Julian Bilecki (also written Yulian Biletskiy) (1928–2007) was a Polish farmer who helped his family save 23 Jews as a teenager during 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 ...

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 ...

. Decades later, they were recognized as

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, ...

for their actions. In 1943, nearly all the families of the Jewish community in

Podhajce Pidhaitsi (, ; ; ) is a small city in Ternopil Raion, Ternopil Oblast, western Ukraine. It is located approximately south of Berezhany, from Ternopil, and south-east of Lviv. In 1939, Pidhaitsi obtained the formal status of a city.Eastern Galicia Eastern Galicia (; ; ) is a geographical region in Western Ukraine (present day oblasts of Lviv Oblast, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, Ivano-Frankivsk and Ternopil Oblast, Ternopil), having also essential historic importance in Poland. Galicia ( ...

, amounting to about 3,000 Jews, were slaughtered by the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

. A small group, many of them children and teenagers, escaped from the Podhajce

ghetto A ghetto is a part of a city in which members of a minority group are concentrated, especially as a result of political, social, legal, religious, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished than other ...

on the eve of its liquidation, and survived the Nazi extermination finding their way to the Bileckis'

khutor A khutor ( ; rus, хутор, p=ˈxutər) or khutir (, ) is a type of rural locality in some countries of Eastern Europe; in the past the term mostly referred to a single- homestead settlement.Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

on March 27, 1944.

Early life and family

Julian Bilecki was born in 1928, eleven years before the start 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 ...

. His father's name was Eugeniusz (Yevgenyi) Bilecki, and his sister was named Anna Kifor (née Bilecka). He had a cousin named Roman Bilecki, who played a key role in hiding the Jews. They lived in

(part of the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 7 October 1918 and 6 October 1939. The state was established in the final stage of World War I ...

before the war; contemporary Pidhaitsi, Ukraine).

War years

On the eve of

Shavuot (, from ), or (, in some Ashkenazi Jews, Ashkenazi usage), is a Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday, one of the biblically ordained Three Pilgrimage Festivals. It occurs on the sixth day of the Hebrew month of Sivan; in the 21st century, it may ...

, about 140 Polish Jews escaped from the Podhajce

on the eve of its liquidation by Nazi death squads. After being attacked by Ukrainian nationalists, most were killed, including their leader Israel Zilber; only 23 were still alive. Hershko Grau and Shiko Zisser requested help from the Bileckis. The survivors reached the Bilecki farm on June 6, 1943. The Bileckis decided to take them into hiding and built a wooden bunker in the forest, camouflaged with branches and leaves. They provided food daily for the 23 people hidden in the bunker. The safehouse was rapidly discovered by local passers-by, and the Bileckis built a second, then a third bunker for the Jews in hiding to protect them from discovery by locals. In the winter, the ground was covered with snow, footprints on which would reveal the movements to and from the hiding place. Sabina Grau Schnitzer, one of the survivors of the Podhajce ghetto liquidation, recalled how a young Julian Bilecki would jump from tree to tree in to deliver necessary items to his Jewish friends in order to avoid leaving tracks in the snow. On April 1, 1944, the Red Army arrived in and liberated the area where the Bilecki family and Jewish survivors lived.

Post-war activities

After the Podhajce Jews were liberated on March 27, 1944, Julian's cousin Roman emigrated to the US while Julian himself remained in Europe. Over the years, the survivors sent packages of food and clothing to the Bilecki family, who had remained poor in Ukraine, and the Bileckis and survivors corresponded through letters. In 1998, half a century later, Julian Bilecki (by then a retired bus driver) and his son Jaroslav flew to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

with help from the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous, where he was reunited with 5 survivors at the JFK airport terminal. The director of the Foundation, Ms. Stahl, reports Julian to have said tearfully on meeting the survivors "I see you all have gray hair. I too have gray hair. I thought I would never see you again. I feel lost. I thought this would never happen. All I did was help. It is very pleasant that people remember. Now I am getting paid back by God". The survivors arranged for the family to be honored as Righteous Gentiles by Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. The Bliecki family, including Julian, received the Righteous Among the Nations distinction in 1990 (with two extended family members recognized in 1996).

List of those saved by Bilecki and his family

* Hershko Grau * Shake Zisser * Three Rozman sisters * Ridkis family * Feldberg family * Chaim Weintraub, pharmacist * Izio Loeb * Mina Blumenfield * Sabina Grau Schnitzer * Three Zilber siblings * Gilta Fink

External links

Julian Bilecki
– his activity to save Jews' lives during the

, at

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 ...

website
"Pole, 70, Reunited With Jews He Saved"
''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', December 10, 1998
"Holocaust survivor owes her life to 'righteous gentile'"
''

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

'', December 31, 1998
Bilecki family
at Jewish Foundation for the Righteous website

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bilecki, Julian Polish Righteous Among the Nations 2007 deaths 1928 births 20th-century Polish farmers