Chmielnik

Without pardon

Maria (Marianna) Stradowska, her son Wacław and her daughters Matylda and Kazimiera all lived in Chmielnik. Maria was a widow; her husband Adam had died before the war.

The Stradowskis took in five Jews who managed to avoid deportation to a death camp after the liquidation of the ghetto in Chmielnik. They hid them in one of the rooms, which the Jews left only at night.

In the late evening of 31 January 1943, following a denunciation, German gendarmes from the station in Chmielnik arrived at the Stradowskis household. During a search of the premises they discovered the hideout and immediately proceeded to shoot the Jews who were hiding there. Maria and her teenage children managed to escape just in time. They hid in the nearby farm buildings, where they stayed throughout the execution. Later Maria and her daughters went back home, while Wacław remained in hiding. After a few days Maria and Wacław were arrested by the Germans. The court sentenced them to death. They were denied pardon. The sentence was carried out on 23 December 1943.

The bodies of the murdered Jews were moved to the Jewish cemetery in Chmielnik. The burial site of their Polish helpers remains unknown to this day.