“It turned out later that the warning and help from Romańska came literally at the last moment the Germans surrounded the ghetto and on that day they transported all Jews from Radziechów to the Pokaczew forests [actually Pukaczow – ed.] where they were murdered” – recalled Izydor Zwerling “Before the final deportation of Jews from Radziechów asked me and my friend – the late citizen Jaśkiewicz – to hide at his home citizen Zwerling Izydor Józefa Jaśkiewicz and I agreed to this request because people of Jewish nationality were then in a hopeless situation and were doomed to a certain extermination” – wrote Celina Romańska from Pyskowice in a statement submitted in 1964 to the JHI Archives The last page of Izydor Zwerling's account Between me and Józefa Jaśkiewicz we have arranged a division of activities related to the hiding of Zwerling in such a way that Jaśkiewicz tried to get food and made sure that Zwerling was not found out by anyone unauthorized I was also collecting information about the intended actions of the Germans so as not to be surprised by the unexpected invasion of the Germans” the Germans organized a commission inspection of the apartments and checked the number of inhabitants (...) One time they allegedly came to us to look for their friends Citizen Zwerling was in the kitchen at the time Izydor Zwerling was in hiding with the help of Polish women from November 1942 until the Red Army entered the area in July 1944 Both women paid for saving Zwerling’s life with serious health problems associated with living in constant fear Józefa Pawłucka née Jaśkiewicz died prematurely in 1958 after a long illness We know the history of Zwerling’s survival largely thanks to the accounts and statements written by him and his rescuers and deposited at the Archive of the Jewish Historical Institute They became the basis for the process of awarding the title of the Righteous Celina Romańska and Józefa Pawłucka (Jaśkiewicz) risked their own lives selflessly” – wrote Zwerling Read the reports on the DELET portal (Polish language only): The accounts of Celina Romańska and Izydor Zwerling (sources of quotes in the article) A statement by Celina Romańska and Józefa Pawłucka The second account of Izydor Zwerling we celebrate the European Day of the Righteous honoring the people who opposed totalitarian regimes in the 20th and 21st centuries we especially remember the Righteous Among the Nations those who saved Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe The Jewish Historical Institute helped to recognize the achievements of many of those honored by the Yad Vashem Institute there were as many as 7,177 people from Poland – more than from any other country The quotes in the article come from the accounts from the Archives of the Jewish Historical Institute