Kuchmistrz Józef & Anna ; Son: Kazimierz ; Daughter: Rura Olga (Kuchmistrz)

File 4570 Kuchmistrz, Józef Kuchmistrz, Anna Kuchmistrz, Kazimierz Kuchmistrz, Olga Józef and Anna Kuchmistrz, who lived with their two children, Kazimierz, aged 20, and sixteen-year-old Olga, in the village of Lanki, near Lwów, hid nine Jews in a hiding place in the cellar during the war. A wardrobe concealed the entrance to the hiding place and it was moved whenever one of the Kuchmistrzes brought food or came to clean the waste bucket. Among those in hiding were Józef Ziegler and his parents and sisters. During the winter of 1943, tragedy struck the Zieglers. Because it was almost impossible for the Kuchmistrzes to feed so many people, Józef left the hiding place to search for food. While he was out, he caught a cold and became seriously ill. He had a fever for eight months, and died two days before the liberation. His parents buried him in the Kuchmistrzes’ cowshed and then, after the liberation, moved him to the local Jewish cemetery. Moshe Lehrer joined the fugitive group in the spring of 1943, after escaping from the Bóbrka Ghetto near Lwów on the eve of the its liquidation. Moshe asked two men for help but they refused. He reached the Kuchmistrzes’ farm that night and stayed for a day, but since Kuchmistrz was already hiding nine people, he took him to the neighboring village of Dąbrowa to hide with the Zadworny* family. Moshe stayed with them until the spring of 1944 when the Ukrainians attacked some Poles and the Zadwornys’ house was burned down. Moshe returned to the Kuchmistrzes and they welcomed him in. He stayed with them until the liberation in the summer of 1944. On March 15, 1990, Yad Vashem recognized Józef Kuchmistrz, his wife, Anna Kuchmistrz, and their children, Kazimierz Kuchmistrz and Olga Kuchmistrz, as Righteous Among the Nations.