Heroes of the Holocaust: Julian Bilecki

In June of 1943 nearly all the 3,000 members of the Jewish community of Podhajce, Poland had been murdered by the SS Einsatzgruppen. The only exception was the 23 Jews who now found themselves at the Bilecki farm.

The men of the Bilecki family, along with the male members of the group of Jews that were seeking refuge from the Nazis, determined their best hope for survival would be to build a shelter in a cave in the woods nearby.

The shelter in the cave was discovered very early on, leading to a need for a new more discreet shelter that was built even closer to the Bilecki farm. As winter set in, a new fear was soon realized, how to get supplies to the refugees without leaving a trail of footprints in the snow. The answer came to the young son of the Bilecki family; Julian Bilecki would leap from tree to tree while carrying supplies for the people in hiding.

The Bilecki family, spurred on by Julian, would keep the Jews hiding near their home fed, clothed, and hidden from the Einsatzgruppen death squads patrolling the region. One survivor was quoted as saying “they gave us food to eat, food for the soul, and hope to survive”…”they deprived themselves…the risked their lives”.

Genia Melzer, 17 years old at the time, survived a mass shooting by feigning death and escaping after being thrown into a mass grave. She was discovered by Julian Bilecki in the woods, covered in blood and barely clinging to life; Bilecki took her in and hid her away from the Nazis with the rest of their stowaways. Every single member of her family was killed by the Einsatzgruppen, with the help of Julian Bilecki she would survive to the end of the war.

The 23 Jews hiding near the Bilecki farm would survive for almost a whole year living underground with the assistance of Julian Bilecki and the Bilecki family. The region would be liberated by the Soviet Red Army in March of 1944 and with that liberation the people hiding underground near the Bilecki farm would disperse across the globe.

When Julian Bilecki was reunited 50 years later with a group of the people that he helped to survive he told them…”I never thought I would see you again…All I did was help…It is very pleasant that people remember”. For the aid and comfort that Julian Bilecki offered to those in need, Yad Vashem honored his as being Righteous among the Nations, an honor bestowed on non-Jews who risked their lives by assisting those doomed to destruction during the Holocaust.

Copyright© 2012 R. Bertz; all rights reserved.

http://www.shoah.dk/Courage/Bilecki.htm