A Catholic Polish buggy-maker joined at a seder here this weekend with the family of one of the 31 Jews he saved from the Gestapo in occupied Poland for two years, by hiding them in his home. Some of the Jews greeted the man, Staszek Jackow, 54, with hugs and kisses when he arrived at Kennedy Airport.
He came from Buenos Aires, where he had been feted by one of the Jews he saved. Jerry Spiegel, of New York, one of those he saved, said the group was making efforts to get a permanent visa for the Polish hero and to bring his wife and three sons from Warsaw, because he had told some of his Jewish friends he would like to live in American.
The saga began in June 1942, when the German invaders began to liquidate the ghetto in Stanislaw. Mrs. Mina Zimmerman, of Montreal, recalled that rumors swept the ghetto that, if any Jews could get to Jackow’s house, he would try to conceal them. Eventually 31 did so. A baby was born during the two years, making it 32. They lived in the basement, with food provided by a nearby manager of a flour mill, who was also risking his life.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
