Strecker Józef & Rozalia

Józef & Rozalia Strecker Mordechai (Moty/Marek) Sztromer was born in Kamionka-Strumiłowa in Poland in 1910. His father, Shaul, was a well-to-do liquor wholesaler with an additional small retail business in the town. Mordechai was 29 at the time of the Nazi invasion in 1939, living with his family, working for his father, and about to become engaged. The invasion caused him flee to Lwów, where he ended up an inmate of the Lwów ghetto, together with his sister Złata and her husband Mechel Eisen. From the ghetto, Mordechai was taken to the Janów labor camp, and then in the summer of 1943 placed on a transport to Belżec. He managed to jump off the train, but his situation was far from safe: his parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and sister Złata had all been killed, and he was now alone in the outskirts of Lwów. He decided to head back to Kamionka. Close to Kamionka lay the village of Jagoń, where Józef and Rozalia Strecker, transplanted Volksdeutscher, lived with their daughter, Helena. Józef Strecker had been a loyal customer of the Sztromers’ before the war, even borrowing money on occasion, and the relationship between the two families was very friendly. Mordechai decided to seek shelter with them. At first, the Streckers had difficulty recognizing Mordechai in his haggard state. They took him in and hid him in the attic of one of their barns. He was kept so secret that even Helena was only told of his presence seven months after his arrival. Mordechai never left the barn, though he did come down from the attic every day. Rozalia brought him food and took away his waste bucket every day. He was not given new clothes, however, because the Streckers feared discovery, especially when an SS officer, who was a relative of the Streckers, came to visit. The greatest discomfort Mordechai experienced in the Streckers’ barn was boredom. He was grateful when they gave him potatoes to cut up into chunks for the livestock. At some point, theyfurnished him with a blank ledger and some pencils, and he wrote down a testimony of his experiences from 1939 until the spring of 1944, when the Streckers were forced to relocate to Kraków with the other Volksdeutsche. The house was taken over by the Streckers’ Ukrainian relatives, who refused to keep Mordechai. Mordechai was terrified, not knowing where to go next, having spent almost 300 days in hiding at the Streckers. In his diary, he wrote: "I am very afraid of the Ukrainian. I am not completing this chapter. It happens to be chapter 18, which with G-d's help, may be CHAI [he Hebrew number 18, meaning "life"]." He spent several days hiding in a different house, and then found his way to Lwów, where he stayed until liberation. In 1947, Mordechai married Ruth Baumwald in Kraków, moved to Antwerp, where his daughter Shulamith was born, and then immigrated to the US. Mordechai kept in touch with the Streckers through the years, sending them letters and gifts, and even continuing his correspondence with Helena when her parents passed away. After his death in 1993, Mordechai's diary remained with his family until April 2006, when Rozalia’s grandson Stanisław contacted Shulamith with the proposal of submitting the story of Mordechai’s rescue to Yad Vashem. Shulamith used the diary to testify on behalf of her late father. On February 18, 2007, Yad Vashem recognized Józef and Rozalia Strecker as Righteous Among the Nations.