Niewolak Maria ; Daughter: Rudzka Barbara (Niewolak)

Knofliczek, Jan Strzelecka, Maria Rudzka, Barbara Bielak-Bułat, Josepha At the outbreak of war, Adolf and Rozalia Pistol, their daughter, Halina (born in 1934), and son, Pinchas, and Adolf’s sister, Zofia Pistol, lived in the town of Dobczyce, near Krakow. In August 1942, when the town’s Jews were taken to the Wieliczka ghetto, the Pistols fled to the nearby forest and Adolf Pistol decided to ask Jan Knofliczek and Maria Strzelecka, former neighbors of his, for help. Knofliczek, a tanner by profession, moved into the Pistols’ former apartment where he looked after Halina and Pinchas, while their parents and aunt found shelter with Maria Strzelecka. However, due to their neighbors’ suspicions, the refugees had to report to the forced labor camp of Prokocim, and were later sent to the Plaszow camp. In 1943, after escaping from Plaszow, the Pistols found temporary shelter with Josepha Bielak, the daughter of acquaintances of theirs, who was already hiding Rozalia’s mother and brother. Since their hiding place was in danger of discovery, the refugees stayed only a few days, after which they asked Bielak to contact Maria Strzelecka, who immediately agreed to take them in. Maria, under cover of darkness, accompanied the refugees to her house some 30 kilometers away where she and her daughter, Barbara, looked after them and saw to all their needs until a month before the liberation. She and her daughter, Barbara, kept their attic clean, washed their clothes and sheets, removed their bodily waste, and gave them food and medicines when necessary. According to Rozalia’s subsequent testimony, these medicines saved her children’s lives. One day, the SS, alerted by a neighbor, searched Strzelecka’s house, but failed to discover the refugees. In December 1944, when Knofliczek realized that the Pistols’ presence was endangering Strzelecka’s life, he arranged another shelter for them some two kilometers away, where they stayed until the liberation. Knofliczek also found atemporary job for Pistol, a furrier by profession, who was thus able to participate, albeit minimally, in his family’s upkeep. The four saviors were all devout Catholics who saw saving Jews as an integral part of their faith, and never expected anything in return. After the war, the Pistols immigrated to Israel where, for a long while, they kept up contact with their saviors. On November 7, 1990, Yad Vashem recognized Jan Knofliczek, Maria Strzelecka, her daughter Barbara Rudzka, and Josepha Bielak-Bułat as Righteous Among the Nations.