Gozdek Jan

Gozdek Jan In April 1943, Izaak Supel and Abram Miodek fled from the transport of Jewish prisoners near the city of Skarżysko-Kamienna. They wandered for four days through fields, villages and forests, until, exhausted, starving, and freezing, they met Jan Gozdek, an underground activist for the People’s Guard (Gwardia Ludowa). Gozdek, who considered saving persecuted Jews a sacred duty and a blow for the enemy, rented a wagon and, at dead of night, took the two refugees to an abandoned hayloft in the village of Jóźwików, in the county of Końskie, where he himself was hiding from the Gestapo. Soon after, Gozdek was arrested, and tortured. After escaping from prison and suffering many setbacks, Gozdek returned to his hiding place in Józwików, where he continued looking after his two charges until April 1944, when he was wounded in clashes with the Germans, never to be heard of again. With the money Gozdek had left them before he was wounded, Miodek and Supel managed to find a safe refuge and eventually both left for the States. On March 24, 1988, Yad Vashem recognized Jan Gozdek as Righteous Among the Nations. File 3850