Władysława Krysiewicz - Instytut Pileckiego
Władysława Krysiewicz was commemorated by the Pilecki Institute on 6 October 2019 in Waniewo.
She lived with her husband Stanisław and five little children in the village of Waniewo. The family lived a simple life, they ran a farm. November 1942, the month when the ghetto in nearby Sokoły was liquidated, brought tragic consequences also for the Krysiewicz family. One night, several Jewish escapees knocked on their window. Władysława’s husband decided to help and sheltered them in the barn. Eight people spent almost a year in two holes under the barn which were connected by a tunnel. On 8 September 1943, German gendarmes from the station in Tykocin entered the Krysiewicz farmstead. Stanisław was severely beaten and shot dead on the spot. The barn was set on fire and the fleeing Jews were also shot on site. Władysława was arrested and taken to the station in Tykocin. She had a chance to escape, but chose not to – she believed that the Germans would let her return to her children, who survived and were in the care of the neighbors. However, this didn’t come to pass. Władysława was brutally interrogated and murdered two days later.
In 1994, she was awarded the Righteous Among the Nations title.