pl

Wierzchowisko

Commemorated

Called by Name

  • Franciszka Sowa
  • Józef Sowa

Jews who received help

  • Marian Cukrowski
  • Henryk (Hersz) Cukrowski
  • the wife of Hersz Cukrowski, unknown by name
  • a woman by the name of Pola
  • a man by the name of Leon
  • and about ten people unknown by name and surname

The home that became a grave

Józef and Franciszka Sowa lived with their five children in the village of Wierzchowisko. In the summer of 1942, Józef built an underground hiding place in the cowshed for the Jews whom he helped to escape the Częstochowa ghetto. He worked there as a Carpenter and had a pass. It also happened that partisans similarly found shelter with the Sowas.

Just before dawn on 1 September 1943, the Germans entered the farm. Franciszka, who was pregnant, tried to run away with the youngest children. She saved two of her daughters, but was caught herself. The Germans found the Jews and put them under the trees along with Józef and Franciszka. Then they shot them all in front of the children.

The gendarmes ordered the bodies of the victims to be buried and set ostrówthe farm on fire. There was never any exhumation. To this day, the victims still remain at the scene of the crime.