Bońkowski Władysław

Bońkowski Władysław Władysław Bońkowski, manager of a restaurant in the railway station of the town of Sambor, in Eastern Galicia, and an activist of the Polish underground, was known under the code name of Szopa. In June 1943, when the Germans liquidated the Sambor ghetto, several Jew who managed to escape turned to him for help. Bońkowski agreed and hid sixteen Jews in the attic of the restaurant. Among them were: Machle Zelinger, Yafa Engelrad, Emmanuel Langer, and Aliza Wolf. Later, Wolf recounted how “The railway station was swarming with people, including soldiers, officers, and Gestapo officials. It was extremely dangerous to hide sixteen people there.” Three of the restaurant workers, who were taken into the secret, were responsible for looking after the Jewish refugees. On several occasions, Bońkowski, fearing a raid, transferred all the Jews for a few days to his home near the restaurant. The refugees stayed in the restaurant attic from June 1943 to the beginning of August 1944. They later testified: “Throughout this period, Bońkowski was constantly exposed to informers and blackmailers, who endangered his life and ours alike.” Bońkowski was forced to pay large sums of hush money to workers and acquaintances whom he thought might inform on him. The refugees who had the resources paid for the upkeep of the entire group. All sixteen Jews sheltered by Bońkowski survived. After the war, fourteen of them immigrated to Israel. On February 28, 1967, Yad Vashem recognized Władysław Bońkowski as Righteous Among the Nations.