The story of Leopold Socha is a story of an internal change in a person, a petty criminal who initially decides to help Jews in exchange for a financial gratification but gradually develops an altruistic, empathetic attitude towards them, and ultimately uses his own money, and risks his own life and the life of his family, to save them. This is a human story that teaches about the potential that exists in every person to be a rescuer and a hero, even when least expected. Make sure that this message is conveyed while students work on the Socha case.
Socha's encounter with the Jews who seek a hiding place in the Lviv sewers is accidental. Prior to that encounter, he had not had significant contact with the local Jewish population. It is important to emphasize that already at that stage he could denounce the group to the Germans, but he decides not to. At first, he is attracted by the money offered for his assistance, but with time he builds a personal, friendly relationship with the Jews he helps and becomes concerned about their fate. That leads him to take the biggest risk.
It is significant to emphasize that, along with the development of the personal attitude towards the hiding Jews, Socha's assistance becomes more extensive and does not limit itself to providing food. As we learn from the educational material, he also becomes concerned with the religious needs of the people in hiding and makes special efforts to help the group maintain hygiene. The testimony of Krystyna Chigier allows students to learn about Socha's care for the children's mental health while they are in hiding. All of these actions, such as bringing religious Jewish artifacts, doing laundry for the group, providing newspapers and exposing Krystyna to fresh air outside the sewers, create additional risk for him. This very humanistic side of him makes the rescue story extraordinary.
The story is unique also because of the character of the hiding place. For Socha, the Lviv sewers were a "comfort zone", a place he knew very well and thus he felt strong as a guide and a guard of people who found shelter there.
The postwar story of Socha, whose tragic death evoked antisemitic comments among his Polish friends (that he was killed prematurely as a punishment for helping Jews), may be an occasion to discuss the situations in which people take great risks to save others and yet are not recognized for their courage by their closest milieu.
After the war, in some places in Poland, gentiles who saved the Jews preferred not to talk about their heroic deeds in order to avoid antisemitically provoked attacks from their neighbors. Discuss with the students the significance of reactions of the closest social environment when taking risks to help others, and how can we support individuals who make efforts to assist those in need even it is against the mainstream. You may make a reference to the initial discussion around the picture of the boycott of Jewish stores in Nazi Germany in 1933.
