Jan Karski was a Polish soldier, resistance-fighter, and diplomat during World War II. He is known for having acted as a courier in 1940–1943 to the Polish government-in-exile and to Poland's Western Allies about the situation in German-occupied Poland. He reported about the state of Poland, its many competing resistance factions, and also about Germany's destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto and its operation of extermination camps on Polish soil that were murdering Jews, Poles, and others.
During World War II, some individuals and groups helped Jews and others escape the Holocaust conducted by Nazi Germany.
In the decades since the Holocaust, some national governments, international bodies and world leaders have been criticized for their failure to take appropriate action to save the millions of European Jews, Roma, and other victims of the Holocaust. Critics say that such intervention, particularly by the Allied governments, might have saved substantial numbers of people and could have been accomplished without the diversion of significant resources from the war effort.
Count Tadeusz Jordan-Rozwadowski was a Polish military commander, diplomat, and politician, a general of the Austro-Hungarian Army and then the Polish Army.
The issue of why the Allies did not act on early reports of atrocities in the Auschwitz concentration camp by destroying it or its railways by air during World War II has been a subject of controversy since the late 1970s. Brought to public attention by a 1978 article from historian David Wyman, it has been described by Michael Berenbaum as "a moral question emblematic of the Allied response to the plight of the Jews during the Holocaust", and whether or not the Allies had the requisite knowledge and the technical capability to act continues to be explored by historians. The U.S. government followed the military's strong advice to always keep the defeat of Germany the paramount objective, and refused to tolerate outside civilian advice regarding alternative military operations. No major American Jewish organizations recommended bombing.
In three cases, entire countries resisted the deportation of their Jewish population during the Holocaust. In other countries, notable individuals or communities created resistance during the Holocaust which helped the Jews escape some concentration camps.
The Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Chicago is a consular mission of the Republic of Poland in the United States. The mission serves the largest Polish communities outside of Poland.
Leon Feiner was a Polish lawyer and activist. He was an activist of the General Jewish Labour Bund in Poland and between November 1944 and January 1945 the director (prezes) and vice-chairman of the Council to Aid Jews "Żegota".
Alina Cała is a Polish writer, historian and sociologist. A former board member of the Jewish Historical Institute, she specialises in 19th and 20th century Polish-Jewish history, antisemitism and Jewish assimilation in Central and Eastern Europe.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Białystok, Poland.
Aleksander Wacław Ładoś [alɛ'ksandɛr 'wadoɕ] was a Polish politician and diplomat, who 1940–45 headed the Legation of Poland to Switzerland. Ładoś was a member and de facto leader of the Ładoś Group, also known as Bernese Group, a secret action by the Polish diplomats and Jewish organizations who helped save several hundred Jews from the Holocaust by providing them with illegal Latin American, mostly Paraguayan passports.
Konstanty Rokicki was a Polish consular officer, vice consul of the Republic of Poland in Riga and Bern, and a Holocaust rescuer. Between 1941 and 1943 he was a member of the Ładoś Group also called the Bernese Group. Rokicki used his diplomatic position of vice consul to produce false Latin American passports and had them smuggled to the German-occupied Poland and Netherlands where they saved lives of their Jewish bearers. For his efforts Rokicki was named Righteous Among the Nations by Israel in 2019.
Juliusz Kühl also known as Julius or Yehiel Kühl was a Polish diplomat, Holocaust rescuer and – after World War II – Canadian construction businessman. Kühl was a member of the Ładoś Group also known as the Bernese Group and he is particularly known for his role in the production of false Latin American passports by the Polish Legation in Bern, Switzerland, thanks to which between several hundred and several thousand Jews in German-occupied Poland and the Netherlands survived the Holocaust.
Maciej Benedykt Golubiewski is a Polish political scientist and diplomat. Between 2017 and 2019 he served as the Consul General of the Republic of Poland in New York City.
The Polish Institutes is a network of cultural diplomatic missions reporting to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland. As of 2025, there were 25 of them. Their mission is described as "creating a positive image of Poland abroad" by promoting Polish culture, history, science, language, and national heritage. Other tasks include supporting cultural exchange, in particular, within the framework of the European Union National Institutes for Culture, as well as implementation of various international cultural programmes.
Wojciech Rychlewicz was a Polish diplomat, consul, and between 1937 and 1941 head of the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Istanbul. During the Second World War, he was involved in issuing false documents to Polish Jews, which enabled them to travel to Palestine, Cyprus and the Americas.
Adrian Kubicki is a Polish diplomat, sociologist, and expert in public relations and communication. From 2016 to 2019 he was the Communications Director of LOT Polish Airlines. From 2019 to 2020 he was the Director of the Polish Cultural Institute in New York. Since 2020, he has served as the Consul General of Poland in New York City.
Ewa Junczyk-Ziomecka is a Polish lawyer, journalist, and former politician who served as secretary of state in the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland under Lech Kaczyński between 2008 and 2010.
