Józef Kotowski - Instytut Pileckiego
Józef Kotowski was commemorated by Pilecki Institute on 4 June 2020 in Sterdyń.
He lived with his wife Ewa, their sons Czesław, Stanisław and Kazimierz, and their daughters Stanisława and Anna at a colony in Paulinów. The family had its own farmland, which they all worked together to keep. The main work was performed by the sons Czesław and Stanisław, because Józef had been suffering from paralysis of the arm and leg since 1931. He had previously played the accordion and had passed on his love for music to all of his children. Czesław and Stanisław played the violin and the accordion, and even earned extra money as musicians. When the war broke out and the German occupation began, the Jewish population faced persecution. Following the liquidation of the ghetto in Sterdyń in autumn 1942, a vast number of Jews went into hiding in the forests near Paulinów. The local residents went out to give them help. The Kotowskis gave them food first and foremost, as well as shelter. On 24 February 1943, during a raid organized by the Germans, soldiers appeared at Józef and Ewa’s house in the company of an unknown spy who had once come to the Kotowskis to ask for help with other local Jews. After the interrogations and the search, which Stanisław personally witnessed, Józef and his wife Ewa were shot. The Germans then took all the money that Czesław and Stanisław had earned with their music.