Biecz
Commemorated
Called by Name
- Józef Pruchniewicz
Jews who received help
- Jehuda Leib Blum
- Reizel Blum (after the war Shoshana Sheinman)
- Trana Blum
- Mosze Kuflik
A poster for death
For sixteen months, the Germans patrolling the railway bridge in Biecz did not realize that Jews were hiding nearby. Józef and Maria Pruchniewicz organized a hiding place in the attic of their stable, which the Blum family – a married couple with two children, friends of the Pruchniewiczs – occupied from August 1942.
The risk was increasing, so in November 1943 the Blums moved to another location. Nevertheless, the Germans came for Józef Pruchniewicz in March 1944. They beat him in front of his wife and ten-year-old daughter Helena, and finally took him to the Gestapo post in Jasło. The family found out about his death from a German poster with a list of executed prisoners. Józef probably died during an execution in a forest near Jasło.
Three people from the Blum family survived the war. After moving to lsrael, they kept in touch with Józef’s second daughter, Jadwiga Wędrychowicz.
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A friend warned JÓZEF PRUCHNIEWICZ (pictured) of being arrested shortly before the arrival of the Germans. Józef decided to remain so as not to put his family at risk.
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Murdered JÓZEF PRUCHNIEWICZ with his wife MARIA, wedding photo.
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HELENA PRUCHNIEWICZ (center) and JADWIGA WĘDRYCHOWICZ (lef), daughters of the murdered JÓZEF PRUCHNIEWICZ, as well as Jadwiga’s husband JAN WĘDRYCHOWICZ and their children.
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The commemoration in Biecz, 23 October 2020.
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The commemoration in Biecz, 23 October 2020.
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The commemoration in Biecz, 23 October 2020.
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The commemoration in Biecz, 23 October 2020.
