Kotowicz Wiktor & Józefa

Kotowicz, Wiktor Kotowicz, Józefa Before the liquidation of the Czortkow ghetto in the Tarnopol district, in Eastern Galicia, David Schweiger asked Wiktor Kotowicz, a friend of his, to prepare a hiding place for him and his family on his farm, in case of need. In July 1942, during the Aktionen preceding the liquidation of the Czortkow ghetto, Schweiger and his family and friends escaped and, at dead of night, made their way to the Kotowiczes’ farm. Wiktor and Józefa Kotowicz welcomed all ten refugees: Schweiger and his wife, Natalia; their four-year-old daughter Shoshana; Schweiger’s father, Aharon-Józef; Chaim Mundek Neuberger; Marylka Reichstein and her sister Blanka; his neighbor Zosia Anderman and her mother; and Salek Szmajek, a pharmacist. The Kotowiczes hid them in a bunker they had prepared for them in advance, kept them fed and clean, and looked after them to the best of their ability, without expecting anything in return. Despite the hostile environment in which they lived, the Kotowiczes sheltered the refugees until July 1944, when the area was liberated by the Red Army. After the war, the survivors left Poland for Israel. They remained eternally grateful to the Kotowiczes for having saved their lives. On March 25, 1979, Yad Vashem recognized Józefa and Wiktor Kotowicz as Righteous Among the Nations.