.)
Walaszczyk’s rescuing story began at a hotel room near Warsaw, where he was with his girlfriend in 1941, as Nazi officers barged in and demanded to inspect the guests’ papers. Walaszczyk’s girlfriend told him then that she was Jewish as the officers descended on their room — so Walaszczyk hid her in a closet and left the room while feigning a bout of vomiting that distracted the Germans.
He later married her and provided her with a fake, non-Jewish identity. But she was again arrested with 20 other Jewish women in hiding.
Walaszczyk would bribe Polish police officers to release them. He helped at least 30 other Jewish people find hiding places.
“I probably took on too many risks,” he told JTA. “But helping people in real need has been something I couldn’t resist.”
An only child, Walaszczyk’s father died when he was 8, leaving his mother struggling financially and often at the mercy of strangers, Walaszczyk said.
Walaszczyk and his wife Irena divorced after World War II. He remarried and had one son with his second wife, before divorcing again and having another son with the third.
Walaszczyk was afraid of being betrayed to the Germans by other Poles during the war. In his interview with JTA, he said that he does not support laws in Poland that censor what can be said about collaboration.
“There were many rescuers. There were also traitors,” he said. “I know because some of my friends were killed because of traitors. We need to speak about both at the same time because the existence of each one of those groups helps us understand the significance of the actions of both.”
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
