Stanisław and Franciszka Kurpiel were honored with the “Righteous Among the Nations” medal and the Commander’s Crosses of the Order of Polonia Restituta. 78 years ago, near Przemyśl, in the southern part of Poland, a Polish couple was murdered by the Germans for hiding Jews.

During the occupation, Stanisław and Franciszka Kurpiel lived with their six children aged 9 to 20 in the farm that belonged to the Sapieha princes, called Leonczyn (after Leon Sapieha). It was located on a hillside near the forest, between Tarnawce and Krasiczyn. The Kurpiel family made their living by caring about the cattle from the contingents, spent there by the Germans.

At the end of 1942, a Jew, Rubin, who used to work on the farm in the interwar period, asked Kurpiel to hide him together with his wife and two children. The chances of survival in the farm were greater because it was located about 3 km from the nearest village of Tarnawce, so the farmer agreed. After some time, Rubin brought relatives and friends from the Przemyśl ghetto (the Rubins, Rubinfelds, Golingers and Spiegls) – a total of 25 people. The Kurpiels hid them from the Germans for several months. During the day, Jews stayed in two built dugouts – under the house and the stable. They only went out to the forest at night.

Unfortunately, in May 1944, the secret of the family was discovered by a Ukrainian named Madej, who ran a shop attended by the Kurpiels. On May 21, 1944, before dawn, 20 Ukrainian policemen surrounded the farm, finding Jews there. They shot 22 people, including 8 women and four children. Three young Jews managed to escape into the forest.

The Kurpiel family and their farm helpers, two Kochanowicz brothers, were escorted by the Ukrainian policemen in a cart to the police building at Smolki Street in Przemyśl. The Germans decided to free the children and helpers working on the farm, but sentenced Stanisław and Franciszek to death. They were shot in June 1944 just a few weeks before the Red Army entered Przemyśl. The execution took place in the Lipowice forest, together with other Poles sentenced to death. After the war, their bodies were exhumed and buried in a common grave in the Zasański cemetery.

The first person who discovered the history of this heroic family was a parish priest in Krasiczyn, Fr. prelate Stanisław Bartmiński. He published a booklet “In memory of Stanisław and Franciszka Kurpiel”, in which he described the heroism and tragedy of this family.