Kulczycki Franciszek & Kulczycka Katarzyna (Grab); Son: Marian

Kulczycki, Franciszek Kulczycka, Katarzyna Kulczycki, Marian Franciszek and Katarzyna Kulczycki were poor laborers who lived in the town of Brody, in the Tarnopol district. In 1941, when the Germans occupied the town, Katarzyna was employed in the kitchen of a German road-paving company, where Jews were working as forced laborers. Many of these Jewish laborers were friends of Katarzyna and her husband, and she risked her life by bringing them food that she smuggled out of the kitchen. One day, the wife of the local Gestapo commander, who knew she was friendly with Jews, approached Katarzyna and offered her a “deal” – in exchange for a fur coat that Katarzyna would obtain from the Jews, the German woman would inform her of the date when an Aktion was going to be carried out in the ghetto. The “deal” was transacted, and in November 1942, Katarzyna told her Jewish friends about the impending Aktion, information that gave them time to seek a hiding place or to flee the ghetto. With her husband, Franciszek’s consent, and with the help of her son Marian, Katarzyna brought Jews to their home and hid them: Liza Szwardron and her daughter Greta Chalfin, the physician Lusia Kucherman, Herman Achtentuch, the commander of the Jewish police and his wife Manka. These Jewish refugees were sheltered in the Kulczyckis’ cellar, where they were cared for with warmth and devotion for a year and a half. The Kulczyckis received nothing in return for this generous act of rescue, and when, due to the situation in the city, they were no longer able to shelter the refugees in their home, they transferred them to the home of friends who lived in the village of Majdan Pieniacki, where they remained until their liberation by the Red Army in the spring of 1944. Everything the Kulczyckis did stemmed from their sense of compassion and true friendship which withstood the test of the perilous times. After the war, the survivors left Poland, some immigrated to Israel and others tothe United States. They all kept in touch through letters with the Kulczyckis, who, after the war, moved to live within the new borders of Poland. On July 10, 1994, Yad Vashem recognized Franciszek Kulczycki and his wife Katarzyna Kulczycka, as Righteous Among the Nations. On September 3, 2002, Yad Vashem recognized Marian Kulczycki, as Righteous Among the Nations.