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Polish Righteous among the Nations
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Polish citizens have the world's highest count^[1] of individuals awarded medals of Righteous among the Nations, given by the State of Israel to non-Jews who saved Jews from extermination during the Holocaust. There are 6,195^[2] Polish men and women recognized as "Righteous" to this day, amounting to over 25 per cent of the total number of 22,765 honorary titles awarded already.^[3][4]

It is estimated that in fact hundreds of thousands of Poles concealed and aided hundreds of thousands of their Polish-Jewish neighbors.^[5] Many of these initiatives were carried out by individuals, but there also existed organized networks of Polish resistance who was dedicated to aiding Jews–most notably, the Å»egota organization.

In German-occupied Poland the task of rescuing Jews was especially difficult and dangerous. All household members were punished by death if a Jew was found concealed in their home or on their property.^[4] Estimates of the number of Poles who were killed by the Nazis for aiding Jews, among them 704 posthumously honored with medals, go as high as tens of thousands.^[5][6][7]

[edit] Activities

Before World War II, Poland's Jewish community had numbered between 3,300,000^[8] and 3,500,000 persons or about 10 percent of the country's total population. During the Nazi German Holocaust, millions of deportees from nearly every European country were sent to the General Government.^[9] Soon after war had broken out, the Germans began their extermination of Polish Jews. Most of them were quickly rounded up and imprisoned in ghettos, which they were forbidden to leave.

Announcement of death penalty for Jews captured outside the Ghetto and for Poles helping Jews (November 1941)

Nazi German poster in German and Polish threatening death to any Pole who aided Jews (Warsaw, 1942)

NOTICE Concerning:
the Sheltering of Escaping Jews.
  –There is a need for a reminder, that in accordance with paragraph 3 of the decree of October 15, 1941, on the Limitation of Residence in 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.

Czästochowa 9/24/42  –  

Der Stadthauptmann
Dr. Franke

As it became apparent that not only were conditions in the ghettos terrible (hunger, diseases, etc.) but that the Jews were being singled out for extermination at Nazi concentration camps, they increasingly tried to escape and hide in order to survive the war. ^[10] Many Polish Gentiles concealed hundreds of thousands of their Jewish neighbors. Many of these efforts arose spontaneously from individual initiatives, but there were also organized networks dedicated to aiding the Jews.^[11]

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.^[12][13]

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 return them to their parents but nearly all of them had died 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.^[14]

Jews were saved by the entire communities (see their partial list) with everyone engaged, such as in the villages of Markowa^[15] and GÅuchw near ÅaÅ„cut,^[16] GÅwne, Ozorkw, Borkowo near Sierpc, Däbrowica near Ulanw, in GÅupianka near Otwock,^[17] Teresin near CheÅm^[18] Rudka, Jedlanka, Makoszka, TyÅmienica, and Bjki in Parczew-Ostrw Lubelski area,^[19] Mätw near GÅusk – where "almost the entire population" rescued Jews^[20] – and in many other places. Numerous families who concealed their Jewish neighbors paid the ultimate price for doing so.^[15] Most notably, several hundred Poles were massacred in SÅonim. In Huta Stara near Buczacz, all Polish Christians and the Jewish countrymen they protected, were burned alive in a church.^[21]

One postwar Polish source that studied the subject estimated that "the number of Jews hiding in Poland – most of them helped in some way by Gentiles – ran into the hundreds of thousands." Another informed Polish source estimated that "the number of Jews sheltered by Poles" at one time might have been "as high as 450,000."^[5] However, concealment was no guarantee of safety. Estimates of Jewish survivors of the war in Poland are lower, since many Poles and Jews were caught by the Germans, and range from about 40,000 to 200,000.^[5]

[edit] Risk

Capital punishment of entire families, for aiding Jews, was the most draconian such Nazi practice against any nation in occupied Europe.^[4][22][23] On November 10, 1941, the death penalty was expanded by Hans Frank to apply to Poles who helped Jews "in any way: by taking them in for the night, giving them a lift in a vehicle of any kind" or "feed[ing] runaway Jews or sell[ing] them foodstuffs." The law was made public by posters distributed in all major cities. Polish rescuers were fully conscious of the dangers facing them and their families not only from the Germans but also from betrayers (see:szmalcownik) within the local population.^[24]

Over 700 Polish "Righteous among the Nations" received their medals of honor posthumously, being murdered by the Germans for aiding or sheltering their Jewish neighbors.^[6] Estimates of the number of Poles who were killed for aiding Jews range in the tens of thousands.^[5][6]

Gunnar S. Paulsson, in his work on the Jews of Warsaw, 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, supposedly less antisemitic countries of Western Europe.^[25]

[edit] Numbers

As of 2008, there were 6,066 officially recognized Polish Righteous–the highest count among nations of the world.^[4] 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."^[26]

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.^[26] WÅadysÅaw Bartoszewski, a wartime member of Å»egota, estimates that "at least several hundred thousand Poles... participated in various ways and forms in the rescue action."^[5] Recent research supports estimates that about a million Poles were involved in such rescue efforts,^[5] "but some estimates go as high as 3 million"^[5] (the total prewar population of Polish citizens, including Jews, was estimated at 35,100,000, including 23,900,000 ethnic Poles^[8]).

How many people in Poland rescued Jews? Of those that meet Yad Vashem's criteria–perhaps 100,000. Of those that offered minor forms of help–perhaps two or three times as many. Of those who were passively protective–undoubtedly the majority of the population. – Gunnar S. Paulsson ^[27]

Scholars still disagree on exact numbers. Father John T. Pawlikowski remarked that the hundreds of thousands of rescuers strike him as inflated.^[28] Historian Martin Gilbert has written that rescuers were an exception, albeit one that could be found in towns and villagers throughout Poland during the war.^{[29][verification needed]}

[edit] Misconception

Prior to 1941 German invasion of the USSR (see: Operation Barbarossa), local population in Soviet occupied Poland had witnessed the repressions and mass deportation of up to 1.5 million ethnic Poles to Siberia, conducted by the NKVD,^[30] with some of the local Jews collaborating with them and forming armed militias. There were also incidents of Jewish Communists betraying Polish victims to the NKVD.^[31][32] The Anti-Semitic attitudes in those areas had been exploited by the Nazi Einsatzgruppen who induced anti-Jewish pogroms on the order of Reinhard Heydrich,^[33][34] such as the Jedwabne pogrom, an atrocity committed by a group of ethnic Poles in the presence of German gendarmerie.^[35] There were also a number of criminal or opportunist Poles (known as szmalcownicy) who blackmailed the Jews in hiding and their Polish rescuers or turned them over to the Germans for financial gains. Poles collaborating with the Germans in the prosecution of Jews however were few and estimates speak of several thousand^[5] (see World War II collaboration and Poland for details). As Paulsson notes, "a single hooligan or blackmailer could wreak severe damage on Jews in hiding, but it took the silent passivity of a whole crowd to maintain their cover."^[25]

The fact that the Polish Jewish community was decimated during World War II, coupled with well-known collaboration stories, has contributed to a stereotype of the Polish population having been passive in regard to, or even supportive of, Jewish suffering.^[27][36]

[edit] Notable persons

Adamowicz Bartoszewski Grobelny Karski WoliÅ„ski KamiÅ„ski Jzef Adamowicz, delivered food for dr Julian Aleksandrowicz in Krakw ghetto, beaten to death by ghetto guards[37] Irena Adamowicz, liaison between several Jewish ghettos providing communication and moral support [38] Wincenty Antonowicz with wife Jadwiga and daughter Lucyna, food and transport [37] Ferdynand ArczyÅ„ski took care of 4,000 Jews on the "Aryan" side of Warsaw (Zegota treasurer) [39] WÅadysÅaw Bartoszewski, Jewish Uprising assistance (Delegatura) [40][41] Anna Borkowska, saved 17 young Jewish Zionists in her Vilna convent [42] Franciszek and Magdalena Banasiewicz with children, saved families of 15 in a bunker near PrzemyÅl[43] Szczepan BradÅo and family, saved three families of 16 in a dugout [44] Kystyna Danko, hid and supplied a Jewish family of four with food, clothing and money [45] Jan DobraczyÅ„ski, placed Jewish children in Catholic convents [46] Maria Fedecka, saved 12 members of close Jewish families in Wilno [47][48] MieczysÅaw Fogg, hid a Jewish family in his apartment till the end of World War II [49] Andrzej GarbuliÅ„ski and son, killed for sheltering Alfenbeins family [50] Antoni GawryÅkiewicz, saved three Jewish families consisting of 16 members [51] Julian Grobelny with wife Halina, rescued a large number of Jewish children (President of Zegota) [52] Irena Gut, rescued sixteen Jews by becoming Nazi mistress [53][54] Henryk IwaÅ„ski, arms and military support for the Jewish Uprising, (AK) [55] Stefan JagodziÅ„ski, saved Dr. Tenenwurzel's family of three (member of resistance)[56] StanisÅaw JasiÅ„ski and daughter Emilia, hid Jews who escaped volhynian massacres [57] Jerzy and Eugenia LatoszyÅ„ski, temporarily adopting Artur Citryn [58] Aleksander KamiÅ„ski, helped organize Jewish resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto (Home Army representative) [59] Jan Karski, first reported the Holocaust to President Franklin D. Roosevelt [60][61] Zofia Kossak-Szczucka, helped save several thousand Jews, especially children (co-founder of Å»egota) [62]

Kotarba Sendler Weigl Newerly Lerski KorboÅ„ski Maria Kotarba, "Angel of Auschwitz" delivering food and medicine, cooking for Jewish female prisoners [63] WÅadysÅaw Kowalski, hid 50 Jews around Warsaw (Philips employee) [64] Stefan KorboÅ„ski, alerted London and the BBC about the ongoing destruction of the Jews, to no avail (Delegatura) [59] Jerzy and Irena Kräpeä saved over 30 Jews on their two rented estates near PÅock [65] Jerzy Jan Lerski (George J. Lerski) informed political circles abroad about the extermination and persecution of Jews [66] Igor Newerly, saved Janusz Korczak's diary of martyrdom, harboured several Warsaw Ghetto journalists [67][68] WacÅaw NowiÅ„ski, his wife Janina and son WacÅaw, a policeman sheltering families [69] Tadeusz Pankiewicz, operated the only pharmacy in the Jewish Ghetto of Krakw and distributed free medicine [70] Alfreda and BolesÅaw Pietraszek, rescued several Jewish families consisting of 18 people[71] The Podgrski sisters (Stefania, 16, and Helena, 6), hid 13 Jews for two and a half years [72] Jan and Anna Puchalski hid 6 Jews at their house for 17 months in ÅosoÅna [73] Konrad Rudnicki and his mother Maria harbored the Weintraubs family during World War II [74] Irena Sendlerowa, helped rescue at least 2,500 Jewish children from the Warsaw Ghetto [75] Henryk SÅawik, helped save over 5,000 Polish Jews in Budapest by giving them false 'arian' passports [76] Barbara and son Jerzy Szacki, harboured a pregnant Ghetto fugitive with a 5-year-old, helped with the newborn [77] Jzef Tkaczyk, his wife Zofia and daughter Genowefa, (Silesia) [78] Jzef and Wiktoria Ulma from Markowa, harbored 8 Jews, killed together with them, and their own 6 children by German police [79] CzesÅaw MiÅosz Rudolf Weigl, made and supplied vaccines to two Jewish ghettos, employed Jews in hiding.[80] Henryk WoliÅ„ski, harbored 25 Jews in his apartment, helped 283 (AK BIP) [81] Jerzy Zagrski and wife Maria, harbored 18 Jews in their home before the Warsaw Uprising [82] Jan Å»abiÅ„ski and wife Antonina, sheltered hundreds of displaced Jews at his Warsaw Zoo [83][84]

[edit] See also

• Zofia Baniecka with mother, rescued over 50 Jews in their Warsaw apartment between 1941 and 1944
• Holocaust in Poland
• Polish death camp controversy
• History of the Jews in Poland

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• Polish Righteous at Museum of The History of Polish Jews
• Anna Poray, Polish Righteous: Those Who Risked Their Lives, with photographs and bibliography, 2004. Lists 5,400 Poles recognized as "Righteous among the Nations" by Israel's Yad Vashem (December 31, 1999), including 704 who paid with their lives for saving Jews.
• (Polish) Piotr Zychowicz, Do Izraela z bohaterami: Wystawa pod Tel Awiwem pokaÅe, jak Polacy ratowali Å»ydw, Rp.pl, 18-11-2009