Jaworowski Józef

Jaworowski, Józef Moshe Lewinski, married and a father of two, was a merchant living in Zambrów, Poland, when the war broke out. In the first summer of the occupation, several Aktionen (mass executions) were held in the town, and Moshe’s two daughters, aged 15 and 16, were killed. Then a ghetto was established, and all the Jews were ordered to move there. The ghetto survived only about a year before being liquidated in November 1942. For the next two months, the surviving Jews, including the Lewinskis, were placed in a family camp outside the town. When the Germans decided to liquidate the camp as well, they sent the inmates to Auschwitz to be killed. The Jews were transported to the faraway train station at night using carts expropriated from local farmers. According to Moshe Lewinski’s testimony, escape from the carts was possible yet hopeless, as there was absolutely nowhere to run. The nights were freezing cold. Some of the cart owners knew Lewinski from before the war. They offered to try and help him escape. He passed the offer on to his family members, but they were all exhausted, cold, and despairing, and they refused to escape with him. When he saw what was happening at the station, he decided to abandon his family and seek refuge in one of the villages nearby. After a long and unsuccessful journey through a number of villages, Moshe arrived in Głodowo, on the doorstep of Józef Jaworowski’s house. He hid in the barn, but the dog started barking, which brought out the owner. Jaworowski embraced Moshe and said, “God brought you here. When you tried to come to me several months ago, I could not take you in, for there were too many of you. You alone I can shelter.” The Jaworowskis were a family of seven. Initially, Józef did not tell his wife he was hiding a Jew, letting only two of his five children in on the secret. They helped bring food to Lewinski’s hiding place. Moshe was ill, and Józef tried to heal him. When he eventually despaired and toldhis wife that Moshe was a Jew, she ran away from the village in fear, leaving Lewinski feeling quite awkward while Jaworowski consoled him. She later came back and made her peace with Moshe’s presence. Moshe Lewinski stayed in the Jaworowskis’ yard for 20 months, until the liberation. After the war he went to Israel but did not forget his rescuer and stayed in touch with him. On November 2, 2011, Yad Vashem recognized Józef Jaworowski as Righteous Among the Nations.