Zofia Krasuska - Instytut Pileckiego
Zofia Krasuska was commemorated by Pilecki Institute on 19 June 2020 in Tworki.
She lived in the village of Tworki near Siedlce with her husband Leon and their six-year-old son Feliks, whom they called Boguś. The family owned farmland near the forest and worked the land. During the German occupation, the Krasuskis helped six or seven young Jewish men. There are various theories as to where these people came from. They may have escaped from the ghetto in Siedlce, or they may have been hiding in the forest after fleeing a transport to Treblinka. At first, in summer 1942, they came only to ask for food, but, when autumn came, Leon prepared a shelter for them in a free-standing root cellar. The Krasuskis decided to hide the men on their property despite the threat of death and with the full knowledge of the risk they were running. The winter was very harsh. On 13 February 1943, German officers from nearby Łuków arrived in Tworki. They made their way to the Krasuskis’ home and began to search. They found the hiding place because one of the Jews had left his shoes outside the entrance to the cellar. While the Germans pulled the men out into the open, Leon hid in the barn and then escaped into the forest. Zofia was shot in her own yard along with her son Boguś and the Jews. All of them had first faced a brutal beating.