Kotowski Władysław & Kotowska Maria (Dulkowska)

Kotowski, Władysław Kotowska, Maria Reuven Bernholz was born in 1931, and his brother, Berl, was born in 1935, both in Kupiczów (modern Ukraine). Their father, Aharon, was a timber merchant, so they had a happy and prosperous childhood. Through his work their father made friends with Władysław Kotowski, who lived in a village by the forest Bernholz often visited. When war broke out, the Russians were the first to occupy the area, followed in 1941 by the Nazis. Reuven was 10 and his little brother was 5.5 years old. Their father was taken to a forced labor camp, where he worked until the mass murder of all the local Jews in September 1942. The Nazis accomplished this with the aid of local Ukrainians. During the Aktion (mass execution) the Bernholzes—Aharon and his wife, Paula, and the two boys—escaped from the ghetto and ran to the Kotowskis for shelter. Maria and Wladyslaw accepted them. In 1943, Aharon was murdered by a Ukrainian. Paula and the boys hid with a group of approximately 20 Jews in the Kotowskis’ barn. Eventually someone reported them, and there was a massive search action against Kotowski. The Ukrainians and Germans even threatened Władysław, but he did not denounce the Jews. Instead, he kept caring for them, giving them food and providing for their other needs until the war ended 22 months later, when the village was destroyed and everyone had to move to Poland until the liberation. After the war the boys and their mother moved to Israel, passing through Cyprus before the Jewish state was established. In 1993 Reuven and Berl (now Ben) went back to Poland to look for the Kotowskis, but they did not find them. In 2011, however, Ben managed to find their descendants. The rescuers’ grandson said his family did not speak of the heroic rescue, although wartime stories were sometimes retold. The Kotowskis spoke of the evils perpetrated by the Nazis and said those events should never be allowed to repeat themselves. On February 14, 2012, YadVashem recognized Władysław and Maria Kotowski as Righteous Among the Nations.