Tatomir Jan & Julia ; Daughter: Szymczak Janina (Tatomir); Daughter: Żak Józefa (Tatomir)

TATOMIR, JULIA TATOMIR, JAN ŻAK, JÓZEFA (TATOMIR) SZYMCZAK, JANINA (TATOMIR) During the war, Julia and Jan Tatomir lived in the village of Jazlowiec, in the county of Buczacz, Tarnopol district. Jan was a bricklayer, but during the war, he had almost no work and could hardly provide for his nine-person family. Jan had a reputation for being a kind and honest person; that was the reason why people in need of help often sought Jan out. The first to find her way to Jan was Elza Redner (later Elza Bernstein) and her four-year-old son. The second to appear was Liba Mandel and her eighteen-year-old son, Jakub. Next came Nella Buchsbajewa and Antonina Kalafer. All of them reached the Tatomir family after wandering for long stretches of time and after many painful experiences. Jan accommodated the fugitives in a bunker built specifically for this purpose by himself and his family. To keep the bunker a secret, Jan dug at night and the women took the dug out earth in boxes away from the house. All of the family members took part in caring for the hidden Jews, but Julia and her daughter Józefa were most involved. After Jan’s death (he was murdered by the Germans in 1943), Julia and her children had to carry the entire load themselves. A few searches were held at the Tatomir’s home. “On all those occasions, the blood froze in our veins and our hearts leaped out of our throats,” wrote Józefa in her testimony to Yad Vashem. In March 1944, when the battlefront was approaching the Tatomirs’ hometown, the Germans announced that all inhabitants of the area were to be evacuated. Staying alone in the bunker in those conditions would have been a death sentence for the hiding Jews (either by being captured by the Germans or from starvation) so Józefa turned to the Germans and offered them help in the kitchen. The Germans accepted her proposal and hence allowed her family to stay in their home. Thanks to that move, the Jews were able to survive. “Julia Tatomirtogether with her already grown children... did not restrict their material and moral efforts... and only thanks to them did I, as well as the above mentioned persons, survive and manage to build a family of my own,” emphasized Nella in her testimony. After the war, the rescued Jews left Poland, some settling in Australia and Germany. The Tatomirs moved to Legnica in Lower Silesia. On May 3, 1984, Yad Vashem recognized Jan Tatomir, his wife, Julia Tatomir, and their daughters, Józefa Żak and Janina Szymczak, as Righteous Among the Nations. File 2911