After learning about an upcoming roundup in the Tarnów ghetto, Cesia Honig knew she needed to escape. A local Polish man, Franciszek Mikowski, agreed to hide her for a week in exchange for her family's diamond ring.

After the week was up, Franciszek offered to hide Cesia in his family's small apartment for the rest of the war. Cesia remembers that while Franciszek admitted he had been prejudiced against Jews and had only hidden her for the money, he considered Cesia as a daughter, and his conscience would not allow him to send Cesia back to the ghetto to a certain death.

For the next few years, Franciszek helped protect Cesia, even at risk to himself and his family.
Cesia survived the war and later immigrated to the United States. Franciszek and his wife were recognized as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem in 2014.

Source: US Holocaust Memorial Museum

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