Zapiór Tadeusz & Stefania

ZAPIÓR TADEUSZ ZAPIÓR STEFANIA Stefania and Tadeusz Zapiór lived in Dobrociesz, in the Kraków district. One of their prewar acquaintances was Mjżesz Riegelhaupt, who lived in the neighboring village of Wojakowa. The Zapiórs met his son Zygmunt Rygiel (later Riegelhaupt) only after the occupation began. In July 1942, on the eve of a deportation of more than ten Jewish families from the Iwkowa community (including the entire Riegelhaupt family) to the Zakliczyn ghetto, Zygmunt and his brother-in-law’s brother, Isaac Tauger, fled to the woods. In October 1942, shortly before the liquidation of the Zakliczyn ghetto, Zygmunt’s father managed to escape. Zygmunt’s sister and child, as well as her sister-in-law and her two children also managed to flee the ghetto. From then on, Zygmunt and Moshe hid together. Around that time, the Zapiors began helping them and continued to do so until the liberation in January 1945. Tadeusz built a hideout under a heap of straw in the barn, and beneath the floor of the house was a hidden dungeon that was supposed to serve as a backup hiding place. “There were times (the winter of 1942-43), in which we stayed there for three whole months (Isaac Tauger was also there with us), although regularly the stay was no longer than a few days. Everything was dictated by safety considerations,” wrote Zygmunt in his testimony. He continues: “From the Zapiórs we received bread, baked most often during our stay there, because for their large family, including seven young children, there wasn’t always enough of it. When our wooden shoes started falling apart, Tadeusz made us new ones from the last piece of leather he had. They shared with us, though they themselves led a life of distress and unceasing hardship,” emphasized Zygmunt. He added: “They attributed their giving us help to their moral duties, derived from religious beliefs, and they remained unshaken in fulfilling these wishes.” Stefania wrote: “The fact that we could contributeto ‘grandpa’s’ [this is what the Zapiórs called Moshe, Zygmunt’s father] survival, and to the survival of his son, I consider as a human duty, fulfilled by myself and my husband.” On September 15, 1991, Yad Vashem recognized Tadeusz Zapiór and his wife, Stefania Zapiór, as Righteous Among the Nations. File 4632