On 6 December 1942, in Stary Ciepielów and Rekówka, German gendarmes committed a terrible crime. They murdered Poles for helping Jews killing even small children.
In many parts of the world, as well as in Poland, 6 December is celebrated as St. Nicholas Day. This is when the kids can look forward to gifts from their parents, given to the children by the Bishop of Myra himself.
Tragically, that beautiful day in 1942 in Stary Ciepielów and Rekówka (villages in central Poland today) turned into a nightmare. Early in the morning, German gendarmes surrounded the houses of the Kowalski, Obuchiewicz and Kosior families. In the houses, in addition to adults, there were also teenagers and small children.
From 15 October 1941, a draconian law was in force in the German-occupied Polish territories. Helping Jews was punishable by death. The Germans had not introduced such drastic legal measures anywhere else.
German Nazis found two Jews on the Kosior farm and murdered them. They then proceeded to those people who had helped the Jews. They led the Kosior family into the barn and shot the couple, as well as their six children aged between 6 and 18. Then they set fire to the barn. One of the Kosiors’ sons ran out but the German gendarmes shot him down and threw his body into the burning barn.
After killing the Kosiors, the occupiers dealt with another two families. Kowalski family and their five children, aged between 1 and 16, and the Obuchiewicz family and their four offspring, aged between 7 months and 6 years, were also murdered. The Germans also set fire to the buildings and left the injured children unconscious to prolong their agony in the middle of the smouldering fire.
On the same day, in nearby Rekówka, the Germans committed another crime. Upon arriving in this village, they raided the houses of the Kosiors, related to the Kosiors from Stary Ciepielów, and the Skoczylas family. Conducting a search, they found evidence of hiding Jews. They murdered three adults and six children, aged between 2 and 12.
The Germans ordered the village inhabitants to dig pits next to the pacified houses and bury the victims of their crime there. After the Second World War, the remains of the murdered were exhumed and buried in the cemetery in the mass grave of German victims in Stary Ciepielów.
The cruel crime was intended to intimidate the local population. The perpetrators of these horrific acts were not sentenced after the end of the Second World War. The film „The Kowalskis’ story” (Historia Kowalskich) was made about the Poles murdered in Stary Ciepielów for helping Jews.