Katarzyna Grochowicz - Instytut Pileckiego

Called by name / The commemorated

Katarzyna Grochowicz

Commemorated in 2020.

Katarzyna Grochowicz was commemorated by Pilecki Institute on 8 October 2020 in Stary Lipowiec.

She was the sister of Wojciech Kusiak and, like him, she lived in Stary Lipowiec near Biłgoraj. Nothing is known about whether she was directly involved in helping Jews, but she became a victim of the ruthless occupation law that sentenced to death any Pole who dared to support these brutally persecuted people. On 5 January 1943, Katarzyna went to her brother to borrow laundry soap. On that day, after a Jewish woman who had been hiding at the Kusiak house pointed out to where the building was located, German gendarmes made their way to the property. First, they plundered and then set fire to the buildings. The host was not there at the time – he had gone with his son Józef to borrow a bread pan. Katarzyna hid in the straw in one of the unfinished rooms. She was burned alive with six other people, including the captured Jewish woman. Her remains were identified by her husband, Jan Grochowicz, on the basis of the hairpin that his wife had in her hair on the day of her death.

Katarzyna Grochowicz was commemorated by Pilecki Institute on 8 October 2020 in Stary Lipowiec, click here to read about it.