A CARD FROM THE CALENDAR - JAN TOMASZEWSKI
It is difficult till today to unravel the story of denunciation of Jan Tomaszewski, who was hiding a Jewish family of three in his home village of Duńkowice, in outbuildings. Some whisper that it was a Ukrainian village head who betrayed Jan, others that it was Fr. Gilianowski from the Michałówka parish. Today, it is impossible to find out the truth. Witnesses to the events are no longer alive. All that remains is evidence of Tomaszewski’s stay in KL Auschwitz and a family message from the tragic day.
Jan was a tailor, a respected man in the village, he was talented for manual works: both small tailoring and large construction jobs. Constructing a hiding place under the barn floor wasn’t a problem for him, and taking in people in need was for Jan and his family a duty to another human being. In this story good didn’t prevail and events ended in tragedy. Jan Tomaszewski was arrested, taken to a concentration camp where he perished, and a three-member Jewish family was shot on the spot.
