Woś Paweł & Anna ; Son: Paul

Woś, Paweł Woś, Anna Woś, Paul-Zenon The friendship between the Melamed and Woś families from Warsaw began even before the war. When Benjamin and Yehudit Melamed, their sons, Meir and Abraham, and their little daughter, were interned in the local ghetto, Paweł and Anna Woś and their son, Paweł-Zenon, with enormous resourcefulness, supplied the Woś family with food, and saw to their needs. After the small uprising in the ghetto in January 1943, in which they lost their little daughter, the Melameds decided to escape from the ghetto. Although the Woś family found them a hiding place, they could not stay there any length of time because of informers. The Melameds therefore decided to join the Jews who had collected in the Hotel Polski, hoping to be exchanged for German prisoners-of-war in enemy countries. The exchange plan, however, never got off the ground, and the Melameds were taken to Bergen-Belsen where they survived. The Woś family also helped three other acquaintances – David and Perla Himelsztaub, and their son, Israel – who were still interned in the Warsaw ghetto. In one of the Aktionen in the Warsaw ghetto, the Himelsztaubs were transferred to the Poniatowa camp, in the Lublin district. Soon after, Perla and her son decided to escape and return to Warsaw, while the father, who looked Jewish, and spoke only a broken Polish, stayed behind. With the help of young Paweł-Zenon (later Paul Zenon), Perla and Israel Himelsztaub reached Warsaw, where they joined the Melameds in their hiding place. When the Melameds left their hiding place, the Himelsztaubs left with them and like them, reported to the Hotel Polski. They, too, were sent to Bergen-Belsen, and were liberated there. After the war, the Melameds and Himelsztaubs immigrated to Israel while the Woś family immigrated to the United States. On June 30, 1997, Yad Vashem recognized Anna and Paweł Woś, and their son, Paul-Zenon, as Righteous Among the Nations.