Gorczyca Zofia & Michał

Gorczyca, Michał Gorczyca, Zofia At the outbreak of war, Michał and Zofia Gorczyca and their three children left the town of Krosno, in the Rzeszów district, and moved east, settling in Grzymałów, in the Tarnopol district, which was under Soviet rule. Here they made friends with the Rathausers. In the summer of 1941, when the Germans occupied the region and, together with their Ukrainian collaborators, began slaughtering Jews, the Gorczycas invited the Rathausers to move back with them to Krosno. Accordingly, when Gorczyca and his wife returned to Krosno, Cecilia Rathauser and her daughter, Paulina, went with them. Cecilia’s husband, who looked Jewish, decided not to go with, fearing his looks would betray him. In Krosno, the Gorczycas obtained “Aryan” documents for Cecilia and her daughter, and passed them off as relatives until the liberation. In risking their lives to care for Rathauser and her daughter, the Gorczycas were guided by humanitarian considerations, and never expected anything in return. After the war, Rathauser and her daughter immigrated to the United States, where for many years they maintained contact with their rescuers. On January 21, 1999, Yad Vashem recognized Zofia and Michał Gorczyca as Righteous Among the Nations. File 8280