The execution site of Polish and Jewish people. It is estimated that even 2000 people could have been killed here during the German occupation. The victims are commemorated with a monument, which was erected thanks to the efforts of the Society of Fighters for Freedom and Democracy. The plaque contains the names of the identified Poles who were killed in the cemetery. The cemetery was a witness of mass murders, especially of the Jewish population. The largest of them took place on 29 April 1942, when 300 inhabitants of the Nowy Sącz ghetto were murdered. Numerous sources prove that executions took place there several times a week, almost every day. Some were mass, others – single executions. The cemetery is also where the victims of the bestial operations of the Gestapo in the Nowy Sącz ghetto were buried. And so, in one marked mass grave – the so-called “grave of the 300” (next to the monument commemorating the victims) – 100 people killed on the night from 29 to 30 April 1942 were buried. During the German occupation, there were orders given for the cemetery to be completely devastated. The ohel (the tomb of the tzaddik) was blown up, while the matzevot (headstones) were used by the Germans as construction material. After the war, the efforts of handful of Holocaust survivors allowed for the recovery of matzevot from pavements and other places. They were made into a wall (a sort of an epitaph), some were set back up. The ohel of the tzaddik Halberstam family has also been rebuilt, and today continues to serve thousands of pilgrims coming to Nowy Sącz.

Monument to the Victims of Fascism on Krańcowa Str.

Erected on the execution site of Poles in January 1944. Among the killed there was Mieczyslaw Szurmiak’s son, Wiesław. 9 other people were murdered with him. After the war, the bodies were exhumed and moved to the Old Cemetery. In 1978, on the site of the execution a monument, designed by E. Miśkowiec was built.

Municipal cemetery on Rejtana Str.

Some sources mention the cemetery as an execution site of the Polish and Jewish population. However, most of the testimonies have not been critically verified. Undeniably, a great number of people who died during the German occupation, in result of the policies of Nazi Germany, were buried and commemorated in this cemetery. Among these commemorations worth mentioning is the tomb of the independence underground soldiers, as well as the symbolic grave of the Victims of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp. At the cemetery there also is a tomb of Soviet soldiers, which is connected with the events of January 1945, when many of them died in the fights for the city of Nowy Sącz.

Bank of the Kamienica River

According to testimonies of several witnesses it was also a site of executions of the Jewish and Polish people. This information requires verification and further research. The place is not yet commemorated.

Monument in Biegonice, Zakładników Str.

The execution site of the elites of Nowy Sącz – mainly Poles, although there were also some Jewish people among the victims. Executions took place here between 1939 and 1941. Most of them were preceded by a quick trail and torture, which the prisoners held in Nowy Sącz prison on Pijarska Str. were subjected to. The head of the Gestapo in Nowy Sącz, Heinrich Hamann turned out to be a remarkable tormentor of the victims. The biggest execution in Biegonice took place on 21 August 1941. In it a lot of famous citizens of Nowy Sącz were killed, such as priests of the parish (Deszcz and Kaczmarczyk), painter and social activist Bolesław Barbacki, photographer Bolesław Furmanek and many others. The bodies were buried in mass graves right next to the brick factory. After the war, the corpses were exhumed, and the victims were buried in the Old Cemetery. At the execution site there is a monument commemorating the tragic events of the German occupation period.

Monument in Młodów

Execution site of the people from the Nowy Sącz region, including many inhabitants of tits capital. The Germans carried out brutal murders here in 1943. At that time, many of the people associated with the Home Army in Nawojowa were killed, along with others arrested. On the Independence Day – 11 November 1943 – the people of Nowy Sącz connected with Pennar’s conspired photographic studio at Jagiellońska 4 Str. Were murdered. After the war, the bodies of the victims were exhumed. Apart from the monument in Młodów, the victims’ are commemorated by a grave in the Nawojowa cemetery.

The execution site in Trzetrzewina

On 27 June 27 1940, 93 people were shot in the Trzetrzewina forests – all of them Polish. The crime was carried out exactly on the name day of Władysław Sikorski, as a German’s revenge for his courageous speech. The operation was even given the code name “Generalnamenstag” (“General’s name day”). Among the killed, 15 victims were officers and non-comissioned officers of the Polish Armed Forces, 11 were university or school students, probably members of the “White Eagle” scouting organization. There were also doctors, lawyers, mechanics and engineers among the victims. Citizens of many Polish cities. Several people from the village witnessed the crime from different hiding spots, and for many years it was vividly remembered byt he people living nearby. After the war, exhumations took place in Trzetrzewina – the corpses were moved to the Old Cemetery, to the mausoleum commemorating the Victims of the war from Nowy Sącz. Today there is a monument on the execution site in commemorating the 1940 events in Trzetrzewina.

Ghetto in Nowy Sącz

The Nowy Sącz ghetto was created on 12 August 1940. It was divided into a part for the non-working in the “Hell” (Piekło) District a part for the others in the city center. At the peak moment the Jewish quarter would house over 15 thousand people. The area of the ghetto was the site of many executions and crimes commited on the Jewish population by the Germans. The real terror of the people of the ghetto were the so-called operations, when the Germans would carry out executions, in a more or less organized manner. One of these operations took place on 29 April and it resulted in almost 400 dead. During the trial of the German Nazis who were stationed in Nowy Sącz, a lot of crimes committed against individual Jewish people were proven. The prison warden, Johann Bronholdt and the head of the Gestapo Heinrich Hamann really stood out among others in that respect. Most often the crimes were committed under influence of alcohol, which increased the terror felt in the ghetto. The tragic events are commemorated by a plaque on Franciszkańska Str. (on the house, in which all of the inhabitants were murdered), a plaque on the synagogue (dedicated to the memory of the Jewish Victims of the Holocaust) and a pedestal on the Trzeciego Maja Square.

Meadow over the Dunajec River

The site of the last selection before the liquidation of the ghetto on 23 August 1942 After the Germans ordered all of the Jewish people of Nowy Sącz to gather here (almost 16 000 people), they carried out many acts of terror. During the victims’ march toward the railway station, the weakest were shot, and bestial crimes were committed on children. The witnesses also mention that some people wanted to quench their thirsy by drinking from the river – they were shot on the meadow. All of the people gathered here (except those selected for labor) were gassed in the Bełżec death camp. The place where the liquidation of the Nowy Sącz ghetto began is not yet commemorated.

Prison, Pijarska 1 Str.

In September 1939, the German occupying forces organized an autonomous prison in Nowy Sącz, which operated under their management until 17 January 1945. The prison would hold people from Nowy Sacz, Limanowa, Mszana Dolna, Stary Sącz, Grybów, Muszyna, Krynica and many other cities in the region. The arrested were subjected to brutal torture, which they often did not survive. The most fervent abuser of the prison was its warden, the notorious criminal, Johann Bronholdt. People of all professions would be imprisoned here, from priests and city presidents to beggars and thieves. From Pijarska Street the Germans would transport the people of Nowy Sącz towards execution sites. For many prisoners the address was just a stop on their way to the prison in Kraków or Tarnów, and then to KL Auschwitz and other concentration camps.

Gestapo Headquarters, Czarneckiego 13 Str.

During the German occupation, the place gained grim notoriety, particularly thanks to the head of the Gestapo, Heinrich Hamann. This was where he would brutally torture the interrogated, many of whom did not survive. There were rumors that he and his fellow officers owned a whole set of torture tools. Hamann killed judge Wilhelm Miklaszewski with his own hands, by hitting him with a chair. In 1943, the “executioner of Sądecki region” was replaced by the crime commissioner Hauptsturmfuhrer Wilhelm Raschwitz, who also conducted brutal interrogations here. Today there is a plaque on the building, that commemorates the Victims of the Germans and of the communist security services (after the war the building was also the headquarters of the NKVD).

Monument – mausoleum Pietà of Sącz, Wolności Alley (Old Cemetery)

The monument was unveiled in 1954. It was designed by sculptors, Janina Reichert-Toth and her husband, Fryderyk. This place is a symbolic commemoration of over 20 thousand people of Nowy Sącz of all nationalities and creeds, killed in many places all over the world. They are symbolized by 28 urns, which were built into the base of the monument. They contain soil from the concentration and extermination camps among other places. Along the alley leading to the Pietà there are graves with the bodies exhumed from other execution sites (including Trzetrzewina, Rdziostów and Biegonice).

Monument at the Railway Bank

The first execution site chosen by the Germans. From September 1939, Jewish and Polish people would be killed here. Executions took place under the prison, so that the inmates could hear the gunshots – and think of them as a warning. Due to the increasing number of executions, the occupying forces decided to move them to other parts of the city (Biegonice, Jewish cemetery, Rdziostów).

Monument in Kłodne near Męcina

The Germans carried out a brutal execution here on 12 January 1944. Earlier, the Polish underground movement tried to blow up a German train at the exact same spot. Among the victims there were many citizens of Nowy Sącz. Among others Stanisław Pennar, owner of a photographic studio on Jagiellośka Street, associated with the Polish resistance, was killed. People connected to the fire department and its underground structures have also been murdered here. A total of 31 people were killed – 3 of them were hanged. After the war, the bodies were exhumed and moved to cemeteries (most of them to the Old Cemetery). At present, the place is commemorated by a monument.

The execution site in Rdziostów

The largest mass grave of the people of the Sądecczyzna region from the second World War. Some estimate the number of victims here as up to 2000 people. The Germans executed Polish and Jewish people here between 1940 and 1945, until literally the last day of the war. A particular intensification of the murdering happened in the summer of 1942, when the ghettos were being liquidated in the region. Rdziostów became a collective grave of the Jewish people of Nowy Sącz and Limanowa who were unable to work. In following years the terrorization of the Polish population, who would be executed here, was on the rise. Many members of the intelligentsia were killed here, but not only them. The victims included many residents of Limanowa, of Kamienica and, above all, of Nowy Sącz. In the forests around Rdziostów a mother and daughter from the Stobiecki family were killed. The hroic women did not give up any names during the interrogations. The villagers witnessed the murders, that is why there are many testimonies about the events. After the war, some of the bodies were exhumed, but many still lie in mass graves. There is now a monument at the execution site and a place of remembrance was marked here.

The creation of the first labor camp was connected to the construction of the Rożnów dam. The camp was probably located not far away from it. It existed from 1939 until the end of 1942. Its prisoners were recruited mainly from the Nowy Sącz ghetto, although there were also people from other towns and cities. More than 1000 people went through the camp. Its sanitary, provision and housing conditions were disastrous. From time to time, a selection was made among prisoners, and the sick and weaker ones were shot in the nearby forest. After the Nowy Sącz ghetto was liquidated and the lake was flooded, the gradual liquidation of the camp began. It ceased to exist in December 1942. In 1944–1945 the camp was once again operational, this time the Polish people were held here. They were forced to work on the fortifications.

Labor Camp in Lipie (a monument next to the school complex in Gródek nad Dunajcem)

The camp was located next to the road from Rożnów to Nowy Sącz. It functioned from 1940 to 1943. Most of the prisoners were brought from the nearby ghettos, including the one in Nowy Sącz. The life conditions in the camp were disastrous. The main occupation of the Jewish workers here was the construction of road infrastructure, to improve the connection between Nowy Sącz and the dam. Like in Rożnów camp, more than 1000 went through the camp in Lipie.

Labor Camp in Muszyna, in the vicinity of Piłsudskiego Street

The camp operated based on the pre-war Jewish sawmill of the Żupnik-Segal-Wolf joint venture. It was located between the railway tracks and the Piłsudskiego Street, near the intersection. Jewish people worked in the sawmill until 1941 In that year or in the beginning of the next, the enterprise began changing into a camp. It operated until the end of 1942. The processing of wood was still done by the Jewish workers, mainly those who were considered “productive” during the liquidation of the ghettos in Nowy Sącz, Gorlice and other cities. The terrible conditions in the camp have led many people to try to escape. The local Jewish people knew well that Slovakia and then Hungary were on the other side of the mountains – promising a greater chance of survival. After the camp ceased functioning, the prisoners were transferred to other German facilites.

Labor Camp in Nawojowa (sawmill)

The camp for the Jewish people operated between August 1942 and February 1943. It was created just after the ghetto was liquidated, forcing the Jewish people, who were positively assessed, as “professionals”, during the selection. Among them there were those who had already worked in other camps nearby, for example in Rożnów. They would work processing wood, using the sawmill equipment, and carrying out various road construction works.

Labor Camp in Rytro (former sawmill, location unknown)

The camp was established in February 1942 and operated until February 1944. It was involved in wood processing and based on the sawmill equipment. Around 100 Jewish workers worked there, so it was not a large facility. Compared to other camps, the living conditions in it were not quite as bad, but still far from decent. Most of the prisoners came from other camps. The camp was expanded after the Nowy Sącz ghetto was liquidated and some of the people declared to be “useful” were sent here. After the camp was closed, the prisoners were transported to Mielec. Many of them survived the war.

Labor Camp in Nowy Sącz (in the vicinity of the railway workshops)

During the occupation of Poland, between 1942 and 1944, there was a labor camp here. There were mostly Polish people working in it, around 150, although some studies indicate that there were more. Perhaps groups from prison were brought here. Witnesses’ testimonies do not indicate the existence of barracks. The prisoners worked mainly on railway infrastructure. In total, more than 2 thousand people went through the camp in Nowy Sącz – as J. Kucia claims. During the liquidation of the camp, the Germans have released the prisoners. It was in the autumn of 1944. J. Marszałek lists several camps in the city. In 1940–1941, a camp for 300 prisoners involved in the regulation of watercourses was supposed to operate. In the same period, another camp was set up for the construction of roads. At the end of the war, in 1944–1945, a camp, prisoners of which were involved in building the front fortifications. The last one held only Polish people. Unfortunately, we do not know the locations of these camps.

Labor Camp in Tęgoborze (location not identified)

A camp for the Jewish workers, mainly young boys (up to 25 years old). The camp operated probably in the early 1940s. Many things lead us to believe that eventually the prisoners were transferred to Lipie and Rożnów, where there was more work to be done to create the Rożnów Lake.

Labor camp in Zbyszyce (location not identified)

The camp was linked to the constructions around the Rożnów Lake. The Jewish people from the ghetto and from other camps were sent here. In the opinion of the survivors, there conditions in the camp were good, although the prisoners would also experience hunger. The Jewish workers would be mainly involved in road construction and also in forestry. After the camp was liquidated, the prisoners were taken to other labor facilities or to the Tarnów ghetto.

Labor Camp in Chełmiec (location not identified)

It was a camp for Polish and Jewish prisoners. It was operating from July 1944 to January 1945. Its prisoners were involved in agriculture economy and construction of fortifications. J. Marszałek estimates the number of prisoners to be 250. The camp’s location was not identified

Labor Camp in Florynka (location not identified)

It functioned from 1944 to 1945 Its operations were connected with the front preparations before the expected Red Army offensive – the Germans forced the prisoners to build the fortifications. J. Marszałek believes that all those working in the camp were Polish.

Labor Camp in Łabowa (location not identified)

It functioned from 1940 to 1941. There were only Ukrainians working here, approximately 60 people. The prisoners were involved in road construction.

Labor Camp in Marcinkowice

The Jewish people from Nowy Sącz, brought in from the ghetto, were working here. The prisoners were involved in the reinforcement and construction of railway infrastructure. With the liquidation of the ghetto, the work here stopped.

Labor Camps in Stary Sącz (locations not identified)

The prisoners of the camps built the fortifications between 1944 and 1945. According to J. Marszałek, the number of Poles working here could have reached even 3 000 people.

Labor Camp in Wojnarowa (location not identified)

The operation of the camp was connected with the construction of reinforcements by the local population. Between summer 1944 and January 1945, about 500 Polish people worked here.

Labor Camp in Biała Niżna (location not identified)

The camp operated for a very short time in 1944. There were around 60 Polish prisoners working here on fortifications.

Labor Camp in Grybów (location not identified)

The functioning of the camp was connected to the end of the war – its prisoners built fortifications before the expected Red Army offensive. It was operating between 1944 and 1945 and there were nearly 200 prisoners working in it.

Initially, the border of the Nowy Sącz ghetto was supposed to be a line starting at the Dunajec River (where it is joined by the Żeglarka River) through Romanowskiego Street, the northern side of the Market Square, Wąska Street, and Św. Ducha Street, ending at the Kamienica River. The northern border was to be a bridge on the Tarnowska Steet, and the western one – the meeting point of the Dunajec and Żeglarka rivers. Poles were ordered to leave their homes in the district and move to the city center. The Jesuit college and the Holy Spirit Church were inside the original borders of the ghetto. At the request of the friars, on 8 November 1940,  the Germans have re-drawn them. Eventually, they were made to follow the streets of the pre-war Jewish district. From the north, the ghetto was closed up by the castle, from the south – by the northern side of the Market Square. From the east, the Piotra Skargi street became the border, with the street itself excluded from the ghetto. The Jewish district was separated from the “Aryan city” by a wall, closing up the Franciszkańska Street, the Trzeciego Maja Square. and the entry to the Kazimierza Wielkiego Street. The main gate of the ghetto was located on the corner of the Bóżnicza and Piotra Skargi streets. The second, “unofficial” gate, was located vis-a-vis the Evangelical Church. Through the unofficial most people would go straight to the Gestapo station – and from there one would not return. Pijarska Street, up to the aforementioned church, was not part of the ghetto, because the Germans would come here for service. Along these western border there was a wooden fence (closer to the castle), and a brick wall, closer to the evangelical church.

Ghetto (for the working)

Before the war, the so-called “Hell” (Piekło) was a district of Nowy Sącz, where next to beautiful tenement houses, rickety shacks, crop fields and orchards could be found. A typical shtetl: a small Polish-Jewish town. The borders of this part of the ghetto would go: in the south and in the west along the Kamienica River, in the east along Paderewskiego Street, and in the north along the Zdrojowa and Głowackiego streets. Because there were many orchards and crop fields here, it was scornfully called the “country ghetto”. Small wooden houses, a characteristic element of the pre-war landscape of the Hell District, were not a favorable environment for its inhabitants. Dampness, overpopulation and difficult sanitary conditions would cause numerous diseases and result in a high mortality rate among the population.
From here, from the Gwardyiska 35 Street, the first Jewish citizen of Nowy Sącz, Henryk Kornhasuer, was deported to Auschwitz. He died there after a month, supposedly of “pneumonia”. The ghetto for the working was also affected by the Gestapo operation of April 1942. The victims of this crime were mainly young people who have been living here. The greatest tragedies were seen in the streets. In July 1942, two Gestapo officers, Johan and Edward Stuber murdered Rachel Federgrun, just because she was carrying two chickens for her children’s dinner. In August of the same year at the Lwowska Street, Baruch Berliner (President of the Jewish City Committee) was shot for no reason. The body of another shot person, Helena Hochberger, was lying on the Lwowska Street, just outside of the Judenrat building, for two days. In April 1942, a young Jewish woman, Gusta Breinel, was bestially murdered and later the same would happen to the entire Wienstoc family on the Cicha Street. On one day the Gestapo shot 35 people on Gwardyjska Street, including Solomon Goldberger, before the eyes of his daughters.

Judenrat, Lwowska 17 Str.

It was in this building that the Jewish council, the Judenrat, was located. Judenrat would openly communicate with the occupying forces, often paying for it with their own lives. The institution was established in 1939. In 1942, it was mad up of 25 members of the Jewish elite of the city. The Council would organized the life in the ghetto in accordance with German directives, and was responsible for all matters connected to the functioning of the ghetto. The Judenrat would cooperate with the Joint (American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee) and Jewish Social Self-Help, and supervised the activities of all the Jewish institutions in the city. It played an important role in the day-to-day support of the Jewish people. A huge problem the Judenrat had to deal with was the organized resettlement of people to Nowy Sacz. Accommodation and living costs of the newcomers were to be covered by the Judenrat funds.

Jewish Hospital, Kraszewskiego 44 Str.

The Jewish hospital at Kraszewskiego 44 Street was opened in the middle of the 19th century. After the war broke out, it was closed. The Germans only allowed for it to be re-opened in 1940 One of the most important reasons for the hospital’s crestion was the influx of people into the ghetto. The hospital fund has been set up from social contributions and collections. The Jewish Social Self-Helpfrom Kraków and Joint also donated regularly. Izrael Drilich, an eye specialist, became the first director of the hospital. Izrael Friedman also placed great merit in its creation. The operations of the hospital was impressive, as demonstrated by the number of specialist offices and wards it had. People who were ill or hungry, as well as victims of the German crimes would find help here. The biggest challenge for the health service in the ghetto was the outbreak of the typhus epidemic in winter 1941/1942 During that time, as witnesses reported, the German propaganda posters appeared on the city walls: “Jews, lice, epidemic typhus”. Thanks to the doctors’ dedication, the epidemic has been brought under control. The hospital staff and patients were shot on the day the deportation of the Nowy Sącz ghetto started.

Burz Pharmacy, Lwowska 27 Str.

The pharmacy was owned and run by a non-Jewish pharmacist, Albin Burz. Its employees not only provided life-saving medicine, but also organized people’s escape from the ghetto. He was a member of the Central Welfare Council. Thanks to his efforts, a Jewish pharmacy was opened in the ghetto. It was set up next to the hospital at Kraszewskiego Street. Burz would deliver medicine to the pharmacy for a symbolic fee. At the back of his pharmacy, a large number of first-aid kits was packed for the Jewish people expecting to be deported.

Jewish Self-help, Lwowska 25 Str.

There were many other aid organizations in the ghetto for the working. At Lwowska 25 Street, the Jewish Social Self-help was located. In 1941 it’s president was Izrael Friedman. The Jewish Social Self-Help in Nowy Sącz received food from its central branch in Kraków and from the Joint. The peak of its activities was connected with the Jewish holidays. Social organizations were helping mainly those who worked in the labor camps in Lipie and Rożnów. The organization was overseen by the Judenrat.

Orphanage, Zdrojowa 12 Str.

Thanks to the Jewish Social Self-help and other relief institutions, an orphanage was being run on Zdrojowa Street. In 1941 it helped feed and clothe as many as 400 children. The institution was headed by Leonora Reicher, a teacher.

Judische Ordnungsdienst – the Jewish police, the corner of the Bóżnicza and Piotr Skarga streets

The formation existed from 1941 until the liquidation of the ghetto in August 1942. It was completelly subordinate  to the Germans. It consisted of 24 policemen and an equal number of deputies. All of them were young, under 35 years old The Jewish police actively participated in Gestapo operations, such as the April operation of 1942. The surviving witnesses remembered them as common criminals, who would not hesitate to collaborate with the Germans; moreover, they would often take bribes from the Jews themselves. The commander of the Jewish police was Maks Folkman.

Markus Lustig’s House (the building no longer exists)

During the April operation, the Gestapo officers entered the apartment of the Lustig family. Markus Lustig would reminisce: They went through my room, which I shared with my brother, five years younger than me, and went to our parents. They asked my father what his profession is. He answered he was a bookbinder. They told him to turn away, and shot him in the head. I heard my mother’s scream and the next shot. My sister didn’t survive too – they killed her. They then returned to my room. I was completely covered by a duvet. They shot my brother, but they didn’t notice me. I was lying still for many hours and listening. I felt my brother’s blood on my body. The Gestapo officers, said “good night” in Polish, as they walked out. In the morning he entered his parents’ room. The faces were so disfigured that he did not recognize them. Around him, the feathers from the pillows were floating in the air. The ones that fell down were laying in the puddles of blood.. Markus Lustig buried his family at the cemetery at Rybacka Street, in the grave of the victims, who were shot there a day before

The Memorial Plaque of the Victims of the April Operation, corner of the Franciszkańska and Kazimierza Wielkiego streets

The great tragedy occurred at night after the execution on the cemetery on April 29, 1942. At night, in the house on the corner of the Kazimierza and Franciszkańska streets, the Gestapo murdered all 81 inhabitants of the tenement house: from Neustadt, Miller, Perl and other families. The drunken Gestapo officers came in through the corner door. It was here that Hamann supposedly fatally shot his own deputy. The true scale of the disaster can be found in the description of the ghetto after this terrible night, when a stream of blood was seen flowing from under the door of the building and down the Kazimierza Wielkiego Street.

Jewish cemetery, Rybacka Str.

Many murders have taken place in the cemetery, the one remembered as especially brutal was the April Operation of 29th April 1942. At the time, a mass execution of 300 people took place here. Samuel Kaufer described the crime straightforwardly: “When they arrive in the cemetery, everyone must get undressed over the grave and fold their clothes in order. On command they all lay on the ground facing down. […] The gunshots subside, many are only injured, not everyone was lucky enough to find immediate death. No bullet should be wasted though, they are needed for the next victims. The warm, bleeding bodies are laid in layers, many still with signs of life… 360 bodies are laid in a mass grave, several Ordungstadiensts must trample the corpses with their feet for them to take up less space. The grave is filled with soil, and after a few days the blood pours out of the ground forms a black bloody puddle.”

The Meadow over the Dunajec River

A place connected with the liquidation of the Nowy Sącz ghetto and sealing of the fate of its inhabitants. The Germans ordered the Jews to be gathered here on 23rd August 1942. The Jewish people were lined by house and apartment numbers. The Polish Police and young people from the Baudienst were guarding the group. Around 5 in the morning, Henrich Hamann arrived. He selected a group of people to be sent to labor camps, factories and to clear the ghetto. Around five thousand people marched along the banks of the river to the so-called “Cat Planty” and along the Sienkiewicza Street to the railway station. There they had to get in the cattle train cars. Nearly one hundred people into one car. In such conditions, they were sent to the immediate extermination camp in Bełżec. Subsequent deportations took place on 25th and 28th August. The Jewish people were forced to march to the railway station via another route.

Jewish Track

From here, from 23rd to 28th August 1942, the Jewish people of Nowy Sącz were sent to the death camp in Bełżec n the cattle cars. None of them survived the deportation.

Trzeciego Maja Square

Formerly a market square. During the war, the Jewish people would hang large sheets of paper on the square with the writing “Save us! We are going to our doom.” The message was addressed for the Jesuits, who lived on the other side of the street and saw what was happenning in the ghetto. They provided the Jews with the help they needed. On the Trzeciego Maja square there also was a well with a pump, where the Germans murdered Jewish infants.

School, Kochanowskiego 9 Str.

In August 1942, a selection before the liquidation of the ghetto for the working in the Hell District took place here. As witnesses testified, there have been a lot of people in front of the school, trying to look good, to give the impression that they are still able to work. All those who got positively evaluated were sent to the labor camps, and the rest was relocated to the closed ghetto near the castle, where they would wait to be deported to the death camp in Bełżec.

The Railway Bridge over the Dunajec River

First executions. As M. Bergman reminisces, they took place under the bridge over the Dunajec River. Both Polish and Jewish people died here. Here, the Germans would tie stones to the Jews’ necks and throw them into the river.

The Town Hall Clock – the story of Berta Korenman and Stefan Mazur

Stefan saved his friend from the ghetto when the deportation started. He hid her under the mechanism of the town hall clock. After a few weeks, he led her out of the town hall and together they went east, through Przemyśl to Lvov. They were arrested and sent to work in the Reich. They both survived the war. Then they returned to Poland and settled in Lublin.

The Holocaust Victims Memorial Site.

A monument in the form of a niche, which was unveiled in August 2022, symbolizes the isolation and imprisonment of the Jewish people in the ghetto, their alienation and humiliation, and being closed behind the walls. The height of the monument walls symbolizes the size of the walls surrounding the district. The 30 tables contain 12 000 names of the victims of the Holocaust. Not all of them could have been identified. From the tiny window, symbolizing the windows of the train cars taking the Jews to Bełżec, the area of the former ghetto is visible, and the part where the longest, and at the same time the highest part of the wall separating life from death used to be.

The Jesuit college was partially occupied for military purposes from 15 March 1944 to 18 January 1945.
Three bells were requisitions from the Holy Spirit church in September 1941: “Maria” (600 kg), “Stanislaw” (250 kg) and “Andrzej” (150 kg).
In the home chapel of the college, the bishop of Lublin, Marian Fulman, interned in Nowy Sącz, would secretly ordain Jesuit clerics.
The Jesuit mill provided food to the poorest people of the city, Jewish people closed up in the ghetto and partisan troops.
Friar Józef Jamróz SJ, who worked at the mill, was arrested in a round-up, and imprisoned, first at Auschwitz and then at Sachsenhausen concentration camp. He survived until the liberation and after the war he left the order.

Fr. Piotr Skarga Sodality House, Ducha Świątego 12 Str.

From May 1940, Forstschutzkommando – paramilitary troops of the German forest guard – was stationed here.

“Świt” (Dawn) Parish House, Ducha Świętego 2 Str.

From September 1940, it served as a storage for the books from the liquidated Józef Szujski City Library.

White Monastery of Sisters of the Immaculate Conception

In the first days of September 1939, a medical convoy of the Polish Army stopped here. From March 1941, the displaced people, who were supposed to be sent to the Third Reich for work would be stationed here. From January 1944 to January 1945 a German field hospital was set up here, and from February to November 1945 the Red Army field hospital.
In the monastery, the Central Welfare Council opened one of their food dispensing points.
According to Jozef Bieniek’s testimonies, the sisters would hide Jewish people in their monastery, including the wife of the hospital director, Helena Stuchły.

Orphanage of the Felician Sisters, Długosza 52 Str.

The building housed a field hospital and one of the food dispensing points opened by the Central Welfare Council.

St. Casimir Church, Długosza 2 Str.

A twenty-five-kilogram bell “St. Casimir” was requisitioned from the St. Casimir church in August 1941.
From 20 October 1939 to 22 February 1940, the rector of the church, Fr. Dr. Jędrzej Cierniak was in prison.

St. Elisabeth’s “Railway” Church, Zygmuntowska Str.

From the “railway” church the bells “Józef” (819 kg), “Ignacy” (397 kg) and “Francis of Assisi” (223 kg) were requisitioned in September 1941.
In the church, services were held several times for the Roman Catholics in the German army: on 9 February 1940, the mass was celebrated by a military chaplian, on 29 April 1941 4 chaplains took soldiers’ confessions, and after that each of them celebrated mass, on 27 July 1941, the mass was held for the Hungarian army.
The parson Fr. Józef Bury SJ organized help for people in hiding, displaced and the Jewish people imprisoned in the ghetto.
Fr. Józef Bury SJ died on 20 September 1942 after contracting dysentery during the epidemic outbreak in the city.

St. Margaret Church

Between the end of February 1940 and 9 February 1945 the bishop of Lublin Marian Fulman, interned in Nowy Sącz, stayed .at the clergy house of the church From here he would secretly manage his diocese, and in a private chapel he would ordain the seminarians from Lublin. This fact is commemorated by a plaque in the hall of the clergy house.
From November 1939 to June 1941 the vicars of the parish: Fr. Franciszek Ciekliński, Fr. Władysław Deszcz and Fr. Tadeusz Kaczmarczyk run a rally point for underground border crossing operations and an underground mail box.
Fr. Franciszek Drwal, the vicar of the parish, mobilized as a reserve chaplain of the Polish Army in August 1939, was captured and imprisoned in the POW camp, and then transferred to the Buchenwald camp, where he died on 1 June 1942.
On 21 August 1941 Fr. Tadeusz Kaczmarczyk and Fr. Władysław Deszcz were shot in Biegonice. On 27 July 1944 cleric Andrzej Mróz was shot in Rdziostów.

Catholic Affordable Cuisine, Lwowska Str.

During the entire occupation, free meals were dispensed here to the residents of the city in the worst situation.

Catholic Orphan Institute, Kolegiacki Sqr.

Led by the sisters of the Congregation of Servant Sister of the Immaculate Virgin Mary (Servant Sisters of Dębica), it continued its work uninterruptedly throughout the occupation. After the Catholic Orphan Institute Society was dissolved (as were all Polish organizations), it was led by the occupying authorities of the city. On average, there were over 50 children staying there.

Because the Jesuit religious studies centers in Kraków and Lublin had to be closed, by the decision of the provincial superior Fr. Władysław Lohn SJ, in November 1939 the studies for scholasters of the second and third years of philosophy were organized here. From the academic year 1940/1941, an entire philosophy course (three years) and the last two years (third and fourth) of theology have been taking place here. Two more changes have taken place in the 6 years of the existence of the Nowy Sącz religious college: in the academic year 1943/1944, theology course has been moved to Stara Wieś, but the students of the first and fourth years have returned to Nowy Sącz the next year.

Poor Boys’ Home, Kraszewskiego 37 Str.

Henryk Stamirski, the Boys’ Home supervisor, organized here one of the locations for secret teaching.

Jan Długosz I Gymnasium and High School, Długosza 5 Str.

In September 1939, the building was taken over by the Wehrmacht troops and served as their barracks for over a year. From October 1941 to April 1944, it was the premises of the Polish Police of the General Government, the so-called blue police, school (Polnische Polizeischule). In the last months of the occupation, a German military hospital was located in it, and in January 1945, the Red Army took over the hospital abandoned by the Germans.
In the school building, on the first floor, there are two memorial plaques commemorating the teachers and students of the I and II Gymnasium, who died during the war.

Building Known as “Ciuciubabka”, the Premises of the Klementyna Hoffmanowa and Stanisław Konarski Elementary Schools, Jagiellońska 61 Str.

In September 1939, the building housed a hospital for Polish soldiers, which was later taken over by the Germans, who later turned the building into a hospital two more times: after the aggression against USRR in June 1941 and in autumn 1944. It was finally taken over by the Soviets in January 1945. It was also used for a short time (several days) as military quarters, in autumn 1941 and spring 1942
The building also temporarily housed other elementary schools.
A plaque placed in the hall of the building commemorates teachers who died during the occupation.

Bolesław Chrobry II Gymnasium and High School, Jagiellońska 63 Str.

Throughout the whole occupation period, the building served as barracks, and at the end of the war as a hospital; first a German one, and from January 1945 – as a Soviet one.

Maria Konopnicka Women’s Gymnasium and High School, Żeromskiego Str. (formerly Morawskiego Str.)

In 1940 there was a German Elementary School established here.

Queen Jadwiga Elementary School, Jagiellońska 32 Str.

From September 1939 until the end of 1945, the building was used by the military, first German, then Soviet.

Jan Kochanowski Elementary School, Jan Kochanowski 3 Str.

After the summer of 1944, the building was taken over by the military. As the only school building, it burned down completely as a result of the military operations in January 1945.

Building at Narutowicza 2 Str.

The books, teaching aids and collections of several schools were stored here. The keys to the storage rooms were secretly copied by Feliks Rapf, who would regularly carry out some the textbooks and literature and distribute them among teachers involved in secret teaching.

“Świt” (Dawn) Parish House, Ducha Świętego 2 Str.

Since 1942, some of the books of the Jan Długosz I Gimnasium and High School was kept here together with the collection of the Józef Szujski City Library.

House at Tatrzańska 10 Str.

In the house of prof. Franciszek Wzorek sets of textbooks for gymnasium classes I–IV, used in secret teaching, were stored. At the turn of 1939/1940 there was a staging point here, where refugees could find shelter.

House at Jagiellońska 38 Str.

The apartment of prof. Mieczysław Wieczorek on Jagiellońska str. was the coordination center for secret teaching in the region.

Tailoring school, Morawskiego 2 Str.

From the autumn of 1939, the building housed the Tailoring School (Handwerkerschule für Schneiderer mit Polnischer Unterrichtssprache), that continued the tradition of the Industrial Women’s School, founded and run by Bolesław Barbacki. Boleslaw Barbacki was the first director of the school, the second was Stefania Czernecka. In the school year of 1940/41, Preparatory Classes for Industrial and Technical Schools (Vorbereiitungslehrgänge für Fachschulen) were organized here, led by Jan Gottmann and Jan Weimer. From 1 September 1941, the Municipal Economic School (Städtische Haushaltungsschule) has also been operating here, under the direction of Stefania Czernecka and Jadwiga Styczyńska.

White Monastery of Sisters of the Immaculate Conception

From September 1940, the State Trade School (Staatliche Handelsschule), run by Jan Witek and Emil Stanoszek, has been active here, which also provided one-year preparatory courses for administration workers.
The activity of the vocational school of the Immaculate Conception Sisters continued. A large-scale, secret teaching activities took place here. The III Secret Examination Commission, led by Sister Beata Włoszczewska would gather here.
The students of other elementary schools would periodically learn here. The wounded, sick and displaced people would be placed here, and grain would be stored.

Branch of the Jan Długosz I Gymnasium and High School on Kopernika Str.

From September 1940 to June 1944, under the direction of inż. Maksymilian Geisler, whose assistant was Feliks Rapf, the Regional Vocational School of Craft and Trade (Gewerbliche und Kaufmännische Kreisberufsschule) would function.

Tenement House at Długosza 11 Str.

From September 1940 to June 1944, under the direction of inż. Maksymilian Geisler, whose assistant was Feliks Rapf, the Regional Vocational School of Craft and Trade (Gewerbliche und Kaufmännische Kreisberufsschule) would function.
In the physics lab secret classes led by prof. Feliks Rapf would take place, as well as exams before the Secret Examination Commission.

During the occupation, the Museum functioned as the Uhr Deutsche Museum. It was to be reorganized by Romuald Reguła and Roman Szkaradek, under the supervision of Rudolf Kesselring, to display mainly the medieval religious art. Both of them carried out the task given by the occupation authorities very slowly and sometimes even acted contrary to the will of the authorities. As early as summer 1939, they hid some of the museum pieces in the town hall cellars and in private people’s houses. In view of the German plans to take part of the exhibits away to the Reich, on 6 December 1939 Szkaradek carried some of the most valuable paintings out of the castle (pieces by Jan Trzycki and Michał Stachowicz) and hid them in the health center near the castle, in his own apartment, in the parish and in the tower of St. Margaret’s Church, and in August 1944 he took some of them to Szczereż near Łącko and hid them in the house of Szczepaniak family and in the Biegonice parish house. The museum collection kept at the castle was destroyed when in the explosion of January 1945. According to the report of the National Directorate of Museums, the destroyed pieces included: 52 Polish sculptures, 164 foreign sculptures, 161 works by Polish painters, 59 works by foreign painters, 22 Polish drawings, 327 foreign drawings, 388 pieces of graphics, and 47 pieces of furniture. In May 1945 when the museum was being recreated again, Roman Szkaradek recovered a total of 162 pieces from various hiding places.
The plaques commemorating the soldiers of the 1st Podhale Rifle Regiment who were killed in the fights for independence between 1918 and 1920 were taken down from the castle’s facade and destroyed.

Bronisław Pieracki Riflemen’s House, Wolności Alley

During the occupation, the so-called Parteihaus functioned here, where NSDAP assemblies and celebrations were held.

Old Cemetery

In November 1939, the body of gen. Bronislaw Pieracki were exhumed and moved to the municipal cemetery. The impressive tombstone was also transported to the new place of burial – the gravestone carver hired for the job, Stanislaw Decker, rolled it down the Dlugosza and Młyńska streets on round wooden beams.

Statue of Władysław Jagiełło, corner of Jagiellońska and Szwedzka streets

In autumn 1939, in face of the decision to remove the statue, Stefan Krajewski, aided by Fire Brigade ppor. Bronisław Piwowar, stoneworker Antoni Lesak, Kazimierz Ciombor, Janina Gałasiowa, Józef Łazarz, Marian Serkowski, Józef Wątroba and Stanisław Wilczyński dismantled the statue, cut it in half and hid it in the cellars of the building.

House at Kunegundy 26 Str.

Roman Szkaradek hid part of the book collection of the gymnasium of the Immaculate Conception Sisters and some of the museum pieces from the Sądecki Land Museum in his private apartment.

St. Elisabeth’s “Railway” Church, Zygmuntowska Str.

In December 1939, a male vocal quartet was created here. It worked together with Daniel Bałycz’s symphonic ensemble, made of former musicians of the 1st Podhale Rifle Regiment orchestra. Since 1942, a choir led by organist Antoni Paszyński was also active here. The majority of its members came from the “ECHO” choir. They would sing both in their church and in other churches in Nowy Sącz.

House at Tatrzańska 6 Str.

Underground “artistic evenings” would take place in the apartment of Jadwiga Wolska.

Ritter Family Tenement House, Main Square 2

The apartment of Maria Ritter, a painter, would harbor refugees, people who were hiding and displaced persons arriving in Nowy Sącz. Maria Ritter herself has been actively working in the Polish Red Cross (from May 1944, her home was the headquarters of the local PRC office), the Social Welfare Committee and the Central Welfare Council. Wladyslaw Szkaradek-Lubasiowa, would operate an underground mail box in the PRC office in the apartment of the Ritter family. Underground “artistic evenings” would also take place here.

Tenement House at Długosza 18 Str.

Underground “artistic evenings” would take place in the apartment of Janina Celewicz.

Flis Family Tenement House, Jagiellońska 29 Str.

Underground “artistic evenings” would take place in the apartment of the Flis family.

Tenement House at Długosza 62 Str.

Underground “artistic evenings” would take place in the apartment of Romuald Reguła.

Manor House of Józef Wieniawa-Zburzycki in the Planty Park

The Józef Szujski City Library located here, having suspended its functioning after the German troops entered Nowy Sącz, with the consent of the military command of the city resumed operating on 1 October 1939. It was open on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 10:00 to 12:00. In March 1940, the library was ordered to close. In September 1940, the entire book collection was transferred and, with the consent of the Fr. PA Roman Mazur, was stored in the “Świt” Parish House. Although it was not able to function officially, the library would secretly lend books to a group of trusted people. After the city was liberated from the German occupation, steps were taken to re-open the library as quickly as possible, which became possible on 16 May 1945 with the Parish House as its temporary premises. The library returned to its building in the Planty park on 16 January 1946.
After the books were moved from the manor house, it was used as a headquarters of the Hitlerjugend.

Planty Park

In the autumn of 1939, the Adam Mickiewicz monument and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier were removed. The former was completely destroyed and the latter was moved to the municipal cemetery, near the so-called “Insurgents’ Cross”.

“Świt” (Dawn) Parish House, Ducha Świętego 2 Str.

In September 1940, the entire book collection of the Józef Szujski City Library was transported here. From 16 May 1945 Parish House acted as the temporary premises of the library until it was moved back to its original building in Planty Park (16 January 1946).
Not only the City Library, but book collections of other closed libraries (Municipal Casino, Tadeusz Kościuszko Boarding House, Jewish libraries) were gradually brought here. In addition, prof. Jan Göttman hid part of the book collection of the Jan Długosz I Gymnasiusm and High School in the Parish House. Initially all of the copies of the 1st volume of “Rocznik Sądecki” (Sącz Annal) were also here.

Fr. Piotr Skarga Sodality House, Ducha Świątego 12 Str.

From May 1940, it was occupied by the Forstschutzkommando – paramilitary troops of the forest guard. Because of that the activity of the sodality library and the Drama Section has been suspended. The entire theatrical infrastructure of the auditorium was destroyed.

The Clergy House of St. Margaret’s Church

In view of the German plans to take some of the pieces from the Sądecki Land Museum to the Reich, Roman Szkaradek on 6 December 1939 carried some of the most valuable paintings (works by Jan Trzycki and Michał Stachowicz) out of the castle, and hid them in various places, including the clergy house and the tower of the St. Margaret church.
Copies of the 1st volume of the “Rocznik Sądecki” (Sącz Annal) were also hidden for some time in the clergy house.

“Sokół” Gymnastic Society, Długosza 3 Str.

In the “Sokół” building a German library – Stadtbucherei Neu Sandez – was organized. The functioning of the Society, like all Polish organizations, was prohibited. Part of the Society’s library was destroyed in the first days of September 1939, when the German soldiers stationed in the building would use books as fuel for field kitchens. A large part of the collection was saved by Jozef Potoczek, who secretly transported it to his house in Chełmiec in autumn 1939. The “Sokół’s” theatrical infrastructure (stage) and the assets of the Drama Society (decorations, costumes) headquartered here were completely destroyed. In March 1941, the figure of a soaring hawk was dismounted from the building’s façade and destroyed.
From March 1941 to January 1945, German cinema “Dunajez” was operating here.

Workers’ House, Zygmuntowska 17 Str.

During the occupation, the cultural activities organized here (Worker’s Thater, orchestra, choir, “Wiedza” (Knowledge) cinema, Railway Worker’s Trade Union meeting room and library) ceased, but the building became a center for underground movement activities of the Polish Socialist Party members and cooperatives.

Home Army contact mail box

Villa Marya, Jagiellońska 60 Str.

Family house of Helena Barbacka

Clock on the Town Hall Tower

The place where Berta Korennman was hidden

House at Kraszewskiego 22 Str.

Berta Korenman’s house

Dobrzański’s watchmaker workshop

The workplace of Stefan Mazur, who helped Berta Korenman escape the ghetto and the city of Nowy Sącz

Hospital on Młyńska Str.

The workplace of Helena and Stanisław Stuchły. From here the escape of Jan Karski was organized, in the operation “Hospital” or “S” (from Polish ‘Szpital’)

House of Helena and Stanislaw Stuchły

House of Hermina Templer

House at Pierackiego 10 Str. (today: Grodzka Str.)

Place of residence of Wladyslawa Jeleń

House at Grodzka 39 Str.

Place of residence and arrest of Maria and Ewa Kardaszewicz

Stefaniszyn sisters’ family home

Tenement House at Main Square 10

Sichrawa family house and office

White Monastery of Sisters of the Immaculate Conception

One of the food dispensing points for children created by the Central Welfare Council

House at Kunegundy 14 Str.

Place of residence of the Stobiecki family

The Queen Jadwiga School

The workplace of Celina Stobiecka

Cemetery on Rejtana Str.

Final resting place of Zofia Janczy, Maria Kardaszewicz, Ewa Kardaszewicz, Maria Stobiecki and Alina Stobiecki, as well as others

House at Kunegundy 15 Str.

Halina Szurmiak’s home

House at Batorego 78 Str.

Teresa Harsdorf-Bromowicz

House at Żółkiewskiego 17 Str.

Post-war place of residence of Zofia Janczy

House at Matejki 2 Str.

Zofia Rysiówna’s family home

House at Tatrzańska 6 Str.

Place of residence of Jadwiga Wolska

The headquarters of the Delegation

The workplace of Jadwiga Wolska

Świętego Ducha 2 Str.

One of the food dispensing points for children created by the Central Welfare Council in Nowy Sącz

Boys’ Home, Kraszewskiego 44 Str.

A Boy’s Home was created at this address at the initiative of Jadwiga Wolska

The headquarters of the Polish scouting organization before the outbreak of the war (as well as today). Most of the people involved in the Nowy Sącz underground movement used to be scouts. The scouting ideals and values encouraged many to engage in both helping others and in underground activity. During the occupation, a significant part of scouts has joined the structures of the underground state and its armed forces and was active in the charity organizations. Only a small number of the instructors and the younger scouts would continue as illegal scouting structures.

Fire Brigade Watchtower, Grybowska Str.

In early September 1939, a pre-war scoutmistress Maria Gruber, together with five girl guides, organized one of the first sanitary facilities here. After the Germans seized the city, the girl scouts, together with firemen, would help transport the wounded soldiers to the hospital in Nowy Sącz. Before the war, the girl scouts would practice first aid in the exercises of the so called “Girl Scout Emergency Service”.

Military Barracks, Jagiellońska 84 Str.

After Nowy Sącz was seized by the Germans, they have created a prisoner of war camp here. The girl guides, posing as the wives of the soldiers, by giving the guards small gifts or by having friendly conversations with them, would receive permission to take their “husbands” for a short walk, from which the soldiers would not come back. Then at the houses of the individual girl guides, the soldiers would receive plain clothing, so that they could go back home. After the camp was closed, the barracks’ area has been infiltrated by a five-person group of the 1st Girl Scout Troop led by team leader Maria Jasińska, known as “Druhna Maryla”. A large amount of ammunition and two rifles have been found and eventually have been dumped in the bog under the “Gęsie Planty” park.

Former Pastry Shop “Oaza” (Oasis), Św. Ducha 2 Str.

The first of the meal dispensaries for children opened at the beginning of the occupation by girl scouts together with team leader Maria Gruber; the place was used on permission of msgr. Roman Mazur on request of the Jesuits. Then others started operating. The girl guides also got involved in charity work as part of the newly created Polish Welfare Committee, and then the Central Welfare Council, outside of the structures of the scouting organization.

Miczyński Family Manor House in Przetakówka District, Tarnowska 13 Str.

The Otmianowski family, displaced from Poznań, stayed in the house. In the years 1940–1941 Andrzej Otmianowski studied at a vocational school in Nowy Sącz (such schools were allowed to continue teaching by the Germans), getting to know the people of Nowy Sącz, including the scouts. After the destruction of the structures of POBOR (“Resurectio” Polish Organization of the White Eagle) in 1942 Andrzej Otmianowski “Garda” gathered the scouts decimated by blown covers. His aim was to organize and give military training to young lollygaggers and raise them in the spirit of the scouting ideals and earnest performance of their duties. Otmianowski was initially in contact with the “Gray Ranks” command in Kraków via scoutmaster Stanislaw Wąsowicz. In March 1941, following Wąsowicz’s arrest, this contact was cut. Later, Otmianowski’s group became part of the National Democratic “Harcerstwo Polskie” (Polish Scouts) organization. After the NOW (National Military Organization) was merged with the AK (Home Army), the team was getting ready for combat operations during the planned uprising. Garrison and field training was carried out; the group would gather in houses on the outskirts of the city or in secluded areas (including over the Dunajec river, near the First World War cemetery in Zabełcze). Andrzej’s sister – Zofia “Małgorzata” – organized and led a female team. It was made up mainly of sisters of the scouts from the male team.

House of Jan Wójcik, stepfather of the Król siblings, Kraszewskiego 54 Str.

Jan Król and his sister Irena (later Styczyńska) used to live here. Jan Król “Foka”, was the second-in-command of Otmianowski “Garda” in the Polish Scouts.

House at Sienkiewicza 38 Str.

The pre-war commandant of the Nowy Sącz district of ZHP (Polish Scouting and Guiding Association), Doctor of Laws and judge of the District Court, Stanislaw Wąsowicz, used to live here. Together with the President of the District Court, dr. Stanislaw Borowiecki, urged by the colleagues from Kraków, he created an underground resistance group, which used to be called the “Court Group”. As the pre-war district commandant, he was charged with the matters of the youth by the group. He was supposed to develop ways to protect young people from psychological and moral degeneration resulting from the war and occupation. The “Court Group” would not enter the ZWZ (Union of Armed Struggle) structures until the beginning of 1940 and then Wąsowicz „Sztoś” became a member of the staff of the command of the Nowy Sącz inspectorate, which was responsible for the information and propaganda operations. Wąsowicz, as the president of the District Board of the Polish Red Cross, would also be involved in organization of social aid before the Polish Welfare Committee and the Central Welfare Council took charge of it.

Adam Mickiewicz School, Długosza 2 Str.

The pre-war troop leader from this school, Ludwik Kowalski, after his return from Hungary, on the break of November and December 1939, initiated the creation of the first underground scouting organization called the “Resurectio” Polish Organization of the White Eagle. Kowalski became its commandant. The tasks of the organization included: smuggling former soldiers and volunteers to Hungary and sustaining of national spirit through the distribution of leaflets with messages from radio monitoring.

House at Długosza 57 Str.

Ludwik Kowalski, the co-creator of the “Resurectio” Polish Organization of the White Eagle (POBOR) stayed at this address, in a rented room. In the room Kowalski monitors radio transmissions, and it is also where the members of POBOR are sworn in.

House of the Flis Family, Jagiellońska 29 Str.

Zofia Flis has been involved in secret teaching since the beginning of the occupation. At the address there was a pawn shop run by Danuta Szkaradkówna. In the shop there was an underground mail box exchanging letters between the scouts and the Home Army Inspectorate.

House at Grodzka 39 Str.

During the war, the Kardaszewicz family, involved in underground hard-scouting structures, used to live here. Following the departure of the team leader Zofia Otmianowska to Krakow, the girls’ district of the “Polish Scouts” was taken over by Ewa Kardaszewicz.

House at Na Rurach 51 Str.

During the war, the Jaworski family used to live here. After the departure of the team leader Zofia Otmianowska, it was the meeting place of the girl scouts from Nowy Sącz, including sisters Janina and Wanda Jaworski.

Wysokie, the Execution Site

On June 27, 1940, the captured members of POBOR (“Resurectio” Polish Organization of the White Eagle) were executed in an operation under the mocking name “General’s Name Day”, on the birthday of gen. Sikorski.

House at Baterogo 80 Str., the Apartment of the Korsak family

Andrzej Korsak “Aczek”, one of the scouts of the “Kacabaj” team. He was involved in helping the Jewish people Jews (as part of the “Żegota”) and smuggled them through the border. The Korsak’s apartment was, among other things, used to hide people who were smuggled out from the ghetto before they continued on their way. Andrzej Korsak would also smuggle weapons and various materials (including to the commandant of the girl scouts, troop leader Krynicka, who was hiding in Łososina Dolna).

House at Kolejowa 48 Str.

The apartment of the Kuczyński family, railroad workers and scouts. Mieczyslaw “Kacabaj” Kuczyński used to live here. Under his command, the scouts would carry out minor sabotage operations, help smuggle people through the border and more

White Monastery of Sisters of the Immaculate Conception

One of the places of the secret teaching of young people, in which the girl scouts would participate among others.

Rdziostów, Execution Site

The execution site of many people involved in the underground resistance work, including scouts (1944).

Manor House in Łososina Dolna

Throughout the entire occupation period, the pre-war chief scout-mistress of the girl guides Maria Krynicka, wanted by the Germans would hide here.

Home of the Król Family in Sienna

Situated on a picturesque lake, which was new at the time. Here, the best of the Andrzej Otmianowski’s team would meet, sometimes trying to sail and swim in the lake (the water sports section was named “Marynarka Dębkowska”, the same as it was called in Otmianowski’s pre-war team in Poznań, which would spend their time in Dębki near Karwia). The home of the Król family in Sienna, after the team broke up, was a supply base for food packages organized for the prisoners, which would later be delivered by Irena Król (later Styczyńska).

At the beginning of August 1942, a few days before the final liquidation of the Nowy Sącz ghetto, Berta Korennman and her friend, Hela Szancer, fled using “Aryan” documents. Their escape was organized by Stefan Mazur, a Polish friend of Korennman who agreed to help them out of the goodness of his heart and asking for no payment. Mazur helped Szancer reach Przemyśl, where she worked under an assumed name for several months. She was then taken to a labor camp in Germany, where she survived the war. Berta Korennman found shelter in a hiding place prepared by Mazur on the clock tower of the town hall. When it turned out that the place would not be safe, he decided to move her to his relatives living in Lviv. When Mazur and Korennman arrived to Lviv by train, they were arrested in a round-up of civilians at the railway station and sent to a labor camp in Germany, where they posed as a married couple. They worked at a German military factory until the liberation in May 1945. After their return to Poland, they got married and settled in Lublin. After the war, Hela Szancer emigrated to Israel.

On August 11, 1992, the Yad Vashem Institute honored Stefan Mazur as the Righteous among the Nations.

Pharmacy at the corner at Lwowska 27 Str., Albin Burz

A pharmacist, he leased the “Pod Opatrznością” (Providence) pharmacy on Lwowska Street. During the war, he would buy flour, have bread baked from it and pass the food to the partisans and Jewish people in the ghetto. He also supported them financially. From the front, the Germans would pick up medicine and from the back, the partisans would receive food, medicine, money, clothing and soap, which also was made in the pharmacy. When the Germans would come to the nearby ghetto to set the clothing of the Jewish people living there on fire, the pharmacy employees would treat the burns, clean the wounds and distribute ointments. Jewish people were also given medicine, bandages and food to save for later. Burz also helped, among others, an EMT doctor, Mieczysław Koerbel with his sister and an ophthalmologist, doctor Jakub Mendler, escape from the ghetto. Furthermore, the pharmacy employees found bicycles for the doctors, to help them escape further. Medicine and wound dressings from the pharmacy “Pod Opatrznością” pharmacy were delivered to the conspired contact points by Barbara Schauer and Albin Burz’s wife, Zofia. They were denounced and arrested, but thanks to Burz’s efforts they were able to regain freedom. He actively participated in the work of the Central welfare Council in Nowy Sącz which aided the repatriated and imprisoned. Thanks to the support of Burz, in 1941, a Jewish pharmacy was created in the Nowy Sącz ghetto, which was later supplied by the “Pod Opatrznością” pharmacy.

House at Tatrzańska 6 Str., Jadwiga Wolska

During the war, Jadwiga Wolska lived in Nowy Sącz and worked in the local office of the Central Welfare Council. She helped Teresa Huppert and her son Jerzy (Uri) survive the occupation. In 1942, when the Jewish people were isolated in the ghetto, she obtained a pass for one visit per day – Jadwiga was bold enough to use it to enter the ghetto several times a day. She persudad the Germans, that she brings the Jewish people old food and expired medicine. At her initiative, a Boy’s House was opened, in a former Jewish hospital at Kraszewski 37 Str. in spring 1943. The feeding and clothing of homeless children during the inferno of the war was almost a miracle. Jadwiga Wolska saved the lives of hundreds of Polish and Jewish people, and one of her wards was Jerzy Huppert.

On 4 July 1991, the Yad Vashem Institute honored Jadwiga Wolska as a Righteous among the Nations.

House on Podhalańska Street – Sokołowski Family Home, Anna Zaręba-Sokołowska née Hadziacka

When the war and occupation of Poland began, Anna Sokołowska, a teacher with years of service, was dismissed from work. Soon she started working for the Polish underground movement in Nowy Sącz. Her work to help the Jewish people intensified in 1942, during the liquidation of the ghetto. When Jewish people started fleeing to the “Aryan” side, Sokolowska allowed some of them to use her apartment as a transfer point and temporary hideout until they were able to obtain “Aryan” papers or were smuggled through the Hungarian border. Sokołowska, who worked with Żegota from the beginning, coordinated the aid for the Jewish people – caring for the sick and wounded and finding hiding places for Jewish children. Among the people hiding in her apartment there were two young Jewish women who were later discovered, arrested and executed by the Gestapo. Sokołowska was also arrested, but she managed to convince the interrogators that she did not know these women were Jewish and she was released from prison. In 1943 Sokołowska was arrested again and after an interrogation was sent to the Ravensbrück concentration camp, where she got sick. According to one testimony, she was murdered with a intracardiac injection of phenol, according to another – in the gas chamber, in February 1945.

Zielona Str., Eugeniusz Stępniowski

During the war Eugeniusz Stępniowski worked at the Nowy Sącz post office. On March 1, 1942, he was arrested for helping people of Jewish descent. He was tortured by the head of Nowy Sącz Gestapo Heinrich Hamann. He was then sent to prison in Tarnów, where he died from his wounds and exhaustion.

Currently Browarna Str., Michał Łomnicki

During the occupation, Michal Łomnicki from Piwniczna aided the Jewish people isolated in the Nowy Sącz ghetto, supplying them with food, and helping them escape to the “Aryan” side. At the beginning of 1943 Łomnicki started smuggling Jewish refugees from occupied Poland to Slovakia. Among them was Hersz Cymerman, who fled a labor camp in August 1943 and was hiding for several days in the Carpathian forests. The villagers contacted Cymerman with Łomnicki, who agreed to guide him through the green border with a group of other Jewish refugees. Prior to the operation, Łomnicki was harbouring the group in his home and in the forest, providing them with food and ensuring their safety, until it was possible to guide them through the Poprad River to Slovakia. He worked together with Stefan Kocun, who led the Jewish refugees to a representative of the Jewish Community in Prešov, from where they were taken to Hungary. By putting his life at risk to save the Jewish people, Łomnicki was motivated by the need to fight against a common enemy and never expected anything in return. One day, Łomnicki was arrested by Gestapo for his underground activities, but he was released after a brutal interrogation. Despite the danger, he continued his underground work. After the war, Cymerman emigrated to Israel.

On 8 October 1992, the Yad Vashem Institute honored Michał Łomnicki as a Righteous among the Nations.

Saint Margaret Basilica, Władysław Deszcz

He was a Roman Catholic priest, born in the USA. On 21 August 1941, he was arrested in Nowy Sącz for aiding people of Jewish descent. He was murdered with 25 other people in Biegonice.

Parish of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Zygmuntowska 48 Str., Józef Bury

Fr. Józef Bury was involved in assistance provided to the Jewish peopleby the Common Welfare Council. One of the things he helped with was preparing documents for people fleeing to Hungary. He was denounced by German colonists. Gestapo officers searched the whole house for a broadcasting radio station. Father Bury had a radio receiver, but the Germans didn’t find anything. And so, he avoided certain death that was a punishment for owning a radio. In 1942, the typhus epidemic broke out in Nowy Sącz, claiming many victims. Fr. Vicar Józef Bury also succumbed to the disease. He died on 20 September 1942.

Parish of the Holy Spirit, Piotra Skargi 10 Str., fr. Jan Karuga

Taking advantage of the fact that he had naturally semitic facial features, Father Karuga would put the band with the star of David on his arm, like the Jewish people were forced to wear and he would sneak into the ghetto. The Jesuit seminarians joined his efforts. On the night from 25th to 26th August 1942, Fr. Karuga led two Jewish women out of the ghetto through a wall along the Dunajec River. Unfortunately, during an attempt to get them out of the city, they were detected by a Polish informer. Fr. Karuga and the Jewish women managed to escape, but seminarian Edward Czermiński was captured. He withstood the interrogation and did not give up any names. After a month, thanks to the activity of the special cells of the Home Army, Czermiński was out of prison again. Fr. Karuga met worse fate. Fleeing in panic he was not able to find the guide waiting for them, seminarian Czesław Białek. He wandered around the forest with the Jewish women, until one of them, who coulds not bear the tension, committed suicide. The shock he experienced later triggered a mental illness and Fr. Karuga had to be committed to a closed psychiatric ward, where he died years later.

Chruślice – House of the Drewniak Family

During the occupation, Batja Lerer and her family were forced to move to the closed Nowy Sącz, where Zofia and Wojciech Drewnak also lived with their son, Stanisław. The Drewnak family would regularly deliver food to the Lerer family. Shortly before the ghetto was liquidated, Stanislaw, who worked as a clerk in the German labor office, saw that Batja and her brother Cham were on the list of workers whose deportations were postponed. He transfer Mosze-Jehoszua, the second brother of Batja, to a labor camp in the nearby city Muszyna, thus saving his life. Shortly before the deportation of a group of laborers, Batja and her friend, Runa Fakler, fled the ghetto and asked the Drewniak family for help. Drewnaks hid them in Kraków, all the time keeping in touch with them. Later on, when the women could no longer remain in their hideout, Runa left and Batja was urged by Stanislaw to join the Polish underground movement active in the area. Stanisław being arrested by the Gestapo and taken to KL Auschwitz thwarted their plans. Both Batja and Moshe-Jehoszua survived the war and emigrated to Israel.

On 30 August 1988 the Yad Vashem Institute honored Zofia and Tadeusz Drewniak and their son Stanisław Drewniak as the Righteous among the Nations.

Westerplatte and Batalionów Chłopskich Strs, Aniela Prusakowa-Patkowska

Aniela Prusakowa-Patkowska met the Grossbard family in 1941, when she began working in a military reconvalescence home in Jaremcze (Stanislawów poviat, district of Galicia). After the Germans seized these area, in the same year, she came to the assistance of her Jewish friends, who were persecuted by both the Germans and the Ukrainian nationalists. He started with smuggling food from nearby Delatyń and delivering it, risking her own life, to the Jewish people of Jaremcze. When the Germans began the extermination of the Jewish population, Grossbards left their 12-year-old daughter Szulamit with a Ukrainian neighbor and sent word to Prusakowa-Patkowska. Risking her life, she took Szulamit to her relatives in Nowy Sącz. In August 1942, when the Nowy Sącz ghetto was being liquidated and Szulamit’s life was threatened, Aniela Hebda, a former servant of the family, helped save her. Hebda worked for a German family and, despite the danger, she hid Szulamit in the attick of her employers’ home, providing her with everything she needed. The girl stayed there until the liberation in January 1945. Prusakowa-Patkowska was an active supporter of the Home Army and she considered helping and rescuing Jewish people a part of the fight against the common enemy. After the war, Prusakowa-Patkowska learned where Szulammit was and passed to her a ring, which she received from her mother. Aniela Hebda was motivated by altruism and loyalty toward her former employers. Despite the danger, neither of the women demanded anything in return for their assistance.

On 22 May 1994, the Yad Vashem Institute honored Aniela Hebda and Aniela Prusakowa-Patkowska as the Righteous among the Nations.

Currently Beskidzka Str., Aniela Hebda

Aniela Hebda was a relative of Aniela Prusakowa-Patkowska, who came to the assistance of her Jewish friends, the Grossbard family, who were persecuted both by the Germans and by Ukrainian nationalists. It happened in Jaremcze near Stanisławów. First, she started smuggling food, and when the Germans began the extermination of the Jewish population of the city, she took care of their 12-year-old daughter. The ended up with Aniela Hebda, who lived in Nowy Sącz. Although she worked as a servant for a German family, she, despite the danger, hid the girl in the attic of her employers’ home, providing her with everything she needed. The girl stayed there until the liberation in January 1945.

On 22 May 1994, the Yad Vashem Institute honored Aniela Hebda and Aniela Prusakowa-Patkowska as the Righteous among the Nations.