Jerzy bielecki biography of williams

Jerzy Bielecki was 19 years old, Roman Catholic and suspected of being a member of the Polish resistance when he was arrested by the Nazis in June 1940 and transported to Auschwitz, where the number 243 was tattooed on his arm.

Nearly three years later, Cyla Cybulska, her parents, her two brothers and her younger sister were crammed into a train with thousands of other Polish Jews and shipped to Auschwitz. Only Cyla — No. 29558 — would survive. Because of Mr. Bielecki.

Theirs was a tale of love and courage that would continue to resonate despite the nearly 40 years during which they were separated, both believing the other had died.

For his daring rescue of that one Jewish woman, Mr. Bielecki was recognized in 1985 as one of the so-called righteous gentiles by Yad Vashem, Israel’s center for Holocaust research and education. He died Thursday at 90 in Nowy Targ, Poland, said Stanlee Stahl, executive vice president of the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous, which assists non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews.


Mr. Bielecki — known as Jurek — was in forced labor in a grain warehouse at the concentration camp when several young women were herded through the door in the fall of 1943. “It seemed to me that one of them, a pretty dark-haired one, winked at me,” he told The Associated Press last year. “It was Cyla, who had just been assigned to repair grain sacks.”

Over the next eight months, although able to exchange only a few furtive words each day, they fell in love. Mr. Bielecki began planning their escape. Aided by a fellow inmate working in a uniform warehouse, he began piecing together an SS guard’s uniform. He obtained a stolen pass and a forged document authorizing the purported guard to take a prisoner to work at a nearby farm.

On July 21, 1944, Mr. Bielecki led Ms. Cybulska out of her barrack and onto a long path leading to a side gate where a sleepy guard said, “Ja” — yes — and let them pass. Hiding in the fields during the day, they walked

Extraordinary story of the brave Auschwitz prisoner who escaped with his girlfriend by dressing as an S.S. officer... before reuniting four decades later

  • Jerzy Bielecki escaped from Auschwitz with Jewish girlfriend Cyla Cybulska
  • He secretly got complete S.S. uniform and pass to help them escape in 1944
  • German-speaking Polish inmate reunited with her in 1983 after decades apart
  • Ms Cybulska moved to New York but they met up thanks to a Polish cleaner
  • When they reunited he brought 39 red roses for each year they spent apart

By MARK DUELL
Updated:


This Catholic man holds one of the most incredible concentration camp escape stories of World War Two, after he sneaked his Jewish girlfriend out of Auschwitz in 1944 by dressing up as an S.S. officer.

But it took Jerzy Bielecki, a German-speaking Polish inmate at the same Nazi death camp, 39 years to be reunited with Cyla Cybulska after a chance conversation she had with her cleaner in the 1980s.

On Thursday Mr Bielecki - who was brought to Auschwitz aged just 19 on the false suspicion he was a resistance fighter - died peacefully in his sleep at his home in Nowy Targ, Poland, aged 90.

Amazing story: Jerzy Bielecki, left, a Polish inmate who led his Jewish girlfriend Cyla Cybulska, right, out of Auschwitz in 1944, before they were later reunited 39 years on, died on Thursday aged 90

Mr Bielecki was 19 when the Germans seized him and brought him to the notorious Auschwitz in April 1940 in the first transport of inmates, who were all Poles. He was given number 243.

In July 1944 the 23-year-old Bielecki used his relatively privileged position at the concentration camp to orchestrate a daring escape for both of them.

Ms Cybulska, her parents, two brothers and a younger sister were rounded up in January 1943 in the Lomza ghetto in northern Poland and taken to Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Her parents and sister were immediately killed in the gas chambers, but she was sent to work with her brothers. By September, 2

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Displaying 9,551–9,600 of 13,369 matches for Search Within Collection: 42789

  • 9551. Bialowitz, Philip

  • 9552. Biberkraut, Wolf

  • 9553. Biberstein, Hanna

  • 9554. Bibring, Harry

  • 9555. Bichler, Avrum

  • 9556. Bickel, Henry

  • 9557. Bičkus, Ildefonsas

  • 9558. Biderman, Abraham Hersz

  • 9559. Biderman, Helen

  • 9560. Biderman, Max

  • 9561. Biderman, Mirla

  • 9562. Bidvienė, Konstancija

  • 9563. Biegun, Miriam

  • 9564. Biegun, Samuel

  • 9565. Bielecki, Jerzy

  • 9566. Bielski, Sonia Boldo

  • 9567. Bielsky-Bell, Lillian

  • 9568. Bienstock, Rose

  • 9569. Biercatz, Dorothy

  • 9570. Biernacka, Wanda

  • 9571. Jonas, Andrzej

  • 9572. Biezunski, Shlomo

  • 9573. Bigger, Roy

  • 9574. Biggers, John

  • 9575. Bigus, Gary

  • 9576. Bijavica, Alija

  • 9577. Bikales, Gerda

  • 9578. Bikales, Gerda

  • 9579. Bikales, Norbert

  • 9580. Bild, Anton

  • 9581. Bilevičius, Feliksas

  • 9582. Bilinska-Jasphy, Pola

  • 9583. Billys, Henry

  • 9584. Billys, Sophie

  • 9585. Korman, Millie

  • 9586. Bindelglas, Erna

  • 9587. Binder, Irwin

  • 9588. Binder, Janine

  • 9589. Binenshtok, Josef

  • 9590. Binke, Szymon

  • 9591. Binstock, Leah

  • 9592. Binstock, Lili

  • 9593. Bintzer, William W

  • 9594. Birch, Louise

  • 9595. Birch, Louise

  • 9596. Bird, James R

  • 9597. Biren, Paula S

  • 9598. Birenbach, Orna

  • 9599. Birenbaum, Rose

  • 9600. Birenbaum, Sally

List of victims and survivors of Auschwitz

Name # Born Died Age Ethnicity Imprisoned Notability Tova FriedmanA27633 September 10, 1938Alive 86 Jewish Friedman is among the youngest people to survive the Nazi HolocaustHelen LewisJune 22, 1916December 31, 200993 Jewish May 1944
– January 1945 Dancer who trained in Prague. Left Auschwitz on a forced march to Stutthof concentration camp in January 1945.Anna Eilenberg-EibeshitzNovember 5, 1923101 Jewish Author Władysław Bartoszewski4427 February 19, 1922April 24, 201593 Polish September 22, 1940
– April 8, 1941 Member of Armia Krajowa. Released from camp due to actions by Polish Red Cross. Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland (twice) after 1989. Tadeusz BorowskiNovember 12, 1922July 1, 195128 Polish 1943–late 1944 Writer. Transferred to Natzweiler-Struthof, then to Dachau concentration camp; committed suicide after the war. George BradyFebruary 9, 1928January 11, 2019 97 Jewish October 23, 1944
– January 18, 1945 Plumber. Sent on the death march; escaped when a Soviet tank blew a hole in the building he was in. His mother, father and sister Hana were gassed at the camp. Boris BraunAugust 20, 1920January 11, 2019104 Jewish 1943
– January 17, 1945 University professor. His mother and father were killed during the Holocaust. Sent on the death march. Yehuda BaconJuly 28, 1929Alive 95 Jewish December 1943
– January 18, 1945 Artist. Sent on the death march. His father was gassed in June 1944; his mother and his sister Hanna were deported to Stutthof concentration camp, where they died a few weeks before its liberation. Anton KorêkMarch 29, 1927Alive 97 Jewish October 1943
– January, 1945 Carpenter. His brother was gassed in December 1943. His parents were tortured to death during the Holocaust.&#
  • Jerzy Bielecki was 19 years old,
  • Mr Bielecki was 19