Gołkowski Jerzy & Gołkowska Czesława

Gołkowski Jerzy Gołkowska Czesława When Salomea Neuman was interned in the Borysław ghetto, in the Lwów district, Czesława Gołkowska, her school friend, did not abandon her. In November 1942, when the Germans began carrying out Aktionen in the ghetto, Czesława Gołkowska and Jerzy, her husband, saved Neumann’s life. At great personal risk, Jerzy entered the ghetto at dead of night and smuggled Neumann out. He transferred her through snow-covered forests to the apartment allocated him and his wife in the town of Schodnica, near Borysław, where he worked as the director of an oil-drilling plant. Although the Gołkowskis looked after Neuman devotedly, Neuman’s conscience troubled her, especially when she heard them constantly warning their nine-year-old son not to tell anyone that they were hiding a Jew. A few months later, despite the Gołkowskis’ protests, Neuman returned to the Borysław ghetto. When the ghetto was liquidated, she once again escaped and, after moving from one temporary shelter to another, was caught and sent to Auschwitz, where she survived under an assumed identity. In saving Neuman’s life, the Gołkowskis were guided by a loyalty that triumphed over adversity, and never expected anything in return. After the war, Neuman immigrated to Israel and kept up a correspondence with the Gołkowskis, who moved to central Poland. On February 10, 1997, Yad Vashem recognized Czesława and Jerzy Gołkowski as Righteous Among the Nations. File 7409