In the autumn of 1942, during the liquidation of the ghettos in Biłgoraj, Tarnogród and Józefów, some Jews managed to escape and find shelter in the surrounding forests and abandoned buildings. On 29 December 1942, the German policemen carried out a retaliatory action in the village of Majdan Nowy, murdering both the Jews and their Polish helpers. The Germans seized the property of the murdered and set numerous buildings on fire.

The Jewish victims of the German operation were the Feil family of three, who received support from the Kowals living in Majdan Nowy, as well as Ita Becher, a teenage girl who received assistance not only from the residents of Majdan Nowy, but also from the inhabitants of Stary Lipowiec, which was situated on the other side of the forest. Towards the end of 1942, Ita Becher was arrested, and the German functionaries used bestial torture to force her to name her helpers.

Jan Gniduła, Katarzyna Kowal, Józef Kowal, Marianna Łubiarz, Anastazja Łubiarz, Katarzyna Margol and Kazimierz Szabat were brutally interrogated, and next shot for helping the Jewish fugitives.

Katarzyna Kowal was commemorated by the Pilecki Institute on 29 September 2022 in Majdan Nowy, click here to read about it.