Szymon Fołta
Over 11 hectares of land cultivated in Jankowice near Jarosław by Szymon Fołta and Maria Fołta were enough to feed four of their children (the other three had already started their families and did not live with parents) and additionally 5 people of Jewish origin they had known from before the war. Their shelter in Jankowice was discovered and 6 persons, including Szymon, died.
During the day, Jeremiah Nadel, his wife Necha Nadel, their 7-year-old daughter Mila, Necha’s sister – Regina Amada – and Necha’s brother (who changed hiding places very often), hid in straw in the attic of a stable. They left the stable only at night. Dora Ring, also known as “Doncia”, a friend of Maria’s, was hiding behind a wardrobe in the house. Probably because of the Jews’ carelessness German officers and the Navy-Blue Police from Jarosław found their shelter in Fołta’s house. On the 25th of March 1944 a detailed search was ordered. Peasants were ordered to search the village and shoot into all the haystacks. One of the persons who was hiding in a haystack groaned after being shot and then everyone knew that people were hiding in the haystacks. All five members of the Jewish family were shot dead together with Szymon. His daughter Aleksandra was the witness of this scene. The girl and the rest of the family hid in the crops. According to some sources, they came back to their house after three days.
When the information about their host’s death spread in Jankowice, two Jews ran away from Tomasz Blok’s farm out of fear of execution. They had escaped from the Warsaw ghetto and took up false names. Tomasz employed them as farmhands. One of them knew several languages. Both of them came back after two days and managed to survive this difficult time of the war.
Maria and Szymon Fołta together with their daughter Aleksandra Sawa were awarded the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta by the President of the Republic of Poland – Lech Kaczyński.
Bibliografia:
2. Bielawski W., 1981, Zbrodnie na Polakach dokonane przez hitlerowców za pomoc udzielaną Żydom, Warszawa, p. 25.
3. Datner S., 1968, Las sprawiedliwych. Karta z dziejów ratownictwa Żydów w okupowanej Polsce, Warszawa, p. 106-107.
4. Rączy E., Witowicz I. (Ed.), 2011, Poles rescuing Jews in the Rzeszów Region in the years 1939–1945, Rzeszów, p. 205.
5. Walczak R. (Ed.), 1997, Those Who Helped. Polish Rescuers of Jews During the Holocaust, part 3, Warszawa, p. 66.
6. Wroński S., Zwolak M., 1971, Polacy-Żydzi 1939–1945, Warszawa, p. 435.
7. Zajączkowski W., 1988, Martyrs of Charity, Washington D.C., p. 157.
8. http://www.sprawiedliwi.org.pl/pl/family/394,rodzina-foltow/ (16.04.2015).
9. http://www.sprawiedliwi.org.pl/pl/family/394,rodzina-foltow/article=676%2Cwiecej-o-rodzinie-foltow (16.04.2015).
10. http://www.nowiny24.pl/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110127/RZESZOW/348070914 (16.04.2015).
11. www.straty.pl (16.04.2015).
Uwagi:
- Poles rescuing Jews in the Rzeszów Region in the years 1939-1945 / Ed. Elżbieta Rączy, Igor Witowicz; [initial texts by Elżbieta Rączy; translated by Stefan Bińczycki]. Rzeszów: The Institute of National Remembrance – Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation. According to Rzeszów division 2011 p. 205 German and Ukrainian officers searched the house of the Fołta family.
- In Datner S., 1968, Las sprawiedliwych. Karta z dziejów ratownictwa Żydów w okupowanej Polsce, Warszawa, p. 106-107, Zajączkowski W., 1988, Martyrs of Charity, Washington D.C., p. 157 and Bielawski W., 1981, Zbrodnie na Polakach dokonane przez hitlerowców za pomoc udzielaną Żydom, Warszawa, p. 25 there appears the name “Jeremiasz”.
