Uciurkiewicz Franciszek

UCIURKIEWICZ FRANCISZEK During the war, Franciszek Uciurkiewicz lived in Stanisławów, Eastern Galicia. He worked for a craftsman named Stanisław Jackowski (later Jackow*). In July 1943, Stanisław took Franciszek to a shelter that they built and then introduced him to four Jews who were hiding there. They were all friends of Stanisław and they had all escaped from the Stanisławów ghetto during its liquidation. Their names were Max and Gicia Saginur and Aleksander and Wanda Gleis. Franciszek began helping Stanisław in caring for the four Jews and later on he also helped to build a second shelter beneath the workshop and an apartment building. Thirty-one Jews found shelter in the latter hideout. Among them were Luisa Hepner (nee Hellman), Michał Kirszenblat, Jerzy Zimerman, Eliash Segal and the Heckman couple. After the liberation in 1944, they all left the hideout. Luiza Hepner, who later immigrated to Israel, wrote in her testimony about Franciszeks’s role in rescuing the said thirty-one Jews. “He risked his life for a long time and I lack words to express my- our- gratefulness.” On July 17, 1991, Yad Vashem recognized Franciszek Uciurkiewicz as Righteous Among the Nations. File 4772