Wybieracka Wiktoria & Wybieracki Władysław

Wybieracki, Władysław Wybieracka, Wiktoria In early September 1942, a few days before the liquidation of the ghetto in Horochów (Volhynia District, today in Ukraine), Mania (Miriam) Berger feverishly sought refuge for herself and her two sons, 16-year-old Jankiem (Jakob) and 13-year-old Ludwik (Schmuel). Suddenly it occurred to her to seek help from the carpenter Władysław Wybieracki whom she knew from his few visits to her home when he worked in the carpentry business managed by her husband. Mania asked him to take her and her children in for a few days until the danger was past. He consulted with his wife. That same evening a pleasant woman in her thirties appeared and introduced herself as Wiktoria Wybieracka, Władysław‘s wife, and took Mania and her two children home with her. They did not even have time to take their belongings with them from the ghetto. Once the ghetto was liquidated, the “few days” with the Wybierackis turned into a year and a half until the liberation. As a carpenter, Władysław built a well camouflaged hiding place for them in the garret of their apartment. The three Bergers endured difficult days while their rescuers did their best with their scanty means to make life easier for them, sharing their fears for the future. They gave them food, washed their clothes and tried to keep their morale up, providing them with reading material and information from the front. Wiktoria, in addition to her work as a cook for the Germans and did sewing for them. Thus, Germans would stay for short periods of time in her home. Frequently following local underground activities against the occupation forces, meticulous searches were carried out in the homes of the area, sometimes for contraband and sometimes for arms. Only by a miracle did they not find the three Jews hiding in the garret. In this area there were many murderous attacks by the Ukrainian ultra-nationalists against the Poles and the Polish Wybierackis feared for their lives without any relation to their hiding Jews. The Wybieracki couple kept their wards in the picture on what was happening around them and shared their fears with them but never hinted that they leave. When the Wybierackis had to leave their home for short periods for their own safety, they prepared a stock of food for their wards. Thus, after a year and a half of constant tension and fears, the two families reached the long-awaited day of liberation in April 1944. On November 5, 2000, Yad Vashem recognized Władysław and Wiktoria Wybieracki as Righteous Among the Nations.