During World War II, Mieczysław Piech lived in the village of Olchawa (Bocheński District). During the German occupation, he hid Jews, for which he was arrested by the Gestapo in November 1941 in Cracow. He was incarcerated in Montelupich prison, from where, on 6 November 1941, he was taken to the Auschwitz concentration camp, where he perished on 14 October 1942.