Gałoński Wojtek & Gałońska Anna ; Son: Tadeusz ; Daughter: Kobyalko Paulina (Gałońska)

Gałoński, Wojtek Gałońska, Anna Gałoński, Tadeusz Kobyalko-Gałońska, Paulina In early June 1943, after the third murder operation (Aktion) against the Jews of the Trembowla ghetto, (Tarnopol District, today in Ukraine) ten-year-old Sofia Kalski fled with her mother to the fields far from the city, seeking to survive. For about two months they wandered through the fields living off gifts of food that good farmers gave them, but nobody was willing to hide them for fear of punishment by the Germans. At one stage, they came to the village of Humnisko where Sofia's grandparents had lived until the German occupation and where they had friends among their Polish neighbors. One night, little Sofia entered the home of the Gałoński family and identified herself as the granddaughter of Meir and Roza Sztern, who had lived in the village. The woman of the house, Anna Gałońska, also took the mother inside and gave them both a meal, but did not dare keep them in her home. She suggested that they hide in the adjacent vegetable garden. The next day, she urged them to leave. Because of their fatigue they nonetheless were allowed to remain another day in the garden. On the second night, they said, a miracle happened. The grandfather Meir appeared to the man of the house, Wojtek, in a dream and warned him of a disaster if Wojtek dared to drive Meir's daughter and granddaughter from his home. Wojtek told his wife to bring the two back into the house immediately and he prepared a hiding-place for them in the barn. The Gałońskis were a poor farming family, and God-fearing Catholics. They shared their meager sustenance with their wards. Apart from the parents, two of their children were still living at home, Tadek their youngest son and his older sister Paulina, and they took an active part alongside their parents in defending the two Jews. Tadek watched to ensure that no strangers approached the area of the hiding place and he was not allowed to bring friends into the yard. Paulina served as liaison, carrying various messages for the hidden pair and serving them. Sofia and her mother remained in the hiding-pace with the Gałońskis for about nine months until the liberation of the area in March 1944. On February 15, 2001, Yad Vashem recognized Wojtek and Anna Gałoński and their children Gałoński, Tadeusz and Paulina Gałońska-Kobyalko as Righteous Among the Nations.