Płotkowski Franciszek & Płotkowska Maria ; Son: Jan

Płotkowski, Franciszek Płotkowska, Maria Płotkowski, Jan During the liquidation of the ghettos in Eastern Galicia, the nine-member Laufer family fled from the town of Uscie Zielone, in the Buczacz county, to look for a place to hide. After wandering for some time throughout the countryside, the Laufer family arrived in the early autumn of 1943 in the village of Senkow, the home of Franciszek Płotkowski, a farmer. Known to be a decent Catholic lacking any feelings of antisemitism, Płotkowski had been a client of theirs before the war. Płotkowski was unable to hide all nine Jews in his home for long, and the Laufer family was forced to split up. Frieda and Shimon Laufer and their two small children remained with the Płotkowskis, while the rest of the family searched for somewhere else to hide. In return for hiding the fugitives, the Laufer family gave Franciszek and Maria Płotkowski the few possessions and little money they had. On Christmas 1943, Shimon Laufer left the hiding place to meet up with his brother-in-law but was caught by Ukrainian nationalists who murdered him on the spot. Frieda remained in the hiding place in the yard together with her two small children. Because the environment was hostile, both to Jews as well as to their benefactors, the Płotkowskis kept Frieda and her children from leaving the hiding place, and only Jan, their eldest son, knew about the secret and helped his parents save the fugitives. Frieda Laufer and her two children hid with the Płotkowski family until the liberation of the area by the Red Army in May 1944, and after the war, immigrated to the United States. The Płotkowski family moved to an area within the new Polish borders and after many years of no contact, Laufer’s children renewed their ties with Jan Płotkowski and invited him to come for a reunion of Holocaust survivors held in New York. On January 31, 1993, Yad Vashem recognized Maria Płotkowska, her husband Franciszek Płotkowski and their son Jan Płotkowskias Righteous Among the Nations.