Polish Righteous Among the Nations

Polish Righteous

Medals and diplomas awarded at a ceremony in the Polish Senate on 17 April 2012

There are 7,177 Polish men and women recognized as Righteous by the State of Israel

The citizens of Poland have the highest count of individuals who have been recognized by Yad Vashem as the Polish Righteous Among the Nations, for saving Jews from extermination during the Holocaust in World War II. There are 7,177 (as of 1 January 2021 ^[update] ) Polish men and women conferred with the honor, ^[1] over a quarter of the 27,921 recognized by Yad Vashem in total. ^[2] The list of Righteous Among the Nations is not comprehensive and it is estimated that hundreds of thousands of Poles concealed and aided tens of thousands of their Polish-Jewish neighbors. ^[3] Many of these initiatives were carried out by individuals, but there also existed organized networks of Polish resistance which were dedicated to aiding Jews – most notably, the Żegota organization.

In German-occupied Poland, the task of rescuing Jews was difficult and dangerous. All household members were subject to capital punishment if a Jew was found concealed in their home or on their property. ^[4]

Activities

"The Mass Extermination of Jews in German Occupied Poland", by the Polish government-in-exile addressed to the wartime allies of the then-United Nations, 1942

Further information: Rescue of Jews by Poles during the Holocaust and The Holocaust in occupied Poland

Before World War II, Poland's Jewish community had numbered about 3,460,000 – about 9.7 percent of the country's total population. ^[5] Following the invasion of Poland, Germany's Nazi regime sent millions of deportees from every European country to the concentration and forced-labor camps set up in the General Government territory of occupied Poland and across the Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany. ^[6] Most Jews were imprisoned in the Nazi ghettos, which they were forbidden to leave. Soon after the German–Soviet war had broken out in 1941, the Germans began their extermination of Polish Jews on either side of the Curzon Line, parallel to the ethnic cleansing of the Polish population including Romani and other minorities of Poland. ^[6]

As it became apparent that, not only were conditions in the ghettos terrible (hunger, diseases, executions), but that the Jews were being singled out for extermination at the Nazi death camps, they increasingly tried to escape from the ghettos and hide in order to survive the war. ^[7] Many Polish Gentiles concealed their Jewish neighbors. Many of these efforts arose spontaneously from individual initiatives, but there were also organized networks dedicated to aiding the Jews. Most notably, in September 1942 a Provisional Committee to Aid Jews (Tymczasowy Komitet Pomocy Żydom) was founded on the initiative of Polish novelist Zofia Kossak-Szczucka, of the famous artistic and literary Kossak family. This body soon became the Council for Aid to Jews (Rada Pomocy Żydom), known by the codename Żegota , with Julian Grobelny as its president and Irena Sendler as head of its children's section. ^{[8] [9]}

It is not exactly known how many Jews were helped by Żegota, but at one point in 1943 it had 2,500 Jewish children under its care in Warsaw alone. At the end of the war, Sendler attempted to locate their parents but nearly all of them had been murdered at Treblinka. It is estimated that about half of the Jews who survived the war (thus over 50,000) were aided in some shape or form by Żegota. ^[10]

In numerous instances, Jews were saved by entire communities, with everyone engaged, ^[11] such as in the villages of Markowa ^[12] and Głuchów near Łańcut, ^[13] Główne, Ozorków, Borkowo near Sierpc, Dąbrowica near Ulanów, in Głupianka near Otwock, ^[14] Teresin near Chełm, ^[15] Rudka, Jedlanka, Makoszka, Tyśmienica, and Bójki in Parczew-Ostrów Lubelski area, ^[16] and Mętów, near Głusk. Numerous families who concealed their Jewish neighbours were killed for doing so. ^[12]

Risk

Warning of death penalty for supporting Jews

NOTICE Concerning: the Sheltering of Escaping Jews.    There is a need for a reminder, that in accordance with paragraph 3 of the decree of 15 October 1941, on the Limitation of Residence in the General Government (page 595 of the GG Register) Jews leaving the Jewish Quarter without permission will incur the death penalty.    According to this decree, those knowingly helping these Jews by providing shelter, supplying food, or selling them foodstuffs are also subject to the death penalty.    This is a categorical warning to the non-Jewish population against:          1) Providing shelter to Jews,          2) Supplying them with Food,          3) Selling them Foodstuffs. Częstochowa 24/9/42      Der Stadthauptmann Dr. Franke

Further information: Jewish ghettos in German-occupied Poland

During the occupation of Poland (1939–1945), the Nazi German administration created hundreds of ghettos surrounded by walls and barbed-wire fences in most metropolitan cities and towns, with gentile Poles on the 'Aryan side' and the Polish Jews crammed into a fraction of the city space. On 15 October 1941, the death penalty was introduced by Hans Frank, governor of the General Government, to apply to Jews who attempted to leave the ghettos without proper authorization, and all those who "deliberately offer a hiding place to such Jews". ^[17] The law was made public by posters distributed in all major cities. The death penalty was also imposed for helping Jews in other Polish territories under the German occupation, but without issuing any legal act. ^[18]

Anyone from the Aryan side caught assisting those on the Jewish side in obtaining food was subject to the death penalty. ^{[19] [20]} The usual punishment for aiding Jews was death, applied to entire families. ^{[4] [21] [22]} Polish rescuers were fully conscious of the dangers facing them and their families, not only from the invading Germans, but also from blackmailers (see: szmalcowniks ) within the local, multi-ethnic population and the Volksdeutsche. ^[23] The Nazis implemented a law forbidding all non-Jews from buying from Jewish shops under the maximum penalty of death. ^[24]

Gunnar S. Paulsson, in his work on history of the Warsaw Jews during the Holocaust, has demonstrated that, despite the much harsher conditions, Warsaw's Polish residents managed to support and conceal the same percentage of Jews as did the residents of cities in safer countries of Western Europe, where no death penalty for saving them existed. ^[25]

Numbers

There are 7,177 officially recognized Polish Righteous – the highest count among nations of the world. At a 1979 international historical conference dedicated to Holocaust rescuers, J. Friedman said in reference to Poland: "If we knew the names of all the noble people who risked their lives to save the Jews, the area around Yad Vashem would be full of trees and would turn into a forest." ^[3] Hans G. Furth holds that the number of Poles who helped Jews is greatly underestimated and there might have been as many as 1,200,000 Polish rescuers. ^[3]

Father John T. Pawlikowski (a Servite priest from Chicago) ^[26] remarked that the hundreds of thousands of rescuers strike him as inflated. ^[27]

Notable rescuers

See also: List of Polish Righteous and Category:Polish Righteous Among the Nations

Irena Adamowicz, liaison between several Jewish ghettos providing communication and moral support [28] Wincenty Antonowicz with wife Jadwiga and daughter Lucyna, food and transport [28] Ferdynand Arczyński, took care of 4,000 Jews on the "Aryan" side of Warsaw (Zegota treasurer) [28] Zofia Baniecka and her mother rescued more than 50 Jews in their Warsaw apartment in 1941–1944 Władysław Bartoszewski, Jewish Uprising assistance (Delegatura) [29] [30] Anna Borkowska, saved 17 young Jewish Zionists in her Vilna convent [31] Franciszek and Magdalena Banasiewicz with children, saved families of 15 in a bunker near Przemyśl [32] Szczepan Bradło and family, saved three families of 16 in a dugout [33] Krystyna Dańko, hid and supplied a Jewish family of four with food, clothing and money [34] Jan Dobraczyński, placed several hundred Jewish children in Catholic convents [35] Maria Fedecka, saved 12 members of close Jewish families in Wilno [36] [37] Mieczysław Fogg, hid a Jewish family in his apartment till the end of World War II [38] Andrzej Garbuliński and son, killed for sheltering Alfenbeins family [39] Antoni Gawryłkiewicz, saved three Jewish families consisting of 16 members [40] Matylda Getter, hid 550 Jewish children from the Warsaw getto in Polish orphanages [41] Zofia Glazer, saved Cypora with her baby from the Siedlce Ghetto before massacre [42] Julian Grobelny with wife Halina, rescued a large number of Jewish children (President of Zegota)  [43] Irena Gut, rescued sixteen Jews by becoming Nazi [44] Henryk Iwański, arms and military support for the Jewish Uprising, (AK)  [45] Stefan Jagodziński, saved Dr. Tenenwurzel's family of three  [46] member of resistance Stanisław Jasiński and daughter Emilia, hid Jews who escaped the Volhynian massacres   [47] Jerzy and Eugenia Latoszyński, temporarily adopting Artur Citryn  [48] Aleksander Kamiński, helped organize Jewish resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto (Home Army representative)  [49] Jan Karski, first reported the Holocaust to President Franklin D. Roosevelt   [50] [51] Zofia Kossak-Szczucka, helped save several thousand Jews, especially children (co-founder of Żegota)  [52] Maria Kotarba, "Angel of Auschwitz" delivering food and medicine, cooking for Jewish female prisoners  [53] Władysław Kowalski, hid 50 Jews around Warsaw  [54] Stefan Korboński Jerzy and Irena Krępeć saved over 30 Jews on their two rented estates near Płock   [55] Jerzy Jan Lerski (George J. Lerski), informed political circles abroad about the extermination and persecution of Jews  [56] Eryk Lipiński, involved in production of forged documents for the Jews in hiding  Wanda Makuch-Korulska Igor Newerly, saved Janusz Korczak's diary of martyrdom, harboured several Warsaw Ghetto journalists  [57] [58] Janina Oyrzanowska-Poplewska and her sister Maria Oyrzanowska provided aid and housing to the Linfeld and Sterling families; their gardener, Jerzy Glinicki; and others, including Wiktoria Szczawińska and Franciszka Tusk (later known as Natalia Obrębka) [59] [60] Tadeusz Pankiewicz, operated the only pharmacy in the Jewish Ghetto of Kraków and distributed free medicine  [61] Alfreda and Bolesław Pietraszek, rescued several Jewish families consisting of 18 people  [62] The Podgórski sisters : Stefania (16, now Burzminski) and Helena (6), hid 13 Jews for two and a half years in an attic in Przemyśl; Stefania married one of the rescued who later changed his name to Burzminski. Television film "Hidden in Silence" was made about this rescue mission  [63] Jan and Anna Puchalski hid 6 Jews at their house for 17 months in Łosośna   [64] Maria Roszak (Sister Cecylia) Dominican nun with Anna Borkowska (Sister Bertranda) sheltered Jews from Vilnius Ghetto   [65] Konrad Rudnicki and his mother Maria harbored the Weintraubs family during World War II  [66] Irena Sendler, helped rescue at least 2,500 Jewish children from the Warsaw Ghetto   [67] Henryk Sławik, helped save over 5,000 Polish Jews in Budapest by giving them false 'arian' passports  Barbara and son Jerzy Szacki, harboured a pregnant Ghetto fugitive with a 5-year-old, helped with the newborn  [68] Józef and Wiktoria Ulma from Markowa, harbored 8 Jews, killed together with them, and their own 6 children by German police  [69] Czesław Miłosz, took in Tross family and supported them financially  Rudolf Weigl, made and supplied vaccines to two Jewish ghettos, employed Jews in hiding  Henryk Woliński, harbored 25 Jews in his apartment, helped 283 (AK BIP)  [70] Paweł Zenon Woś, together with his parents, Paweł and Anna, smuggled 12 Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto Jerzy Zagórski and wife Maria, harbored 18 Jews in their home before the Warsaw Uprising   [71] Jan Żabiński and wife Antonina, sheltered hundreds of displaced Jews at his Warsaw Zoo   [72] [73]

Bartoszewski Dobraczyński Glazer Grobelny Kamiński Karski Kossak Kotarba Korboński Lerski Newerly Sendler Weigl Żabiński

See also

• Stanisława Leszczyńska: a Polish midwife at the Auschwitz concentration camp
• History of the Jews in 20th-century Poland
• Holocaust in Poland
• "Polish death camp" controversy

Notes

1. "Righteous Among the Nations Honored by Yad Vashem" (PDF).
2. "Names of Righteous by Country | www.yadvashem.org". www.yadvashem.org. Retrieved 29 September 2018.
3. Furth, Hans G. (1999). "One million Polish rescuers of hunted Jews?". Journal of Genocide Research. 1 (2): 227–232. doi:10.1080/14623529908413952. Thousands of helping acts were done on impulse, on the spur of the moment, lasting no longer than a few seconds to a few hours: such as a quick warning from mortal danger, giving some food or water, showing the way, sheltering from cold or exhaustion for a few hours. None of these acts can be recorded in full detail, with persons and names counted; yet without them the survival of thousands of Jews would not have been possible.^[228] If these people are anywhere typical of non-Jews under the Nazis, the percentage of 20 percent [rescuers] represents a huge number of many millions. I was truly astonished when I read these numbers...^[230]
4. “Righteous Among the Nations” by country at Jewish Virtual Library
5. Węgrzynek, Hanna; Zalewska, Gabriela. "Demografia | Wirtualny Sztetl". sztetl.org.pl. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
6. Franciszek Piper. "The Number of Victims" in Gutman, Yisrael & Berenbaum, Michael. Anatomy of the Auschwitz Death Camp, Indiana University Press, 1994; this edition 1998, p. 62.
7. Martin Gilbert. The Righteous: The Unsung Heroes of the Holocaust. Macmillan, 2003. pp 101.
8. John T. Pawlikowski, Polish Catholics and the Jews during the Holocaust, in, Google Print, p. 113 in Joshua D. Zimmerman, Contested Memories: Poles and Jews During the Holocaust and Its Aftermath, Rutgers University Press, 2003, ISBN   0-8135-3158-6
9. Andrzej Sławiński, Those who helped Polish Jews during WWII . Translated from Polish by Antoni Bohdanowicz. Article on the pages of the London Branch of the Polish Home Army Ex-Servicemen Association. Last accessed on 14 March 2008.
10. Tadeusz Piotrowski (1997). "Assistance to Jews". Poland's Holocaust . McFarland & Company. p.  118. ISBN   0-7864-0371-3.
11. Dariusz Libionka, "Polska ludność chrześcijańska wobec eksterminacji Żydów—dystrykt lubelski," in Dariusz Libionka, Akcja Reinhardt: Zagłada Żydów w Generalnym Gubernatorstwie Archived 4 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine (Warsaw: Instytut Pamięci Narodowej–Komisja Ścigania Zbrodni przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu, 2004), p.325. (in Polish)
12. The Righteous and their world. Markowa through the lens of Józef Ulma, by Mateusz Szpytma, Institute of National Remembrance
13. Instytut Pamięci Narodowej, Wystawa „Sprawiedliwi wśród Narodów Świata”– 15 czerwca 2004 r., Rzeszów. "Polacy pomagali Żydom podczas wojny, choć groziła za to kara śmierci – o tym wie większość z nas." (Exhibition "Righteous among the Nations." Rzeszów, 15 June 2004. Subtitled: "The Poles were helping Jews during the war – most of us already know that.") Last actualization 8 November 2008. (in Polish)
14. Jolanta Chodorska, ed., "Godni synowie naszej Ojczyzny: Świadectwa," Warsaw, Wydawnictwo Sióstr Loretanek, 2002, Part Two, pp.161–62. ISBN   83-7257-103-1 (in Polish)
15. Kalmen Wawryk, To Sobibor and Back: An Eyewitness Account (Montreal: The Concordia University Chair in Canadian Jewish Studies, and The Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies, 1999), pp.66–68, 71.
16. Bartoszewski and Lewinówna, Ten jest z ojczyzny mojej, Kraków: Wydawnictwo Znak, 1969, pp.533–34.
17. Grądzka-Rejak & Namysło 2022, p. 103.
18. Grądzka-Rejak & Namysło 2022, p. 103-104.
19. Donald L. Niewyk, Francis R. Nicosia, The Columbia Guide to the Holocaust, Columbia University Press, 2000, ISBN   0-231-11200-9, Google Print, p.114
20. Antony Polonsky, 'My Brother's Keeper?': Recent Polish Debates on the Holocaust, Routledge, 1990, ISBN   0-415-04232-1, Google Print, p.149
21. Holocaust Survivors and Remembrance Project: Poland
22. Robert D. Cherry, Annamaria Orla-Bukowska, Rethinking Poles and Jews: Troubled Past, Brighter Future, Rowman & Littlefield, 2007, ISBN   0-7425-4666-7, Google Print, p.5
23. Mordecai Paldiel, The Path of the Righteous: Gentile Rescuers of Jews, page 184. Published by KTAV Publishing House Inc.
24. Iwo Pogonowski, Jews in Poland, Hippocrene, 1998. ISBN   0-7818-0604-6. Page 99.
25. Unveiling the Secret City Archived 12 June 2007 at the Wayback Machine H-Net Review: John Radzilowski
26. Margaret Monahan Hogan, ed. (2011). "Remembering the Response of the Catholic Church" (PDF file, direct download 1.36 MB). History 1933 – 1948. What we choose to remember. University of Portland. pp. 85–97. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
27. John T. Pawlikowski. Polish Catholics and the Jews during the Holocaust: Heroism, Timidity, and Collaboration. In: Joshua D. Zimmerman, Contested Memories: Poles and Jews During the Holocaust and Its Aftermath, Rutgers University Press, 2003.
28. Anna Poray, "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 1 March 2008. Retrieved 2 September 2012.
29. W. Bartoszewski and Z. Lewinowna, Appeal by the Polish Underground Association For Aid to the Jews, Yad Vashem Remembrance Authority, 2004.
30. Anna Poray, "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 6 February 2008. Retrieved 6 February 2008.
31. Yad Vashem Remembrance Authority 2008, The Righteous: Anna Borkowska, Poland
32. ""Saving Jews: Polish Righteous" (b-v): Banasiewicz family including Franciszek, Magdalena, Maria, Tadeusz and Jerzy". 6 February 2008. Archived from the original on 6 February 2008. Retrieved 27 December 2012.
33. Anna Poray, "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 6 February 2008. Retrieved 6 February 2008.
34. Kystyna Danko, Poland; International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation
35. Anna Poray, "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 6 February 2008. Retrieved 15 June 2008.
36. About Maria Fedecka at www.mariafedecka.republika.pl Archived 19 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine , 2005
37. Anna Poray, "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 6 February 2008. Retrieved 10 June 2008., 2004.
38. Anna Poray, "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 6 February 2008. Retrieved 10 June 2008.
39. Anna Poray, "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 6 February 2008. Retrieved 25 August 2008.
40. The Righteous Among the Nations, Yad Vashem
41. Mordecai Paldiel, "Churches and the Holocaust: unholy teaching, good samaritans, and reconciliation" p.209-210, KTAV Publishing House, Inc., 2006, ISBN   0-88125-908-X, ISBN   978-0-88125-908-7
42. Cypora (Jablon) Zonszajn in Siedlce, Poland. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
43. Sylwia Kesler, Halina and Julian Grobelny as Righteous Among the Nations
44. Holocaust Memorial Center, 1988 – 2007, Opdyke, Irene; Righteous Gentile
45. Anna Poray, "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 6 February 2008. Retrieved 16 June 2006. Armia Krajowa mayor.
46. Stefan Jagodzinski at the www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org
47. Anna Poray, "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 6 February 2008. Retrieved 6 June 2008.
48. Poles Honoured by Israel, Warsaw Life news agency
49. Anna Poray, "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 6 February 2008. Retrieved 19 March 2015.
50. Anna Poray, "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 6 February 2008. Retrieved 19 March 2015.
51. Michael T. Kaufman, Jan Karski warns the West about Holocaust, The New York Times, 15 July 2000
52. Yad Vashem Remembrance Authority, The Tree in Honor of Zegota, 2008
53. "Maria Kotarba at www.auschwitz.org.pl" (PDF). Auschwitz.org.pl. Retrieved 27 December 2012.^{[ permanent dead link ]}
54. Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2008, The Righteous Among the Nations, 28 June 2003
55. Peggy Curran, "Pole to be honoured for sheltering Jews from Gestapo," Reprinted by the Canadian Foundation of Polish-Jewish Heritage, Montreal Chapter. Station Cote St.Luc, C. 284, Montreal QC, Canada H4V 2Y4. First published: Montreal Gazette, 5 August 2003, and: Montreal Gazette, 10 December 1994.
56. "Jerzy Jan Lerski. From biography featured in Historical Dictionary of Poland, 966–1945". Web.ku.edu. 27 December 2012.
57. March of the Living International, The Warsaw Ghetto Archived 5 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine
58. Anna Poray, "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 6 February 2008. Retrieved 2 September 2012.
59. Bartoszewski, Władysław; Lewinówna, Zofia (1970). "Franciszka Tusk-Scheinwechsler". In Jordan, Alexander T. (ed.). The Samaritans: Heroes of the Holocaust (English ed.). New York City: Twayne Publishers, Inc. pp. 237–244. OCLC   104602.
60. Komorowski, Andrzej (2020). Schollenberger, Antoni (ed.). "Wystąpienie prezesa Krajowej Rady Lekarsko Weterynaryjnej I i II kaden" [Speech by the President of the National Medical and Veterinary Council of the 1st and 2nd Term](PDF). Życie Weterynaryjne (in Polish). Warsaw: Krajowa Izba Lekarsko-Weterynaryjna. 95 (4): 199–201. ISSN   1689-0299 . Retrieved 30 April 2020.
61. David M. Crowe, The Holocaust: Roots, History, and Aftermath. Published by Westview Press. Page 180.
62. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original on 6 February 2008. Retrieved 23 May 2012.Polish Educational Foundation in North America, Toronto 2007. "Collective Rescue Efforts of the Poles", (pdf file: 1.44 MB).
63. Stefania and her younger sister Helena Podgorska, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, D.C., 2008
64. Anna Poray, "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 6 February 2008. Retrieved 5 July 2008.
65. "Urodziny s. Cecylii Marii Roszak – najstarszej zakonnicy na świecie". niedziela.pl.
66. www.mateusz.pl – interview with Konrad Rudnicki (Polish)
67. Monika Scislowska, Associated Press, 12 May 2008, "Irena Sendler, Holocaust hero dies at 98" . Retrieved 2 November 2012.
68. Instytut Pamięci Narodowej, „Sprawiedliwi wśród Narodów Świata” – Warszawa, 7 stycznia 2004
69. "Sunday – Catholic Magazine". Sunday.niedziela.pl. Retrieved 7 October 2011.
70. Anna Poray, "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 6 February 2008. Retrieved 16 June 2006.
71. Anna Poray, "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 6 February 2008. Retrieved 15 June 2008. . 2004
72. Yad Vashem Remembrance Authority, 2008, Hiding in Zoo Cages; Jan & Antonina Zabinski, Poland
73. Anna Poray, "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 6 February 2008. Retrieved 15 June 2008.

Bibliography

• Grądzka-Rejak, Martyna; Namysło, Aleksandra (2022). "Prawodawstwo niemieckie wobec Polaków i Żydów na terenie Generalnego Gubernatorstwa oraz ziem wcielonych do III Rzeszy. Analiza porównawcza" [German legislation towards Poles and Jews in the General Government and the lands incorporated into the Third Reich. Comparative analysis]. In Domański, Tomasz (ed.). Stan badań nad pomocą Żydom na ziemiach polskich pod okupacją niemiecką (in Polish). Warsaw: Institute of National Remembrance. ISBN   9788382294194. OCLC   1325606240.

References

• Polish Righteous at the Museum of the History of Polish Jews
• Anna Poray, "Saving Jews: Polish Righteous. Those Who Risked Their Lives," at the Wayback Machine (archived 6 February 2008) with photographs and bibliography, 2004. List of Poles recognized as "Righteous among the Nations" by Israel's Yad Vashem (31 December 1999), with 5,400 awards including 704 of those who paid with their lives for saving Jews.
• Piotr Zychowicz, Do Izraela z bohaterami: Wystawa pod Tel Awiwem pokaże, jak Polacy ratowali Żydów Archived 10 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine , Rp.pl, 18 November 2009 (in Polish)