Żądło Antoni & Maria

Anton & Maria Żądło David Czaban, his wife Rose (née Tennenbaum), and daughter Lilly (b. 1929) lived in Podwołoczyska, a small town situated at an important railroad junction. The Germans occupied Podwołoczyska in July 1941, and immediately proceeded to massacre its Jews. By the end of the year, a ghetto had been established in the nearby town of Skalat, and the remaining Jews of Podwołoczyska were sent there. The Germans took all of their possessions, and the refugees were left to starve. The Czabans were moved to Skalat, where they first spent a few days with Lilly’s maternal grandparents, David and Gusta Tennenbaum. During their stay, Anton Żądło appeared at the Tennenbaum's house, offering to help them escape. Żądło and David Czaban knew each other well; before the war Czaban, a merchant, used to buy apples, wheat, corn and tobacco from the Żądłos, who owned a large farm and orchard. David did not yet recognize the extent of the danger, and turned Żądło down. Soon, the extended Jewish family was moved into the ghetto. The senior Tennenbaums were killed in the very first aktion, and David Czaban was taken to a labor camp. It was then that he decided to contact Anton Żądło. Żądło came immediately to take Rose and Lilly to hide in the house where he lived with his elderly father. Conditions, however, were difficult, and in early 1942 Rose decided she could not continue living there. They returned to Skalat and, following a second aktion, went to join David in the labor camp. The camp's commander, a Volksdeutsch who liked David, offered to provide them with a hiding place. Soon, David managed to send word again to Żądło, who came back for them. This time around, Żądło had prepared a special shelter for the refugees. A double wall had been built next to the chicken coop on the ground floor, and a space created for the Jews to hide in. There was no door, just an entryway masked with hay and crates. Conditions were still severe: the Czabans had nochange of clothes, and did not bathe for two-and-a-half years, until liberation. Lilly had only three books to read, among them “Pan Tadeusz” by Adam Mickiewicz, which she had memorized by the end of the war. Żądło brought them water and food, including apples from his orchard, as well as news from the BBC, which he listened to on his illegal radio. Żądło tried to convince the neighbors he was antisemitic, even naming his dog Sara, a Jewish name, for the purpose. Nevertheless, someone reported the Żądłos to the Germans, and their house was searched extensively. Luckily, the hideout proved secure. At one point, Anton Żądło’s father died, and he hired a cook named Maria, whom he subsequently married and who helped him look after his hidden charges. The Czabans stayed until April 1944, including a few days after liberation while they got back into shape and waited for Podwołoczyska to be liberated. Then they left for Poland, and finally the US. In 1960 they sent a letter, which alerted the KGB to Anton Żądło. Real correspondence between Lilly Czaban (later Bloch) and Janina Gladysz (née Żądło) only took place after Perestroika, two decades after Anton and Maria Żądło had both passed away. On June 11, 2006, Yad Vashem recognized Anton and Maria Żądło as Righteous Among the Nations.