Chacza Edward

Chacza, Edward Edward Chacza, who lived in Baranowicze in the Nowogródek district, assisted Jews in distress during the Nazi occupation. He smuggled fugitives out of the sealed ghetto and accompanied them to the nearby forests, where they were absorbed by local Jewish partisan units. From the beginning of 1942 until his arrest in November 1943, Chacza endangered himself and his family by his rescue operations. Even after the liquidation of the Baranowicze ghetto, Chacza continued to liaise between partisan groups whose members included those he had saved. His address was known to Jewish fugitives as a refuge where they received food, medical care and temporary shelter. Chacza was motivated solely by love for his fellow men and humanitarian considerations, and requested nothing in return for his generous deeds. The exact number of Jews who owe their lives to him will never be known. Most of them immigrated to Israel after the war, and invited him to visit once they had learned his postwar address. On March 24, 1964, Yad Vashem recognized Edward Chacza as Righteous Among the Nations.