Izrael Malecki

Izrael Malecki (called Srul) – born on the 8th of January 1910 in Białowieża, in the family of Abraham Malecki and Fruma Winokur. He had five siblings, five of whom emigrated before the war. He lived on Stoczek 120 street (old numeration). Before the war he completed five grades of public school, and apprenticed to a known master tailor in Białowieża: Kuprjanow, a Baptist. Later he became a tailor himself. In 1914 he was married in Hajnówka (as he stated in the documents after the war). During the German occupation he was forced to labour alongside other Jews, repairing roads and digging pits for the mass executions performed on people from Białowieża and the area.

According to the documents he gave in 1946 during the registration in the Central Comittee of Polish Jews in Bielsk Podlaski, in 1941 he found himself in Pruzhany, was relocated to Pruzhany ghetto, and in January 1943 was deported to the Concentration Camp in Auschwitz. As reported by Białowieża citizens, before he was deported to Auschwitz, he ran away from the execution of Białowieża male Jews in the Gravel Pit (Żwirownia) but was caught later. As Alexander Krawczuk said: „One of the Jews, Srul Malecki, ran away from the execution place, and survived. I talked with him after the war, and he confirmed the fact that all of the men and boys of the Jewish nationality were murdered by Germans in that gravel pit. (…) Srul Malecki left for Israel after the war. He didn't give any closer details about the execution”. Włodzimierz Dackiewicz, who worked for a year after the war with Malecki, also recalls that Malecki escaped the execution by jumping on the embankment, and that he was caught later.

In Auschwitz he was recorded on the transport which came from Pruzhany on the 30th of January 1943. He received the prisoner number 98037. He survived, and he returned to Białowieża straight after the war. He got some help from the tailor Naumnik, a friend from his apprentice days before the war. Włodzimierz Dackiewicz, who also was a tailor under Naumnik says: „Srolik Malecki came back in 1946. 180 centimetres of height, and 36 kilograms of weight. My master [Naumnik] said: „there's a room in my place, you will sleep here, and work here. I will take work from the clients, you will do it, and you will take the money for yourself.”. Srulik lived at his place and ate. When he came, he was skin and bones. Here, he got better.”

Later, according to Dackiewicz, Malecki met Sarenka. Dackiewicz mentions that Malecki and Sarenka sold some houses (the Malecki family had a number of houses in Białowieża), were married, and left for Israel.

Earlier, however, Malecki traveled to Bielsk to register himself on the 14th of July 1946 as a survivor in the Central Commitee of Polish Jews. He gave the residence address in Bielsk, on Mickiewicza 60 street, where he lived for some time before moving to Israel. We managed to track down the Israeli address of Malecki – in 1956 he lived in Ramat Gan, close to Tel Aviv. Unfortunately we weren't able to find any descendants.