A CARD FROM THE CALENDAR - WŁADYSŁAWA AND JÓZEF SMOLARCZYK
“Open the door, quickly!” – Wołodia Koszczuk, then mayor of the Hańsk district, pounded his fist on the door to Jan Smolarczyk’s house. Jan didn’t turn up at the youth recruitment office which would have sent him to build the death camps in Sobibór and Trawniki: as he didn’t want to do that, he attempted to escape and jumped through the window, only to be shot by Koszczuk’s rifle. Jan was Józef Smolarczyk’s brother. After his murder, Koszczuk’s henchmen and the Blue Policemen constantly controlled the life of Józef and Władysława Smolarczyk. They suspected – correctly – that the Smolarczyk farmstead served as a hideout for a Jewish woman named Ela. Wołodia Koszczuk was known to all villagers as a virulent anti-Semite. He committed numerous crimes against Jewish and Polish nationals in the district he ran. The Smolarczyks would hide Ela in haystacks, which the Green Policemen would often pierce with their bayonets. It was a miracle that they didn’t get wind of her, but Ela survived until liberation and left for Israel after the war.
