Józef Walaszczyk was born on 13 November 1919 in Częstochowa. His father was a journalist and his mother was a feldsher. The family moves to Warsaw, where Józef Walaszczyk spends his childhood. Józef Walaszczyk attends a gymnasium in Piotrków Trybunalski. At that time his uncle Stanisław Okęcki employs Józef's mother in Rylsk and the period of his stays there begins. The interviewee's father dies in 1937. Józef Walszczyk takes on some of the duties on the property in Rylsk, where a potato flour factory operates. As a trade agent he meets numerous Jewish traders and entrepreneurs.
During the first years of the occupation he meets Irena, a girl who reveals her Jewish identity to him. From that moment on Józef Walaszczyk takes care of Irena. At first he keeps her in his bachelor flat on Krucza St., he gets Aryan documents for her and then accommodates her in various flats in Warsaw. Despite the interviewee's efforts, Irena gets arrested by Gestapo along with a group of 21 people during a social meeting of Jewish youth hiding in occupied Warsaw. Józef Walaszczyk secures the release of the arrested group by arranging for a ransom of one kilogram of gold. Thanks to the interviewee's efforts, Irena lives through the occupation years and eventually brings him the title of Righteous Among the Nations.
In 1941, an acquaintance, a Jewish trader Węgrow, turns to Józef Walaszczyk asking him to employ 50 young Jews in the grange workshop in Rylsk. Walaszczyk manages to bribe an employee of the German employment agency. In return for a monthly ransom in cash and luxury goods he agrees to hire 30 Jewish workers, who later work in Rylsk for half a year. When the clerk is dismissed, the hiding Jews are denunciated. 25 of them manage to flee to previously prepared hideouts near Rylsk and 5 are taken to the Łódź ghetto.
Today Józef Walaszczyk is active as the Vice President of the Righteous Among the Nations Association in Poland. He was professionally active until 2014, running a purse and bagmaking business.
