Jan and Anna Puchalski were a Polish husband and wife who lived in the village of Łosośna in north-eastern

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

on the outskirts of

Grodno Grodno, or Hrodna, is a city in western Belarus. It is one of the oldest cities in Belarus. The city is located on the Neman, Neman River, from Minsk, about from the Belarus–Poland border, border with Poland, and from the Belarus–Lithua ...

(now 20 km into

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

) during the

Nazi German Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

occupation of Poland Occupation commonly refers to: *Occupation (human activity), or job, one's role in society, often a regular activity performed for payment *Occupation (protest), political demonstration by holding public or symbolic spaces *Military occupation, th ...

. Together, they rescued Polish

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

s from the

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

, including escapees from the ghetto in Grodno before its brutal liquidation. The Puchalskis were posthumously bestowed the titles of

Righteous Among the Nations Righteous Among the Nations ( ) is a title used by Yad Vashem to describe people who, for various reasons, made an effort to assist victims, mostly Jews, who were being persecuted and exterminated by Nazi Germany, Fascist Romania, Fascist Italy, ...

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem (; ) is Israel's official memorial institution to the victims of Holocaust, the Holocaust known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (). It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; echoing the stories of the ...

in June 1986.Mordecai Paldiel
''Saving the Jews''
Chapter: Sheltering and Hiding. Page 82-83. Published by Schreiber Their medals of honor were presented to their surviving children at a ceremony in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

on June 14, 1987, during which Irena Puchalska-Bagińska, Zdzisław, son of Sabina Puchalska-Kazimierczyk, Władysław Puchalski and Krystyna Puchalska-Maciejewska planted a tree in the Garden of the Righteous at Yad Vashem. At the onset of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Jan Puchalski worked at a tobacco company, where he earned a small salary. The Puchalskis resided as innkeepers in a summer cottage, in the Łosośna forest. The cottage was owned by an entrepreneurial Zandman family who leased similar cottages to city tourists before the war, with Grodno’s reputation as a retreat, confirmed by its century-old summer palace of the Polish kings. The Puchalskis were very poor, having to support five children: 15-, 16-, and 17-year-old daughters and two toddlers (Władysław and Wanda) age 1 and 2. On the evening of the Nazi German murderous raid on Grodno Ghetto which took place on February 13, 1943, six Jews who escaped, showed up at Puchalskis door. Among them, much-loved Felix Zandman of the Zandman family (age 15) who used to play with their children before the war, Sender Freydowicz (his uncle) who lost his wife and two children to the Nazis, Mottel Bass and his wife Goldie, and two more Jewish fugitives. They stayed with the Puchalskis for 17 months. Meanwhile, the ghetto in Grodno was razed by the Germans with all of its 29,000 Jews deported in Holocaust trains, and exterminated in

gas chamber A gas chamber is an apparatus for killing humans or animals with gas, consisting of a sealed chamber into which a poisonous or asphyxiant gas is introduced. Poisonous agents used include hydrogen cyanide and carbon monoxide. History Donatie ...

s of

Auschwitz Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It consisted of Auschw ...

and

Treblinka Treblinka () was the second-deadliest extermination camp to be built and operated by Nazi Germany in Occupation of Poland (1939–1945), occupied Poland during World War II. It was in a forest north-east of Warsaw, south of the Treblinka, ...

Dugout under the bedroom floor

At first, the six Jews hid outside the house in a cellar, which was not safe enough, with the Nazi threat of the death penalty looming over everyone, including the Puchalski children. Subsequently, with the help of the family, a dugout was built under one of their two bedrooms, occupied by three elder sisters (Sabina, Irena and Krystyna) who kept watch. The dugout was very small. The entrance was through a narrow opening beneath the bed and covered with a wooden trap. An air duct was made leading out to the garden with an opening covered under the bushes. For added security, Jan Puchalski moved the dog kennel to that place. Sabina used to bring food down for the runaway fugitives and take their waste away. The Jews soon realized that the hide-out was too small to contain six people. The insufficient air supply prompted two of the hiders to leave and seek help elsewhere. Mottel Bass, a lawyer by profession, had some money, which helped the Puchalskis with their new expenses. When German soldiers retreating before the advancing Russian front settled in the house, four Jews slipped out at night and wandered for several days. They caught-up with the Soviets and were liberated on July 24. Felix Zandman and Sender Freydowicz soon emigrated to France, where Felix obtained an engineering degree and earned a doctorate in physics at the Sorbonne. He became an

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

aeronautics Aeronautics is the science or art involved with the study, design process, design, and manufacturing of air flight-capable machines, and the techniques of operating aircraft and rockets within the atmosphere. While the term originally referred ...

. In 1986 Zandman submitted his testimony to Yad Vashem with other survivors. As a result, in June 1986 the Puchalskis were posthumously awarded the title of

. A year later, on June 14, 1987, their surviving children visited Jerusalem and planted a tree in the Garden of the Righteous at Yad Vashem. Felix Zandman who was at the ceremony remarked: "The Puchalskis never lost courage, never. We lost courage. They built our morale up." Also, Jan and Anna Puchalski were awarded the Anti-Defamation League's Courage to Care Award in the form of a bronze plaque by artist Arbit Blatas, presented to their children by the ADL's National Director, Abraham Foxman.

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * Muzeum Historii Żydów Polskich
Sprawiedliwi wśród Narodów Świata, 1987. Puchalski, Jan i Anna.
* Dr. Mordecai Paldiel, Yad Vashem, The Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority. ()
Jan and Anna Puchalski
– their activity to save Jews' lives during the

, at

website {{DEFAULTSORT:Puchalski, Jan and Anna Married couples Polish Righteous Among the Nations

Dugout under the bedroom floor

See also

References