Rychlewicz Władysław ; Daughter: Irena ; Partner: Piętkowska Maria

Rychlewicz, Władysław Piętkowska, Maria Noskowicz-Rychlewicz Irena Before the war, Władysław Rychlewicz, an economics professor, taught at the Wawelberg Technical Institute in Warsaw and lived with his partner, Maria Piętkowska. During the occupation, Rychlewicz helped his Jewish friends who were interned in the ghetto, by smuggling food into the ghetto for them. During the liquidation of the ghetto, they took in seven Jews – Hirsh Swirski, the three members of the Finkelstein family, and the three members of the Henigman family – who asked him for shelter. Despite being ill, Rychlewicz, guided by purely humanitarian considerations, built a special hiding place in his home for the refugees, looked after them and saw to their needs. Irena, Rychlewicz’s younger daughter, who did not live with him, also took part in the rescue operation. She came occasionally to help her ailing father, and in particular, purchased large quantities of food for the refugees, despite the danger. All seven fugitives who hid with Rychlewicz and Piętkowska stayed with them untill the Warsaw Uprising in 1944, and survived until the liberation. After the war, Swirski immigrated to Australia, while Irena married a Jew called Shimon Noskowicz, and the two immigrated to Israel. The Finkelstein family emigrated to the United States, and in 2017 Diane Finkelstein Krumholz, who was not aware that the story was already known to Yad Vashem, asked to have her rescuers recognized. On February 18, 1975, Yad Vashem recognized Władysław Rychlewicz as Righteous Among the Nations. On December 11, 1985, Yad Vashem recognized Irena Noskowicz (née Rychlewicz) as Righteous Among the Nations. On February 19, 2019, Yad Vashem recognized Maria Piętkowska as Righteous Among the Nations.