Helena and Franciszek Hołubowicz lived with sons (and Zbigniew Kazimierz) in the village Czabarówka in the Tarnopolskie region. Franciszek was the Director of the school. Helena worked as a teacher.

Once, when Helen was home alone, a woman came to her. She wanted to borrow a rope. Concerned Hołubowicz began questioning her. It turned out, that her name was in fact Liza Altschüller and together with her husband Mosze and two sons they escaped from the ghetto in Kopyczyńce. Her younger son was murdered before her eyes by a Ukrainian peasant – 10-year-old boy asked him for bread. The family wanted to hang themselves. Helena decided to save Altschüllers. For more than eight months, Hołubowiczs kept them hidden, fed them, and shared everything they had. Entire family was involved.

„The risk was great, because my father (19-years-old at the time), Zbigniew, was concealing his Polish uniform and weapons. Furthermore, the Gestapo conducted a search with dogs. Thank God they didn’t find the fugitives”, recalls Zbigniew’s daughter. Aleksandra.1

After the liberation, when Altschüllers were able to leave in peace, Helena gave Jewess her wedding ring back, which she gave to her for the purchase of food. The family moved to Israel. Altschüllers haven’t forgotten, to whom they owe their lives. For many years they sent Christmas gifts to the Hołubowicz family.

The post-war fate of the Hołubowicz family was very difficult. Franciszek was exiled to Siberia, from where it took him six months (by foot) to return. Then the whole family was moved to Legnica. „My father missed the place until the end…”, writes Aleksandra Hołubowicz. August 1, 1993, through the efforts of Altschüllers, Helena and Franciszek Hołubowicz along with their sons – Zbigniew and Kazimierz – were recognized by the Yad Vashem Institute with the title of Righteous Among the Nations of the World.2

Bibliography:

  1. I. Gutman, Polscy Sprawiedliwi wśród Narodów Świata, [w:] Księga Sprawiedliwych wśród Narodów Świata. Ratujący Żydów podczas Holocaustu. Polska, cz. I, red. wyd. pols. D. Libionka, R. Kuwałek, A. Kopciowski, Kraków 2009.
  2. FLV, a Letter from Aleksandra Hołubowicz, Bydgoszcz, 03.08.2013.