A CARD FROM THE CALENDAR - KATHERINE AND MICHAEL GERULA
It was the winter of 1943, and a biting cold reigned outside. Stanley and Lusia Igel, Jewish partisans, left the forest together with five companions in search of food and shelter. They found them in the Łodzianka Górna village, near Bircza, in the farmstead of Michał Gerula. Michał took them in without a word, fed them, gave them something to drink, and prepared bedding for them in the barn. They were safe for a mere four days. On Tuesday morning, Gerula was betrayed by the villagers. Stanley, Lusia, and Stanley’s father managed to escape, but the other partisans and the Gerulas didn’t. The Ukrainian policemen and Gestapo officers killed the partisans outright, while the Gerulas were hanged in Przemyśl gate square following a six-week period of interrogation and torture.
