Leopold Socha
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Leopold "Poldek" Socha (28 August 1909 – 12 May 1946) was a Polish sewage inspector in the city of Lwów (now
Lviv Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...
,
Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
). During
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 ...
, Socha used his knowledge of the city's sewage system to shelter a group of Jews from Nazi persecution and their supporters of different nationalities. In 1978 he was recognized by the
State of Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
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, ...
.


Biography

Socha lived in a poor neighborhood of Lwów, Poland and worked for the municipal sanitation department and secretly as a burglar and thief. In 1943, he began hiding twenty one Jewish refugees in sewage canals in German-occupied Lwów. The Jews had fled through their floorboards to evade German capture. Initially the Jews paid their benefactors a fairly expensive price, but eventually ran out of money. Socha, his wife Magdalena, and a co-worker named Stefan Wróblewski continued feeding and sheltering the refugees with their own resources. They aided the group for fourteen months of the German occupation of Lwów. Ten of the twenty one Jewish refugees survived. In 1946 Socha and his daughter were riding their bicycles when a Soviet military truck came careening toward them. He steered his bicycle in her direction to knock her out of the way, saving her but dying in the process. After his death the Jewish people Socha had sheltered returned to pay their respects.


Legacy

On 23 May 1978
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 ...
of
Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
recognized Leopold and Magdalena Socha 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, ...
. In 1981 Stefan Wróblewski and his wife Anna received the same honor. Socha was portrayed by Robert Więckiewicz in the 2011
Agnieszka Holland Agnieszka Holland (; born 28 November 1948) is a Polish film and television director and screenwriter, best known for her cultural and political contributions to Polish cinema. She began her career as an assistant to directors Krzysztof Zanuss ...
film '' In Darkness'', which was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the
84th Academy Awards The 84th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2011 in the United States and took place on February 26, 2012, at the Hollywood and Highland Center Theatre in H ...
. Survivor Krystyna Chiger recounted her time as a child in the sewers being aided by Socha to the USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education, as well as in her 2008 memoir, '' The Girl in the Green Sweater: A Life in Holocaust's Shadow''.


See also

*
List of Poles This is a partial list of notable Polish people, Polish or Polish language, Polish-speaking or -writing people. People of partial Polish heritage have their respective ancestries credited. Physics *Miedziak Antal * Czesław Białobrzesk ...
*
Polish Righteous among the Nations The citizens of Poland have the highest count of individuals who have been recognized by Yad Vashem as the Polish Righteous Among the Nations, for saving Jews from extermination during the Holocaust in World War II. There are Polish men and w ...
* '' The Girl in the Green Sweater: A Life in Holocaust's Shadow'', a memoir by one of those Mr. Socha saved


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Socha, Leopold 1909 births 1946 deaths People from Lviv Polish Righteous Among the Nations Thieves Road incident deaths in Poland