A CARD FROM THE CALENDAR - FRANCISZKA AND HENRYK POLAK
On 18 October 1942, the Germans were liquidating the Połaniec ghetto. They gathered all the Jews in the town square and started the selection process. The old, the infirm, and the little babies were killed outright, while the young and able-bodied were marked for transportation. Late in the evening on the very same day, the Polaks were getting ready for bed in their cottage in the Gliny Małe village, some five kilometres from Połaniec. The evening silence was broken by a sound of someone rapping on their windowpane. They opened the curtains and their oil lamp illuminated a silhouette on the other side. There stood a haggard Jew that escaped from Połaniec, in torn clothes, with no shoes, and with his feet bleeding. The Polaks immediately let him in, washed his mangled feet, fed him warm soup, and gave him shelter for the night. When the next day dawned, Henryk Polak helped the stray Jew get to Mielec, some 21 kilometres away.
