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Julian Bilecki was a holocaust hero that saved 23 innocent Jews from certain death in 1943 by sheltering them in bunkers.

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Julian and his family made a bunker for the Jews to hide in. Their bunker was covered in snow so it was difficult to notice but it was eventually discovered. The Bilecki family were able to build a new one. They would jump tree to tree so they wouldn't make footprints in the snow.

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When Julian was 70 he reunited with the survivors he saved from the Podhajce ghetto. They all looked up to him and adored him for his heroic actions. He would visit them in their bunker and spend time with them, providing them with food for a year. "It meant so much," "It was like food for the soul." Sabina Grau Schnitzer said.

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Julian Bilecki was a gangly teen-ager when he and his family hid 23 Jews in an underground bunker to save them from Nazi death squads in Poland.

The Bileckis, who were Christians, showed the Jews from the Podhajce ghetto where to hide, helped them move when they were almost detected and fed them for years.

Sabina Grau Schnitzer, one of the Jews who were saved, recalled the Bilecki family's efforts to conceal the hiding places. ''In order not to leave traces in the snow, they would jump from tree to tree,'' she said.

The Bileckis did not just bring food and rush off, Mrs. Grau Schnitzer said. They stayed to visit. ''It meant so much,'' she said. ''It was like food for the soul.''

More than a half-century later, a gray-haired Julian Bilecki, 70, was tearfully reunited with five of those Jewish survivors at Kennedy International Airport on Tuesday.

''Julian walked in, and he stopped, and he was in shock,'' said Stanlee Stahl, executive director of the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous. ''He couldn't believe that they were all there. Tears welled up into his eyes, and he looked around stunned. He was overwhelmed.''

The foundation, which brought Mr. Bilecki to the United States, his first trip away from Poland, plans to give him an award next week.

Mr. Bilecki, a retired bus driver who grew up in an area of Poland that later became part of Ukraine, arrived for a monthlong visit with his son. He was greeted with flowers, hugs and kisses from the survivors.

''It was very, very emotional,'' said Mrs. Grau Schnitzer, 65.

Mr. Bilecki, who speaks no English, said he was amazed he and the survivors had lived to see one another again.

''He said, 'I remember you when you were young and didn't have gray hair,' '' said Ms. Stahl, the foundation director. '' 'You have gray hair, and so do I. Look where we are now. Did we ever think we could be here?' ''

Nearly all the Jews of the Podhajce ghetto in the town of Zawalow were killed by Nazis.

Mrs. Grau Schnitzer, then 9, left the ghetto with her parents to bury a wagon full of bodies and then escaped. Her father and uncle, who had known the Bileckis before the war, went to them for help.

''We knew that they were believers, and we knew that they were good people,'' she said. ''We said: 'Here we are. Help us.' And they helped us.''

The Jews in the Bileckis' bunker went free when the Russian Army arrived in 1944. Many survivors have sent food and clothing over the years to the Bileckis, who remained poor.

The group planned to spend the evening at the home of Genia Melzer, 75, left for dead by the Nazis in a pile of corpses. She crawled out and ran to the woods near Podhajce, where Mr. Bilecki found her covered with blood and took her in.

Mrs. Grau Schnitzer said the Nazis would have killed the Bileckis if they found out that they were helping Jews. ''They had a heart,'' she said of the Bileckis. ''They were humanitarians, and we want to show the world there were people like this.''

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Pole, 70, Reunited With Jews He Saved (Published 1998)

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Julian Bilecki, Pole who was teen-ager when he and his Christian family hid 23 Jews in underground bunker and fed them for years to save them from Nazis, visits New York and meets with some of Jews he saved; will be honored by Jewish Foundation for the Righteous; photo (M)

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Julian and his family knew they could be killed for helping Jews and sheltering them but remained loyal to them. Almost every Jew that was in the Podhajce ghetto were killed. If Julian hadn't helped, the 23 Jews would've been dead for certain. Julian had claimed during their reunion; "All I did was help. It is very pleasant the people remember."