Leonard Bartlakowski

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Leonard Bartlakowski (born August 31, 1916 in Berlin ; † January 1, 1953 there ) was a German rescuer of the Jews. He is recognized as Righteous Among the Nations by the Yad Vashem Memorial .

Life and activity

Bartlakowski was born as the son of a Polish immigrant family naturalized in Germany. As a member of the German air force, he "deserted" while his air force unit was deployed in the bombing of Warsaw in September 1939 by parachuting during the flight. He then fought his way to Lwów in disguise , where he was interned by the Russians.

After his desertion, Barlakowski was classified as an enemy of the state by the police forces of Nazi Germany. In the spring of 1940, the Reich Main Security Office in Berlin - which mistakenly suspected him to be in Great Britain - put him on the special wanted list GB , a list of people who the Nazi surveillance apparatus considered particularly dangerous or important, which is why they should be in the event of a successful invasion and occupation of the British Isles should be located and arrested by the Wehrmacht by the special SS commandos following the occupation forces with special priority.

After the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, the city of Lwów was captured by the German Wehrmacht and the political prisoners, including Barlakowski, were freed. At that time he had adopted the pseudonym Robert Krysinski and was employed as a translator in the nearby Rawa-Ruska for the local Gestapo . There he met Abraham Weidenfeld when he and a German soldier were guarding Jews waiting for bread. When Bartlakowski / Krysinski came to Weidenfels pharmacy the following day to get razor blades, Weidenfeld tried to win him over by giving him a pack, whereupon a friendship developed between the two.

Rawa-Ruska was on the way of the transports with which Polish Jews were brought to the Belzec extermination camp , which was less than 30 kilometers away. Bartlakowski, whose workplace was at the local train station, was in the most favorable place to be informed in good time about upcoming raids and deportations. He passed on his knowledge to Weidenfeld, who then passed the coded information on to various Jewish councils in the area.

One day, Bartlakowski found out that the local Gestapo had received orders from the control center in Lwów to prepare empty cattle wagons for the transport of the Jews from Rawa-Ruska to Belzec. He passed this information on to Weidenfeld, but went into the ghetto himself in disguise at night to warn the residents. He also offered Weidenfeld to accommodate him and his wife at home. However, Weidenfeld, who already had another hiding place, turned down this and instead asked to hide his sister-in-law Romana Kessler and a certain Stephanie Reicher. A few months later, in mid-June 1943, the Weidenfelds joined them. All four hid in Bartlakowski's small apartment until Rawa Ruska was liberated by the Red Army on July 27, 1944. The hiding place was a hole one cubic meter in size dug in the earth under the bed. In order to supply the people he was hiding with food, Bartlakowski had to steal from his workplace at the train station, as he could not acquire sufficient quantities without attracting unwanted attention. Bartlakowski survived a house search by the Gestapo by distracting the officers with alcohol.

After the war , Bartlakowski returned to Germany, where he lived with his mother and sister in Berlin. He died in 1953 of tuberculosis , which he contracted while in Soviet detention in Lwów. The Weidenfelds, who emigrated to Australia , corresponded with him until his death.

On September 4, 1979, Yad Vashem recognized Bartlakowski as Righteous Among the Nations.

literature

  • Israel Gutman / Daniel Fraenkel Jacob Borut: Lexicon of the Righteous Among the Nations: Germans and Austrians , pp. 62–64.
  • Sara Bender / Pearl Weiss: The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations: Austria, Brazil, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey , United States , 2007, pp. 70f.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Entry on Bartlakowski on the special wanted list GB (reproduced on the website of the Imperial War Museum in London) .
personal data
SURNAME Bartlakowski, Leonard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Righteous Among the Nations
DATE OF BIRTH August 31, 1916
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH January 1, 1953
Place of death Berlin