Lach Tadeusz

Lach Tadeusz When the war broke out, sixteen-year-old Tadeusz Lach, born in Przemyśl, was working on the railroad that crossed through the soldiers’ barracks at 3, Maja Street. When the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, a group of Jewish girls was brought to the barracks to sort and clean the underwear and clothes sent from the front. In 1941, a ghetto was set up in Przemyśl, and from that time on the ghetto inhabitants suffered from severe shortages of food, clothes, and medicine. Working on the railroad, Tadeusz was able to enter the barracks area freely and he became the messenger between the Jewish girls and the Aryan side. He started supplying them with things they needed, and in doing so he met Zofia Salwer (later Sikorska). The people in the ghetto desperately needed medicine and Zofia asked Tadeusz for help. A few days later, he brought medicine and detergents and never charged for them. “From that time on, he helped us, totally unselfishly. He would buy food and bring it to us in the barracks,” wrote Zofia in her testimony to Yad Vashem. Tadeusz took more risks. He would steal into the ghetto at night to bring in food and clothes, and never took any money for it. Zofia later escaped into the woods and survived the war with the aid of “Aryan” documents. After the liberation, she returned to Przemyśl and met the administrator of the local Jewish cemetery, Mr. Augarten, who told her that Tadeusz had helped Jews in the ghetto until 1943. Then he himself had to hide. After the liberation of Przemyśl, he had joined the Polish Army and had reached Berlin. After the war, Tadeusz bumped into Zofia in the street and was sad to hear that she was the only one of the group of Jewish girls that he had helped who had survived. On March 10, 1992, Yad Vashem recognized Tadeusz Lach as Righteous Among the Nations. File 5145