Radyszkiewicz Aniela (Wójcik)

Radyszkiewicz, Anna Sokołowska, Maria Sokołowski, Władysław Sokołowski, Wiesław Dubasiewicz-Sokołowska, Krystyna In August 1943, Chana Bitman, who worked as a forced laborer on a German farm, near the town of Włodzimierz Wołyński, in the Volhynia district, managed to establish contact with Anna Aniela Radyszkiewicz, a poor widow, who lived in Włodzimierz Wołyński in a cottage bordering the farm. Radyszkiewicz, who was a devout Catholic, agreed to hide the Bitmans in her cellar, without expecting anything in return. Not long after, the Bitmans together with the Lichtensteins – a total of fourteen people, including a 12-year-old boy – reached Radyszkiewicz’s house. Despite the crowded conditions in the cellar, and the despair that threatened to engulf both savior and survivors, Radyszkiewicz did not give up, but urged the refugees to dig an underground tunnel, to expand their living space. Maria Sokołowska, her married sister, who lived with her husband, Władysław, and their children, Wiesław and Krystyna, in the nearby village, were also let into the secret. Without any preconditions, the Sokołowskis joined in the rescue operation, supplied the refugees with food, kept them clean, and despite the danger, helped them to the best of their ability, without expecting anything in return. All fourteen refugees stayed under the devoted care of Radyszkiewicz and the Sokołowskis until July 1944, when the area was liberated. After the war, the survivors immigrated to Israel while their saviors settled within Poland’s postwar borders. On February 17, 1999, Yad Vashem recognized Anna Radyszkiewicz, her sister and brother-in-law, Maria and Władysław Sokołowski, their son, Wiesław, and daughter, Krystyna Dubasiewicz-Sokołowska, as Righteous Among the Nations. File 8372