Kulpa Jan

File 1768 Kulpa, Jan During the occupation times, 20 Jews were hidden by Kulpa Jan (from the village of Zazule located in the Tarnopol voivodeship) in two different bunkers, situated in two different hiding places; for a period of 18-months. 13 of them (of the Jewish fugitives), fled from the Złoczów area already when the Złoczów ghetto was closed on the 1st of December 1942, and stayed at their hiding place (a bunker in the village of Zazule) till the liberation of the area in July 1944. As two other fugitives named Fromer Mosze and Natan (also known as- Nute) joined them, when the ghetto was liquidated in April 1943, while Karger Solomon, Mr. Teitelbaum Szmerl and Teitelbaum Josef (Józef) joined them in August 1943, this after wandering in the city’s ruins and forest; all of them eventually (15 fugitives) hid in the village of Zazule. In addition, five other fugitives were hidden by Kulpa Jan in the village of Jelechowice, also in bunker. Kulpa constructed an underground hiding place in one of his farm buildings that could house ten refugees, and under cover of dark, taking back roads, he transferred the others to the nearby village of Zazule, where he worked on a farm belonging to his elderly parents. There too, the ten refugees were concealed in a well-camouflaged hiding place, and every day Kulpa dashed from one village to the other to bring them food and clothing. As a cautionary measure and to avoid arousing suspicion, Kulpa would purchase food in the markets of neighboring villages. He received no remuneration for everything he did for the refugees, but those among them who had some money helped pay the cost of their maintenance. Only the names of 18 fugitives among the 20 are known: Teitelbaum-Helbraun Taube and her son; Helbraun Natan (Nute) with his wife; Szapira (Schapira)-Helbraun; and their daughter as well as Mrs. Teitelbaum-Helbraun’s daughter; Helbraun-Fromer Buzia (second daughter of Mrs. Teitelbaum-Helbraun’s); her husbandFormer Mosze; their son Former Mordechai (Motke); the second son named- Fromer Herman (Hesio); the daughter of Mrs. Teitelbaum-Helbraun’s sister- Sassow Ginka; Mrs. Teitelbaum-Helbraun’s father- Teitelbaum Szmerl; and his son Teitelbaum Josef (Józef); Mrs. Schapira (Szapira); her son- Schapira (Szapira) Metuś ?; Karger Solomon; Gutfreund Juliusz; Gutfreund Hugon and Mr. Meyer from the city of Bialsko-Biała. All twenty refugees were liberated in July 1944 by the Red Army; as most of them immigrated to Israel, and the others to the United States, Canada and Australia. On the 28th of January 1980, Yad Vashem recognized Kulpa Jan, as a Righteous Among the Nations.