Jacków Leon & Bronisława

Jacków, Leon Jacków, Bronisława In June 1943, with the liquidation of the Trembowla ghetto in the Tarnopol district, the last of the Jews were taken to the nearby Plebanowka forest and killed. Those who escaped were killed by the local population, except for a small group of refugees, who lived in the forest. One day, the refugees came across Leon Jacków, a poor Ukrainian blacksmith, who lived with his Polish wife, Bronisława, and his three children in a suburb of Trembowla. Jacków, who knew some of the Jewish refugees, offered to bring them bread and potatoes. In time, when the Germans and their local collaborators continued hunting for Jews, Jacków, after consulting with his wife, offered to shelter eleven refugees in his house. Despite the danger, the Jackóws arranged a hiding place under one of the farm buildings where, guided by humanitarian considerations, they watched over their charges. The Jewish refugees whose lives were saved by Jacków were: Israel Goldflis, Elimelech Zylberstein, Ester Schweiger, Bronia Kalman, Dr. Shalit, the three members of the Podhorcer family and the three members of the Rozenberg family. All eleven refugees stayed with the Jackóws until the area was liberated in March 1944 and, after the war, the survivors immigrated to Israel and the United States. On December 21, 1982, Yad Vashem recognized Bronisława and Leon Jacków as Righteous Among the Nations.