A CARD FROM THE CALENDAR - CATHERINE AND ANTHONY KWAŚNIK
Before the war, Poles and Jews lived together in friendship in the villages surrounding Stalowa Wola. The Jewish family of Reichs had lived in Jastkowice for generations. Rubin was a cobbler, he had a wife and four children. They lived quietly and happily until the German occupation began. In a series of mass executions in 1942, Rubin lost his children and his wife. He alone survived. After the tragedy, he took to the woods, where he was helped by old neighbours, the Kwaśniks. They hid Rubin for a year, providing him with food and eventually helping him cross the border. Rubin survived the war, and later emigrated to the United States, where he set up a new family. He maintained contact with the Kwaśniks, exchanging letters with them until his dying day.
