Nowosielski Stanisław

Nowosielski, Stanisław In May 1943, Binjamin and Złata Markowitz jumped off the train transporting them together with the other Jews of Łuków to a death camp. Złata was shot and wounded during the escape from the train, and after a while, she lost consciousness and was unable to move. Markowitz dragged his wife to a nearby grove, where they hid, knowing that the Germans could track them down and kill them at any moment. That night, a farmer suddenly appeared and he took the injured woman on his back to an area where high grasses grew. He was Stanisław Nowosielski from a tiny village near Siedlce. He came back a short while later with bread and a bottle of milk. Under these circumstances, Nowosielski fed the two Jewish fugitives and guarded them for three weeks. After Złata’s wounds healed, Nowosielski took the couple to his farm, and without revealing their presence to anyone in his family, hid them in a hayloft above the cowshed. Binjamin and Złata Markowitz hid in the hayloft on Nowosielski’s farm for 15 months, and throughout the entire period, Nowosielski cared for their every need and cheered them up. His wife, who prepared the food, guessed that her husband was caring for some wounded people, but never imagined that he was hiding Jewish fugitives. The only one in on the secret was Kazimierz Adamczyk, Nowosielski’s young grandson. He would help his grandfather with various farm chores, and among other things, Nowosielski would ask him to stand guard over the fugitives in his absence. Only in February 1944, after the members of the Nowosielski family discovered signs that someone was hiding in their farmyard did Nowosielski reveal his rescue of the Jewish couple to them, and Binjamin and Złata Markowitz remained in the hayloft until the liberation of the area in July 1944. Nowosielski, a simple farmer, was a devout Catholic, and despite the danger to his life and that of his family, made every effort to save the lives of the two Jews. He was motivated bypurely humane values and never asked for or received anything in return. After the liberation, Nowosielski gave Binjamin and Złata Markowitz 100 zlotys for their journey and when they tried to give him a watch in return, he refused to accept it, telling them that their first priority was to look out for themselves. After the war, Binjamin and Złata Markowitz immigrated to Israel. They remained eternally grateful to Nowosielski, whom they admired greatly, keeping in close contact with the man to whom they owed their lives. On September 15, 1991, Yad Vashem recognized Stanisław Nowosielski as Righteous Among the Nations.