 Podchlebnik was one of at least three prisoners who escaped into the surrounding forest from the mass burial zone.He was born to a family of Jacob Podchlebnik and Sosia (Zosia) née Widawska from Koło, known also by the Polish equivalent of his first name, Michał.He witnessed the deportation of his father, mother, sister with her five children, and brother with his own wife and three children.