At New Yorks Kennedy Airport for the first time since 1944 the two men met, a Pole and a Jew. The parents of the first two years the family hid the latter, risking death at the hands of the Germans. - My parents were honest people who simply did the right thing - explained Czeslaw Półzięć. [google translated] Pole having 81 years met the 79-year-old Leon Gerstein in New York, where he arrived at the invitation of the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous. Welcoming was very emotional and full of heartfelt hugs Półzięcia with large family Gerstein, who has five children, 34 grandchildren and nine-great-grandchildren. - Do not forget that you and your parents have saved our lives - said Gerstein. - Thats what they did for us was great. They saved my dad and so they gave life to all my family - said 52-year-old daughter, Judith Barer. Tragically intertwined fates Family 81-year-old before the war lived in Rzeszow. After the occupation of the city by the Germans began to persecution. At the turn of 1941-1942 began the creation of the ghetto. Then Gerstein mother decided to flee with her son to her parents home in the village Frysztak. Her husband and four other children were in Rzeszow and disappeared without a trace. Of the approximately 25,000 people who passed through Rzeszow ghetto, survived only a few hundred. When the Germans came to Frysztak looking Jewish woman again fled with her son and with her sister, her husband and child. Parents and others in the village were murdered. Five fugitives wandered in the surrounding villages, where people were afraid to help them out of fear of persecution. For their support of the Jews Germany used the death penalty. Rescue found only in people Półzięć family who took in and hid them in the attic of the barn. There, they spent two years in hiding until the liberation by the Red Army in 1944. At that time, the farm several times searched Półzięciów Germany, but never found the Jews, for whom on such a circumstance dug-dug hidden shelter. Once the soldiers severely beat up his fathers current 81-year-old, who despite not delivered hiding the family. - They treated us like people, despite the fact that because of us have had so many problems - said Gerstein. After the war, the two families remained constant contact, but never met. Jews moved to New York, where the Peoples Republic strewed Poles pack of various goods. Author: mk / Source: New York Daily News, Reuters.
Posted on: Thu, 28 Nov 2013 11:48:39 +0000
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