Rogozińska Maria

Rogozińska Maria In mid-January 1943, a unit of the German security police raided the home of Maria Rogozińska in the village of Wierbka (Olkusz County, Kielce District) and discovered a Jewish woman hiding there called Berlińska (or Berlicka) who was known in the area as the owner of a flourmill. In addition, another young Jew, whose identity remains unknown, was also hiding in her home. The Germans murdered both on the spot. Two Polish men who were staying in the apartment at that time, Piotr Podgorski and Piotr Sender, were arrested and taken in chains to the police station in the castle of neighboring Pilica. A few hours later, the apartment owner, Maria Rogozińska was also caught and brought with her four-year-old son, Piotr, in her arms to the police station in the castle. She was first interrogated and severely tortured and then murdered with her young son at the castle. Afterwards, the two men who had been arrested in her home were also executed. Only Maria's two small daughters, 11-year-old Maria-Stanisława and nine-year-old Helena, who had managed to leave the house before the German raid, survived. These murders were carried out by a special unit of the German security police with the assistance of Ukrainians who were being employed at that time in the elimination of Jews in hiding and of members of the Polish underground Home Army (AK) in the area. On May 23, 2004, Yad Vashem recognized Maria Rogozińska as Righteous Among the Nations. File: 10255