Władysława Nagórka z d. Lech (1895—1981) - Instytut Pileckiego

Medal Virtus et Fraternitas / Recipients

Władysława Nagórka z d. Lech (1895—1981)

Awarded in 2019.

Antoni and Władysława Nagórka lived at the edge of the town. Before the war, Antoni worked for the railways, and Władysława was a housewife. During the war they saved five Jews from the Holocaust.

Before the war, the population of Otwock near Warsaw — a town famous for its health resorts – numbered over 10,000 Jews. September 1939 brought an end to their community, which had been developing since the 19th century. During the German occupation, they were in danger of persecution and deportation. In 1940 the Germans separated Jews and Poles, who used to live side by side. The Jews from Otwock and its environs were resettled in a newly-established ghetto. During the liquidation operation of 1942, thousands of them were murdered or sent to the extermination camp in Treblinka.

Antoni and Władysława Nagórka lived at the edge of the town. Before the war, Antoni worked for the railways, and Władysława was a housewife. During the war they saved five Jews from the Holocaust. One of them was Benjamin Krochmalik. It is likely that they had known each other before the war — Krochmalik used to be a barber in nearby Kołbiela. In August 1942, while he was returning from work outside the ghetto, Władysława warned him that he might be arrested and deported. She offered him shelter. Hidden in Antoni and Władysława’s house, Benjamin survived the occupation. After the war he settled with his family in Australia, but in 1973 he started visiting the Nagórkas every year.

See also

  • Erzsébet Szápáry (1902-1980) Antal Szápáry (1905-1972)

    awarded

    Erzsébet Szápáry (1902-1980) Antal Szápáry (1905-1972)

    Erzsébet and Antal Szápáry came from a famous family of Hungarian aristocrats. Their mother, Maria Przeździecka, was a Pole, and this fact had a bearing on their involvement in relief activities for Polish refugees after 1939.

  • Petro Bazeluk (1903–1949)

    awarded

    Petro Bazeluk (1903–1949)

    Mykola Bazeluk said that there was no difference between who was a Pole and who was a Ukrainian in Volhynia before the war. That all changed in 1943, when, as he put it, “Brother turned on brother.”

  • Pedro Correia Marques

    awarded

    Pedro Correia Marques
    (1890–1972)

    It began with penning short articles and tidying the editorial office of the “Rosário” monthly, where he had been working since 1909. By the late 1930s, Pedro Correia Marques headed “A Voz,” the most widely read daily newspaper in Portugal.