They care about memory. Patriotic ceremony dedicated to Franciszka and Stanisław Kurpiel [PHOTOS]

On Sunday, June 22, on the premises of the former Leoncin manor near Tarnawce, a patriotic ceremony was held, dedicated to Franciszka and Stanisław Kurpiela and the 23 victims of the tragic events that took place there in 1944.

We wrote about this story in “Życie Podkarpackie” six years ago. Let us recall that in 1943, Prince Leon Sapieha, who lived at the time on an estate in Hołubla, moved Stanisław Kurpiel with his wife Franciszka and five children to the Leoncin farm, which had been taken over by the Germans and established there as a farm (liegenschaft). Stanisław’s duties included guarding the farm and the cattle gathered there. He was assisted by two farmhands from Tarnawce and three Jews sent from the Przemyśl ghetto. The Jews reached an agreement with Stanisław, who – despite the fact that this was punishable by death – agreed to hide their family and friends brought from the ghetto in the farm. Twenty-five Jews, to whom the Kurpiels supplied food, lived in two dug underground hideouts. On May 21, 1944, at dawn, the Nazis surrounded the farm and, threatening with death, ordered Stanisław to show them the hideouts. Three Jews tried to escape. Two succeeded, and the third was killed by a series of bullets. The remaining twenty-two people were shot near the farm. Stanisław and Franciszka, along with their two oldest children and two farmhands, were taken by the Germans to Przemyśl. After two days, the children and farmhands were released. On June 19, the Kurpiels, along with twenty other Poles, were shot at the fort on Lipowica. After the war, the bodies of the victims were exhumed and buried in the Zasany cemetery. In February 2010, Franciszka and Stanisław Kurpiels were posthumously awarded the Commander's Crosses of the Order of Polonia Restituta by the President of the Republic of Poland, Lech Kaczyński, and two years later they received the titles of Righteous Among the Nations, awarded by the Yad Vashem Institute to people who saved Jews. In 2019, thanks to the efforts of the Municipal Office in Krasiczyn, the area of ​​the former farm was tidied up, and a plaque dedicated to the memory of the Kurpiels was unveiled on the ruins of the stable in Leoncin. In 2024, the Polish Post issued a stamp with the image of Stanisław and Franciszka.

Patriotic celebration

Sunday's ceremony began with a mass concelebrated by Archbishop Adam Szal. The Archbishop presented the history of the Kurpiels, emphasizing their heroic attitude worthy of a Christian. After the mass, the invited guests in their speeches recalled that many Poles lost their lives for helping Jews and reminded us of the obligation to remember this.

Then, a roll call of the fallen was held, ending with a salute by the Podhale Rifles Company and laying flowers under the commemorative plaque. The ceremony organized by the Municipal Office in Krasiczyn ended with a concert by the Deo Cantamus choir from Tuczempy.

The patriotic ceremony was attended by:

MP Andrzej Zapałowski, head of the branch of the Podkarpackie Voivodeship Office Sabina Motowidło-Maziarz, Przemyśl starost Bożena Ryczan, mayors of neighbouring communes, representatives of the Police, Border Guard, 1st Tank Battalion in Żurawica, 5th Battalion of Podhale Riflemen, Dr. Wojciech Hanus – representative of the Institute of National Remembrance, Artur Janiec – director of Caritas of the Przemyśl Archdiocese, Przemysław Włodek – forester of the Krasiczyn forest district, Magdalena Ziemska – managing director of the Krasiczyn castle, Waldemar Wiglusz – president of the Przemyśl Society of Friends of Science, Krystyna Szmeruk – president of the Chone Szmeruk Heritage Foundation, directors of schools, kindergartens, councillors and village heads of the Krasiczyn commune, as well as its residents and their guests.

JS