Polish Righteous Among the Nations - Part 2
From Wikipedia with citations from Yad Vashem
PART 1: Adamowicz - Gut
PART 2: Iwanski - Krepec - See Below
PART 3: Latoszynski - Rudnicki
PART 4: Sendler - Zagorski
Henryk Iwański, arms and military support for the Jewish Uprising, (AK) [44]
“Henryk Iwański (1902-1978), nom de guerre Bystry, was a member of the Polish resistance during World War II. He is known for leading one of the most daring actions of the Armia Krajowa (Home Army) in support of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, however later research cast doubts on the veracity of his claims.[1] For his assistance to the Polish Jews Iwański was bestowed the title of the Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem in Jerusalem in 1964.[2]
“Before the Second World War Henryk had reached the rank of captain in the Polish Army. Soon after Nazi Germany invaded Poland and began the Holocaust, Henryk was instrumental in the founding of the Żydowski Związek Wojskowy (Jewish Military Union).[3] Together with the rest of his family he dedicated himself to support the Jews, working through the Polish resistance (Armia Krajowa). Iwański was one of the AK members dealing with the Jews, providing them with arms, ammunition, and instructional materials smuggled through the sewers or in carts that brought lime and cement into the ghetto.
"…heavy casualties were sustained by the ZZW, losing many of its leading fighters. Apfelbaum and Rodal were mortally wounded in fighting that raged on April 27 and 28. Iwanski's brother, Edvard, fell in Muranowska Square, his son, Roman was mortally wounded, and Iwanski himself was wounded during those days."[4]
“Zbigniew, another son of Henryk fought on Karmelicka Street and died on May 3, 1943, escorting a group of Jews out of the ghetto. After being wounded, Iwański was brought from the ghetto, escorted by a group of Polish and Jewish fighters, among them Ber Mark, who later wrote a book about the Uprising. Nonetheless, Iwański returned to the ghetto at least once more, bringing another set of ammunition and supplies.[5][6][7] This was one of several actions of the Polish resistance aiding Jews in the ghetto.[6]
In 1963, for his actions Iwański was awarded the Silver Cross of Virtuti Militari, one of Poland's highest military decorations for valor. Soon later, in 1964, with his wife Wiktoria he was decorated with the medal of Righteous Among the Nations”.[8]
Notes
1. Joshua D. Zimmerman (5 June 2015). The Polish Underground and the Jews, 1939–1945. Cambridge University Press. p. 218.
2. Henryk Iwański – his activity to save Jews' lives during the Holocaust, at Yad Vashem website
3. "Artykul-Polskie Niezalezne Media". Zaprasza.net.
4. Moshe Arens, "The Changing Face of Memory—Who defended the Warsaw Ghetto?"
5. Archived September 11, 2006,
6. "Korbonski - Jews Under Occupation". Ucis.pitt.edu.
7. Nechama Tec (22 October 1987). When Light Pierced the Darkness: Christian Rescue of Jews in Nazi-Occupied Poland. Oxford University Press. p. 124.
8. "Iwański Henryk & Iwańska Wiktoria". The Righteous Among The Nations Database. Yad Vashem. Retrieved 2020-10-26.
9. Dariusz Libionka and Laurence Weinbaum. Deconstructing Memory and History: The Jewish Military Union (ZZW) and the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Jewish Political Studies Review 18:1-2 (Spring 2006).
10. Yitzhak Zuckerman. A Surplus of Memory: Chronicle of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. University of California Press, 1993, pp. 410-12; 415.
11. Dariusz Libionka & Laurence Weinbaum - Bohaterowie, hochsztaplerzy, opisywacze Wokół Żydowskiego Związku Wojskowego (Warsaw: Stowarzyszenie Centrum Badań nad Zagładą Żydów, 2011).
Iwański, Henryk
Iwańska, Wiktoria
“Henryk Iwański’s struggle against the German occupier began when, under the code name “Bystry” [“Swift”], he joined the ZWZ (Związek Walki Zbrojnej – Union for Armed Struggle), which later became the AK [Home Army]. According to statements by Iwanski and some of his colleagues, he was an officer in an underground Polish formation called the KB (Security Corps). A number of persons testified on his behalf and described how both Iwański and his wife, Wiktoria, helped Jews despite the risk involved. Iwańska used to smuggle weapons and ammunition into the ghetto for activists of the ŻZW (Żydowski Zwiazek Wojskowy – Jewish Military Union), while Iwański took care of Jews who escaped to the Aryan side of the city. During the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in April 1943, the Iwańskis intensified their efforts to help the ZZW, took care of fugitives and found them hiding places. Iwański himself fought alongside the Jews in Muranowski Square. In throwing in their lot with the Jews, the Iwańskis were guided by nationalist motives, and a sense of obligation to help those who were being persecuted by a common enemy.
“On December 13, 1964, Yad Vashem recognized Wiktoria and Henryk Iwański as Righteous Among the Nations.
“A 2011 Study of the ZZW by Dariusz Libionka and Laurence Weinbaum found inconsistencies regarding the nature and extent of Iwanski's support for the Jewish underground and brought allegations that Iwanski exaggerated his war time activities”.
Stefan Jagodziński, saved Dr. Tenenwurzel's family of three [45] member of resistance
“Stefan Jagodziński lived in Stary Korczyn near Kraków during the Nazi German occupation of Poland in World War II. He worked for the Polish underground and was wanted by the Gestapo. Jagodziński was recognized as the Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem in Jerusalem in 1986, for rescuing a Jewish family from the Holocaust.[1][2]
“In late 1942, through his underground contacts Jagodziński came to the aid of Dr. Bronislaw Tenenwurzel's family interned in the Miechów Ghetto near Kraków. Earlier, Tenenwurzels sent their 14-year-old son to a Cistercian monastery in the nearby village of Mogiła. The boy disliked it and ran away. A Polish friend sent him to stay with Stefan Jagodziński instead, both under assumed names. Together they became active in the Underground.[2] Soon the boy's Jewish identity became publicly known and so, under a new threat they moved to Kraków, from where, thanks to Jagodziński's contacts, Emanuel was smuggled to Hungary. He lived there until liberation in early 1945. Meanwhile, Stefan Jagodziński aided Tenenwurzel's mother and sister with forged “Aryan” papers upon their escape from the Miechów ghetto. Their father was killed in the Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp.
“In the following decades Emanuel Tenenwurzel remained in contact with his wartime savior while living in the United States. Thanks to his efforts, on July 24, 1986, Yad Vashem recognized Stefan Jagodziński as the Righteous Among the Nations.[1]
Jagodziński, Stefan
“During the war, Dr. Bronisław Tenenwurzel, his wife Betty, and their two children, Emanuel, and Ruth, was interned in the Miechow ghetto, near Krakow. In late 1942, when the ghetto was about to be liquidated, Tenenwurzel, with the help of a Polish acquaintance, sent his 14-year-old son, Emanuel, to a monastery in Mogila. However, after rumor spread in the monastery that Tenenwurzel was Jewish, he decided to escape. “The Polish acquaintance that had helped him in the past once again came to his aid, arranging for him to stay with his friend, Stefan Jagodziński, who lived in Stary Korczyn. Tenenwurzel and Jagodziński used false names – Tenenwurzel because he was Jewish, and Jagodziński, because as an activist in the Polish underground, he was wanted by the Gestapo. In time, the two became friends, and worked together for the underground. Their friendship continued, even after Jagodziński found out that Tenenwurzel was Jewish. When the local inhabitants discovered Tenenwurzel’s true identity, the two friends decided it was time to move on. However, the rumor that Tenenwurzel was Jewish reached their new place, too. A day before the Gestapo came to arrest them, the two friends escaped to Krakow, and then, through Jagodziński’s ties with the underground, he smuggled his friend over the border to Hungary, where he was liberated by the Red Army in early 1945. Jagodziński also helped Tenenwurzel’s mother and sister, who fled from the Miechow ghetto, by providing them with “Aryan” documents, which saved their lives.
“His attempt to provide Tenenwurzel’s father, Bronisław, with forged documents failed, and he was shot to death in the Plaszow camp. As a member of the underground, Jagodziński considered saving Jews a personal obligation, and was guided by his fierce loyalty to his friend, which triumphed over adversity. After the war, Tenenwurzel’s mother and sister immigrated to Australia and Tenenwurzel, (later Dr. Emanuel Tanay), immigrated to theUnited States and, in 1989, hosted Jagodziński in his house. On July 24, 1986, Yad Vashem recognized Stefan Jagodziński as Righteous Among the Nations”.
Stanisław Jasiński and daughter Emilia, hid Jews who escaped the Volhynian massacres [46]
“Stanisław Jasiński and his daughter, Emilia Słodkowska née Jasińska, risked their lives and the lives of their families during the Holocaust in order to save Jews from extermination by the Ukrainian Nationalists and the Nazis. They were awarded the medals of Righteous among the Nations (Hebrew: חסידי אומות העולם, Chassidey Umot HaOlam) bearing their name, a certificate of honor, and the privilege of having their names added to those on the Wall of Honor in the Garden of the Righteous at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, on February 28, 1985.[1] Stanisław Jasiński received his title posthumously.[2]
“At the onset of World War II, Stanisław Jasiński – who was already blind and elderly – lived on a farm surrounded by forest, on the outskirts of Kostopol in Wołyń Voivodeship (Volhynia) in south-eastern Poland. He was being cared for by his daughter Emilia. They shared the house together with her husband and their three children.[3] In September 1942, the German SS accompanied by the Ukrainian auxiliary police began hunting down Polish Jews in the area. In nearby villages of Małe Siedliszcze and Antonowka,[4] consecutively, the Jews were massacred in the woods, after being forced first to dig their own mass graves. There were two brothers, who escaped both pogroms, Szmuel and Josef Liderman.[5] They ran across the fields from Siedliszcze to Antonowka, and then again, half naked away from the execution pit while it was being dug. They were shot at, and Szmuel was injured in the hand. Naked and exhausted, the two reached the house of Stanisław Jasiński, who was an acquaintance of their murdered father, from before the Invasion of Poland. Jasiński family took in the two Jewish escapees. Emilia bandaged Szmuel's hand, and clothed them both. The brothers were put in the barn, where they slept on straw mattresses. They were housed and fed without recompense. After a few days, two more Jews showed up at Jasinski's house, Szaje Odler and Akiba Kremer. They had also escaped the massacres in local forests, and like the other two, were given shelter and assistance.[1]
“Once the four refugees rested enough, it was decided that a bunker would be dug beneath the cowshed, as a more permanent hideout for themselves, with the Nazi threat of the death penalty looming over everyone, including the Jasiński children. However, the place became unsafe after just two months, as soon as the Jasinskis became widely known as sheltering Jews on their farm. The fugitives left and hid even deeper in the forest, where they remained until the arrival of the Red Army in July 1944. They were lucky enough to survive the massacres of Poles in Volhynia by Ukrainian nationalists which went on since 1943, however, they were caught by the Ukrainian assassins in August 1944 already behind the Russian front. Akiba Kremer, Szaje Odler and Josef Liderman were murdered. After the war – once her father died – Emilia Slodkowska emigrated to the United States. Szmuel Liderman, who was the only surviving fugitive hidden by her, learned about her address years later and the two began corresponding.[1] He submitted a deposition on her behalf to Yad Vashem; and, on February 28, 1985, Yad Vashem awarded the title of Righteous Among the Nations to both, Stanisław Jasiński (posthumously) and his daughter, Emilia Słodkowska (née Jasińska) for their bravery”.[2]
Notes
1. Yad Vashem The Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority, Stanislaw Jasinski and his daughter, Emilia Slodkowska (née Jasinska) 2008
2. Gazeta Wyborcza, November 17, 2008, Rozdanie medali Sprawiedliwych wśród Narodów Świata Agora SA
3. Jewish Virtual Library, Stanislaw Jasinski & Emilia Slodkowska nee Jasinska The American-Israeli Cooperative, 2009
4. Avraham Klevan, transcription, editing and research by Ada Holtzman, "We Remember The Jewish Communities Of Poland" April 18, 2006. According to Article in YV Pinkas Hakehilot Vol V - p.147-148, the number of the Jews living in Małe Siedliszcze village (Kostopol county) in Wołyń Voivodeship (Volhynia) before the Ukrainian massacres amounted to 663 men, women and children. In the nearby village of Antonowka, the number of Jewish inhabitants is estimated at 750-482. Vol V - p. 45-46).
Jasiński, Stanisław
Słodkowska-Jasińska, Emilia
“Emilia One day in September 1942, German and Ukrainian policemen appeared at dawn in Siedliszcze Male, near the town of Kostopol, in the Wolyn district. The Germans rounded up all the Jews living there and executed them along with other Jews from the vicinity. Two brothers, Józef and Shmuel Liderman, managed to flee the massacre, and made their way through the fields to the village of Antonowka, near the city of Rowne, where Jews were still living. Shortly thereafter, the Jews of Antonowka were also murdered in the forest that bordered on the village, after having been forced to dig their own mass grave. While the Jews were digging the grave, the Liderman brothers broke into a run, although the Germans were shooting at them and wounded Shmuel in the hand. After fleeing, the two, naked and exhausted, arrived at the home of Stanisław Jasiński, who had known their dead father. Jasiński lived in an isolated house inside the forest with his daughter Emilia, her husband, and their three children. Although before the war, the relations between Jasiński, who was old and blind, and the boys’ father had not been good, he opened his home to the two Jewish refugees, and assured them that “everything that has been forgotten.” Emilia took good care of the Liderman brothers, bandaged Shmuel’s hand, and gave them clothing and food. Without asking anything in return, Jasiński instructed his daughter to allow the boys to lie down and rest in the hayloft, and after they recovered, to dig themselves an underground hiding place, under the barn.
“A few days later, two more Jews, who had also survived the massacre in the forest, knocked on Jasiński’s door. They were Akiba Kremer and Shaya Odler, who also were provided with a hiding place and food. Two months later, after a rumor spread in the area that Jasiński was hiding Jews on his farm, the four refugees were forced to leave Jasiński’s home and hide deep inside the forest, where they remained until their liberation in July 1944. A month after the liberation, Ukrainian nationalists murdered Akiba Kremer, Shaya Odler and Józef Liderman. After her father’s death, Emilia Słodkowska emigrated to the United States, and many years later, when Shmuel managed to locate her, the two began to correspond regularly. On February 28, 1985, Yad Vashem recognized Stanisław Jasiński and his daughter Emilia Słodkowska neé Jasińska as Righteous Among the Nations”. File 3122.
Aleksander Kamiński, helped organize Jewish resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto (Home Army representative) [48]
“Aleksander Kamiński, assumed name: Aleksander Kędzierski. Also known under aliases such as Dąbrowski, J. Dąbrowski, Fabrykant, Faktor, Juliusz Górecki, Hubert, Kamyk, Kaźmierczak, Bambaju (born 28 January 1903 in Warsaw, died 15 March 1978) – a teacher, educator, professor of humanities, co-founder of Cub Scouts methodology, scout instructor, scoutmaster, soldier of the Home Army and one of the ideological leaders of the Grey Ranks, chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the Polish Scouting Association.
“Janina Kamińska's husband, Polish archaeologist, educator and instructor of the Polish Scouting Association, father of Ewa Rzetelska-Feleszko (linguistics professor).
“Born in Warsaw, as a son of Jan Kamiński (pharmacist) and Petronela Kaźmierczak. In 1905, the family moved to Kiev, where Kamiński graduated from the Russian 4th grade general school. In 1914, he moved to Rostov and in 1916 to Uman.
“Hard financial conditions (his father died in 1911) forced him to work as a bank messenger since around 1916. Since January 1918, a member of the 1st Men's Scouting Team "Tadeusz Kościuszko" in Uman. Kamiński held ranks of patrol leader, adjutant, team captain and troop adjutant since summer of 1919, and captain of the Uman Nest since May 1920 (which included male and female scouts).
Since 1918 student in the Polish high school in Uman.
“After returning to Poland (in March 1921), he continued his education at the Kazimierz Kulwieć Middle School in Warsaw, where he received his maturity diploma in June 1922. Kamiński then studied history at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Warsaw and received his master's degree in January 1928.
“During his studies, he continued to work on a regular basis: from 1922, he was an assistant to the teacher, a teacher, and later head of the boarding house of the Central Welfare Council in Pruszków, from 1929 he worked as a history teacher at Saint Stanislaw Kostka Gymnasium in Warsaw, and from 1930 to 1931 he was the head of the boarding house of the Union of Military Settlers for the youth of vocational schools at Młocińska Street. Kamiński co-founded and then became a member of the governing bodies of the Educational Trade Union.
“After the outbreak of the war, evacuated in September 1939 from Silesia, he arrived in Warsaw around 12 September and joined the Scouting Rescue Headquarters. After the surrender of the capital, he managed a temporary orphanage for children orphaned during the siege of Warsaw.
“In conspiracy since October 1939, he was a member of the strict Headquarters ("Pasieka") of the Grey Ranks. Since that month Kamiński was also active in the Service for Poland's Victory. He became the initiator, organizer and then editor-in-chief of the "Information Bulletin"[1] (issued weekly since 5 November 1939 by the Warsaw-City District SZP-ZWZ-AK, and since spring of 1941 by the Home Army Headquarters, the most important conspiratorial newspaper in occupied Poland – circulation up to 47 thousand). During his work in the paper, he used his alias "Kaźmierczak", and since November 1942 "Hubert", as well as "Fabrykant" and "Kamyk". He was also the author of most of the introductory articles in the "Information Bulletin."
“In "Przeglad Propagandowy" (1943 No. 2), under the alias "Hubert", Kamiński published an article "Podstawy ideowe propagandy wojskowej" (The Ideological Basics of Military Propaganda).
“At the same time, in April 1941 Kamiński succeeded Captain Zygmunt Hempel in leading the BiP Division of the Warsaw-City District of ZWZ – Warsaw District of the Home Army under the alias "Faktor", and from November 1942 – "Fabrykant". Among other things, a cell called "Sztuka" (Art) was created, which initiated works of art, which were distributed or exhibited during the occupation (puppet theatre, caricatures, songs). He organized and then supervised the work of the Propaganda Commission (KOPR), which since spring of 1942 had been producing the entire publishing output of the Home Army Warsaw District Headquarters. He remained the head of BiP of the Warsaw Home Army District Headquarters until June 1944.
“At the same time, from 1941 until the outbreak of the Warsaw uprising, under the alias "Hubert", Kamiński was a counterintelligence officer in the unit II of the Main Headquarters of ZWZ-AK.
“Creator of the concept, founder and since December 1940 commander-in-chief of the Small Sabotage Organization "Wawer" under the pseudonym "Dąbrowski". At that time, he wrote an article titled "Little Sabotage" (Information Bulletin, 1 September 1940). The best known and most visible effects of Wawer's activity include drawings of the "anchor" of the Fighting Poland and "V" signs, as well as anti-German inscriptions in public places, distribution of leaflets, gassing of cinemas and megaphone actions. Kamiński personally participated in the first series of such actions – destruction of exhibitions of photographers showing photographs of uniformed Germans (5 December 1940).
“Kamiński is the author of one of the most famous books of occupied Warsaw, "Kamienie na szaniec" (Stones for the Rampart), which was first published in July 1943. He wrote the book on the basis of Tadeusz "Zośka" Zawadzki's account of his colleagues from the 23rd Warsaw Scouting Team, including Jan Bytnar and Aleksy Dawidowski, written after the Arsenal action in April 1943.[2]
“He was also the author of The Great Game (the first edition was destroyed in 1942 by order of the Home Army Main Command as it was deconspirating the methods of underground combat, the second edition was not distributed due to the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising, the third edition – Warsaw 1981) and "Przodownik. Podręcznik dla kierowników oddziałów Zawiszy" ("The Leader. Manual for Branch Managers of Zawisza") (part 1–2, December 1942, edition II 1943, edition III 1944).
“In April 1944, Kamiński was placed by the counterintelligence of the National Armed Forces (NSZ) on one of the so-called proscription lists (it included the names of people suspected of being leftist, Communist and/or Jewish in origin).[3] In the NSZ document Aleksander Kamiński was described as "a Jew-lover who always inclined towards the extreme left-communist".[3]
“During the Warsaw uprising he continued to be the editor-in-chief of the "Information Bulletin" (which at that time was already published openly as a daily newspaper) until the last issue on 4 October 1944.
“On 30 September 1944 the head of the Home Army Headquarters, Colonel Jan Rzepecki, alias Chairman, applied for Kamiński's promotion to the rank of Second Lieutenant of the Polish Army (WP) Reserve. After the capitulation of the Warsaw Uprising, he was no longer involved in any underground activity.
“After retiring in 1972, he returned to Warsaw, where he died on 15 March 1978. Buried at the Powązki Military Cemetery, Warsaw, in the quarters of the Home Army Scouting Battalion "Zoska" (A20-1-13).[7] In the end Kamiński rested next to Rudy, Alek and Zośka, who were so close to him as the heroes of "Stones for the Rampart".
“On 5 May 1991, Yad Vashem posthumously awarded Aleksander Kamiński the title of "Righteous Among the Nations" for his help given during the occupation to members of the Jewish scouts' organization and the Jewish resistance movement.” [8][1][9][10]
Kamiński, Aleksander
“Before the war, Aleksander Kamiński was active in the Polish Scouts Movement and had contacts with Jewish-Zionist Scouts organizations including Hashomer Hatza‘ir. During the occupation, Kamiński was an underground activist in Warsaw, and editor-in-chief of the AK underground paper, Biuletyn Informacyjny. Kamiński exploited his position to publish information about the fate of the Jews under the Nazi occupation. He refused to sever his ties with his acquaintance from the Jewish Scouts movements who were being persecuted by the Germans – their common enemy. Kamiński collaborated with Irena Adamowicz*, and was in contact with Jerzy Grosberg, a member of Hashomer Hatza‘ir, and with other Jewish underground activists, both in the ghetto and on the Aryan side of the city. He kept in close touch with Yitzhak Cukierman, a leader of the "Jewish Fighting Organization,” and provided many Jews with “Aryan” documents. Even after the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, he helped the surviving members of the ghetto underground. Among the Jews he helped were Luba Gewisser, a member of the Warsaw ghetto underground who, at her commanders’ instructions, crossed over to the Aryan side of the city where Kamiński found her an apartment, provided her with forged documents, and helped her until the area was liberated by the Red Army. On May 5, 1991, Yad Vashem recognized Aleksander Kamiński as Righteous Among the Nations. File 4920”
Jan Karski, first reported the Holocaust to President Franklin D. Roosevelt [49][50]
“Jan Karski (24 June 1914[a] – 13 July 2000) 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 death camps on Polish soil that were murdering Jews, Poles, and others.
“Emigrating to the United States after the war, Karski completed a doctorate and taught for decades at Georgetown University in international relations and Polish history. He lived in Washington, D.C., to the end of his life. He did not speak publicly about his wartime missions until 1981, when he was invited as a speaker to a conference on the liberation of the camps. Karski was featured in Claude Lanzmann's nine-hour film Shoah (1985), about the Holocaust, based on oral interviews with Jewish and Polish survivors. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Karski was honored by the new Polish government, as well as being honored in the US and European nations for his wartime role. In 2010 Lanzmann released a short documentary, The Karski Report, which contained more about Karski's meetings with President Franklin D. Roosevelt and other US leaders in 1943.[1]
Karski later stated: "I wanted to save millions, and I was not able to save one man."[2]
“Jan Karski was born Jan Kozielewski on 24 June 1914 in Łódź, [a] Poland.[7] Karski was born on St John's Day, and named Jan (the Polish equivalent of John), following the Polish custom of naming children after the saint(s) of their birthday. His baptismal record—in error—listed 24 April as his birthdate, as Karski explained later in interviews on several occasions (see Waldemar Piasecki's biography of Karski, One Life, as well as published interviews with his family).[3]
“Karski had several brothers and one sister. The children were raised as Catholics and Karski remained a Catholic throughout his life. His father died when he was young, and the family struggled financially. Karski grew up in a multi-cultural neighborhood, where a majority of the populace was Jewish.
“After military training at the school for mounted artillery officers in Włodzimierz Wołyński, he graduated with a First in the Class of 1936 and was ordered to the 5th Regiment of Mounted Artillery, the same unit where Colonel Józef Beck, later Poland's Foreign Affairs Minister, served.
“Karski completed his diplomatic apprenticeship between 1935 and 1938 at various posts in Romania (twice), Germany, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, and went on to join the diplomatic service. After completing and gaining a First in Grand Diplomatic Practice, on 1 January 1939 he started work in the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“During the Polish September Campaign, Kozielewski's 5th Regiment was part of the Kraków Cavalry Brigade, under General Zygmunt Piasecki, a unit of the Armia Kraków defending the area between Zabkowice and Częstochowa. After the Battle of Tomaszów Lubelski on 10 September 1939, some units, including Kozielewski's 1st Battery, 5th Regiment, tried to reach Hungary, but were captured by the Red Army between 17 and 20 September. Kozielewski was held prisoner in the Kozielszczyna camp (presently in Ukraine). He successfully concealed his true rank of second lieutenant and, after a uniform exchange, was identified by the NKVD commander as a private. He was transferred to the Germans as a person born in Łódź, which was incorporated into the Third Reich, and thus escaped the Katyn massacre of Polish officers by the Soviets.[8]
Resistance
“In November 1939 Karski was among POWs on a train bound for a POW camp in the General Government zone, a part of Poland that had not been fully incorporated into The Third Reich. He escaped and made his way to Warsaw. There he joined the SZP (Służba Zwycięstwu Polski)—the first resistance movement in occupied Europe, organized by General Michał Karaszewicz-Tokarzewski, the predecessor to ZWZ, later the Home Army (AK).
“About that time Kozielewski adopted the nom de guerre, Jan Karski, which he later made his legal name. Other names used by him during World War II included Piasecki, Kwaśniewski, Znamierowski, Kruszewski, Kucharski, and Witold. In January 1940 Karski began to organize courier missions to transport dispatches from the Polish underground to the Polish government-in-exile, then based in Paris. As a courier, Karski made several secret trips between France, Britain, and Poland. During one such mission in July 1940, he was arrested by the Gestapo in the Tatra Mountains in Slovakia. Tortured, he was transported to a hospital in Nowy Sącz, from which he was smuggled out with the help of Józef Cyrankiewicz. After a short period of rehabilitation, he returned to active service in the Information and Propaganda Bureau of the headquarters of the Polish Home Army.
“In 1942, Karski was selected by Cyryl Ratajski, the Polish Government Delegate's Office at Home, to undertake a secret mission to see prime minister Władysław Sikorski in London. Karski was to contact Sikorski, as well as various other Polish politicians, and brief them on Nazi atrocities in occupied Poland. In order to gather evidence, Karski met Bund activist Leon Feiner. He was twice smuggled by the Jewish underground into the Warsaw Ghetto in order to directly observe what was happening to Polish Jews.[9]
“My job was just to walk. And observe. And remember. The odour. The children. Dirty. Lying. I saw a man standing with blank eyes. I asked the guide: what is he doing? The guide whispered: “He’s just dying”. I remember degradation, starvation and dead bodies lying on the street. We were walking the streets and my guide kept repeating: “Look at it, remember, remember” And I did remember. The dirty streets. The stench. Everywhere. Suffocating. Nervousness.[9]
Disguised as an Estonian camp guard,[9] he visited what he thought was Bełżec death camp. It appears that Karski in fact witnessed a Durchgangslager ('transit camp') for Bełżec in the town of Izbica Lubelska, midway between Lublin and Bełżec.[10] Many historians have accepted this interpretation, as did Karski himself.[11]
Reporting Nazi atrocities to the Western Allies
“Starting in 1940,[12] Karski reported to the Polish, British, and US governments on the situation in Poland, especially on the destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto and the Nazi murder of Polish Jews. He smuggled out of Poland microfilm with further information from the underground movement on the extermination of European Jews in German-occupied Poland. His reports were transcribed and translated by Walentyna Stocker, the personal secretary and interpreter for Sikorski.[13] Based on Karski's microfilm, Polish Foreign Minister Count Edward Raczyński provided the Allies with one of the earliest and most accurate accounts of the Nazi Holocaust. Raczyński's Note, addressed to the governments of the United Nations on 10 December 1942, was later published along with other documents in a widely distributed leaflet entitled The Mass Extermination of Jews in German Occupied Poland.[14]
“Karski met with Polish politicians in exile including the prime minister, as well as members of political parties such as the Socialist Party, National Party, Labor Party, People's Party, Jewish Bund and Poalei Zion. He also spoke to the British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden, giving a detailed account of what he had seen in Warsaw and Bełżec.
Karski also traveled to the United States, where on 28 July 1943 he met with President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the Oval Office, the first eyewitness to tell Roosevelt of the situation in Poland and the Jewish Holocaust.[15] Roosevelt asked no questions about the Jews.[16] Karski met with many other government and civic leaders in the United States, including Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter, Cordell Hull, William Joseph Donovan, and Rabbi Stephen Wise. Karski presented his report to media, bishops of various denominations (including Cardinal Samuel Stritch), members of the Hollywood film industry and artists, but without result, as most people could not comprehend the scale of extermination that he recounted.[17][18][15] But Karski's accounts of the problems of stateless people and their vulnerability to murder helped inspire the formation of the War Refugee Board,[19] changing US governmental policy from neutrality to support for war refugees and civilians in Europe,[20] and after the war, inspiring the creation of the Office of High Commissioner for Refugees.
“In 1944, Karski published Courier from Poland: The Story of a Secret State (a selection was featured in Collier's magazine six weeks before the book's publication).[21][22] He related his experiences in wartime Poland. The book sold more than 400,000 copies through the end of World War II. A film adaptation was planned but never realized.[23]
According to historian Adam Puławski, Karski's main mission as a courier was to alert the government-in-exile of the conflicts within Polish underground movements. He discussed the Warsaw Ghetto liquidation as part of that account, almost incidentally.[24] Without diminishing Karski's contributions, Puławski notes that facts about the Holocaust were available to the Allies for at least a year and half before Karski met with Roosevelt, thus to say that his mission was primarily to report on the Holocaust is in error.[24]
“At war's end, Karski remained in the United States in Washington, D.C. He began graduate studies at Georgetown University, receiving his PhD in 1952.[25] In 1954, Karski became a naturalized citizen of the United States.
Karski taught Eastern European affairs, comparative government, and international affairs at Georgetown University for 40 years. Among his students was Bill Clinton (Class of 1968). In 1985, he published the academic study The Great Powers and Poland, based on research during a Fulbright fellowship in 1974 to his native Poland.
“Karski's 1942 report on the Holocaust and the London Polish government's appeal to the United Nations were briefly recounted by Walter Laqueur in his history The Terrible Secret: Suppression of the Truth about Hitler's Final Solution (1980).
“Karski did not speak publicly about his wartime mission until 1981, when he was invited by activist Elie Wiesel to serve as keynote speaker at the International Liberators Conference in Washington, D.C. [26]
“French film-maker Claude Lanzmann had interviewed Karski at length in 1978, as part of his preparation for his documentary Shoah, but the film was not released until 1985. Lanzmann had asked participants not to make other public statements during that time, but Karski got a release for the conference.[26] The nine-and-a-half hour film included a total of 40 minutes of testimony by Karski, an excerpt from the first of two days of Lanzmann interviewing Karski.[9] It ends with Karski saying that he made his report to leaders.[1] Lanzman later said that, on the second day of interviews, Karski recounted in detail his meetings with Roosevelt and other high US officials. Lanzman said that the tone and style of Karski's second interview was so different, and the interview so long, that it did not fit with his vision of the film and was thus not used.[27] Unhappy with how he was presented in the film, Karski published an article, later a book, Shoah, a Biased Vision of the Holocaust (1987), in the French journal Kultura. He argued for another documentary to include his missing testimony and also to show more of the help given to Jews by many Poles (some are now recognized by Israel as the Polish Righteous among the Nations).[28][29]
“Following the fall of communism in Poland in 1989, Karski's wartime role was officially acknowledged by the new government. He was awarded the Order of the White Eagle, the highest Polish civil decoration, and the Order Virtuti Militari, the highest military decoration awarded for bravery in combat.
“In 1994, E. Thomas Wood and Stanisław M. Jankowski published a biography, Karski: How One Man Tried to Stop the Holocaust. They noted that Karski had urged production of another documentary to correct what he thought was the bias in Lanzmann's Shoah.
“During an interview with Hannah Rosen in 1995, Karski discussed the Allies' failure to rescue most of the Jews from mass murder:
“It was easy for the Nazis to kill Jews, because they did it. The Allies considered it impossible and too costly to rescue the Jews, because they didn't do it. The Jews were abandoned by all governments, church hierarchies and societies, but thousands of Jews survived because thousands of individuals in Poland, France, Belgium, Denmark, Holland helped to save Jews. Now, every government and church say, "We tried to help the Jews", because they are ashamed, they want to keep their reputations. They didn't help, because six million Jews perished, but those in the government, in the churches they survived. No one did enough”.[30]
References
"Polish Death Camp." Collier's, 14 October 1944, pp. 18–19, 60–61.
Courier from Poland: The Story of a Secret State, Boston 1944 (Polish edition: Tajne państwo: opowieść o polskim Podziemiu, Warszawa 1999).
Wielkie mocarstwa wobec Polski: 1919–1945 od Wersalu do Jałty. wyd. I krajowe Warszawa 1992, Wyd.
Tajna dyplomacja Churchilla i Roosevelta w sprawie Polski: 1940–1945.
Polska powinna stać się pomostem między narodami Europy Zachodniej i jej wschodnimi sąsiadami, Łódź 1997.
Jan Karski (2001). Story of a Secret State. Simon Publications. p. 391.
E. Thomas Wood & Stanisław M. Jankowski (1994). Karski: How One Man Tried to Stop the Holocaust. John Wiley & Sons Inc. page 316.
J. Korczak, Misja ostatniej nadziei, Warszawa 1992.
E. T. Wood, Karski: opowieść o emisariuszu, Kraków 1996.
J. Korczak, Karski, Warszawa 2001.
S. M. Jankowski, Karski: raporty tajnego emisariusza, Poznań 2009.
Henry R. Lew, Lion Hearts Hybrid Publishers, Melbourne, Australia 2012.
Notes
1. Jeffries, Stuart (9 June 2011). "Claude Lanzmann on why Holocaust documentary Shoah still matters". The Guardian.
2. "20. rocznica śmierci Jana Karskiego. "Ludzie nie mogą zapomnieć, co to jest Holokaust"".
3. Patryk Małecki (27 November 2013Dziennikwschodni.pl.
4. Jan Karski. Fotobiografia, by Maciej Sadowski, Warsaw: Veda, 2014, www.veda.com.pl
5. "Encyklopedia PWN – Sprawdzić możesz wszędzie, zweryfikuj wiedzę w serwisie PWN – Karski Jan". Encyklopedia.pwn.pl.
6. Polish Press Agency.
7. Patryk Małecki (27 November 2013).
8. Deroy Murdock (May 28, 2012), "WWII Hero Wins Presidential Medal of Freedom. Jan Karski was the first to warn FDR about the Final Solution.", National Review Online. Internet Archive.
9. Zgierski, Jakub (24 January 2019). "Jan Karski. Witness to the Holocaust". Europeana (CC By-SA).
10. Jakob Weiss, The Lemberg Mosaic (New York: Alderbrook Press 2011) fn 199, p. 409
11. In his book published in the USA during the war, Karski identified the camp as Bełżec death camp, although he knew at the time that the camp could not have been in Bełżec. The descriptions he gave are incongruent with what is now known about Bełżec. His biographers Wood and Jankowski later suggested that Karski had been observing the Izbica Lubelska"sorting camp". This theory was first time presented by Professor Jozef Marszalek from Maria Curie-Sklodowska University of Lublin (UMCS), WW II historian and specialist on Nazi camps in occupied Poland. Many historians have accepted this theory, as did Karski.
12. Engel, David (1983). "An Early Account of Polish Jewry under Nazi and Soviet Occupation Presented to the Polish Government-In-Exile, February 1940". Jewish Social Studies. 45 (1): 1–16.
13. Roberts, Sam (20 April 2020). "Walentyna Janta-Polczynska, Polish War Heroine, Dies at 107". The New York Times.
14. Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Poland (10 December 1942). The Mass Extermination of Jews in German Occupied Poland (PDF). New York: Roy Publishers.
15. Jan Karski (5 May 2011). Story of a Secret State: My Report to the World: My Report to the World. Penguin Books Limited. pp. 407ff.
16. Gerd Bayer; Oleksandr Kobrynskyy (1 December 2015). Holocaust Cinema in the Twenty-First Century: Images, Memory, and the Ethics of Representation. Columbia University Press. pp. 45
17. Richard L. Rashke (1995). Escape from Sobibor. University of Illinois Press. pp. 127ff.
18. Robert L. Beir (1 June 2013). Roosevelt and the Holocaust: How FDR Saved the Jews and Brought Hope to a Nation. Skyhorse. p. 273.
19. Richard J. Golsan (20 December 2016). The Vichy Past in France Today: Corruptions of Memory. Lexington Books. pp. 98–.
20. Robert L. Beir (1 June 2013). Roosevelt and the Holocaust: How FDR Saved the Jews and Brought Hope to a Nation. Skyhorse. pp. 276–.
21. Karski, Jan. (1944). "Polish Death Camp," Collier's, 14 October 1944, pp. 18–19, 60–61.
22. Abzug, Robert. H. (1999). America Views the Holocaust, 1933–1945: A Brief Documentary History. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, p. 183.
23. "Archived copy".
24. From an April 5, 2015, interview with Waldemar Kowalski of the Polish Press Agency, as quoted in Grudzinska-Gross, Irena (2016). "Polishness in Practice". In Irena Grudzinska-Gross; Iwa Nawrocki (eds.). Poland and Polin: New Interpretations in Polish-Jewish Studies. Frankfurt a.M: Peter Lang. p. 37.
25. Karski, J. Material Towards A Documentary History of the Fall of Eastern Europe (1938–1948); Ph.D. dissertation 1952 for Georgetown University.
26. Besson, Rémy (May 2011). "Le Rapport Karski. Une voix qui résonne comme une source (The Karski Report. A Voice with the Ring of Truth, translated by John Tittensour)". Études photographiques (27).
27. "Archived copy".
28. Shoah: a biased account of the Holocaust. Polish American Congress. 1987. Retrieved 19 June 2021.
29. "Revue ESPRIT". Retrieved 11 January 2018.
30. "Interview with Jan Karski". Retrieved 30 September2007.
31. Storozynski, Alex (28 March 2014). "Karski's Story of a Secret State – A Primer on the Polish Ethos". Huffington Post.
32. "Georgetown University video of the event". Georgetown.edu. 18 March 2013.
33. Kaufman, Michael T. "Jan Karski Dies at 86; Warned West About Holocaust." New York Times. 15 July 2000.
34. "Yad Vashem recognizes Karski". yadvashem.org.
35. "Statue salutes Polish man who warned FDR of Nazi camps", New York Daily News, 12 November 2007
36. "Archived copy".
37. "Monument to Honor Dr. Jan Karski", Polish-American Journal. 30 September 2002. vol 91; No. 9; page 8
38. Jan Karski. "Jan Karski Educational Foundation (home)". Jankarski.net.
39. "President Obama Announces Jan Karski as a Recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom". whitehouse.gov. 26 April 2012.
40. "2012 Presidential Medal of Freedom Ceremony". whitehouse.gov. 29 May 2012.
41. "Matthew Kaminski: 'Gafa Obamy'". The Wall Street Journal. 30 May 2012.
42. "Jak Niemcy Polaków wrabiali w mordowanie Żydów – Leszek Pietrzak – NowyEkran.pl".
43. "President of the Republic of Poland / News / News / President on Barack Obama's letter". President.pl. 1 June 2012.
44. Jan Karski. "www.jankarski.net".
45. Address by the former Foreign Minister of Poland Wladysław Bartoszewski at the ceremony of the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the concentration camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau, 27 January 2005 see pp. 156–157
Karski, Jan
“Jan Kozielewski (he later took on his non de guerre Karski) was born in Lodz. In 1935, he completed demography studies at Lwow University, and embarked on a career of a civil servant at the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This was cut short four years later by the war, and when Poland was occupied by Germany, Kozielewski joined the Polish underground – the Home Army (Armia Krajowa). His photographic memory made him ideal for the job of courier between the underground in Poland and the Polish government-in-exile that was seated first in France and moved to London, after the fall of France. In October 1942, at the height of the destruction of Polish Jewry, Karski was ordered to clandestinely go to the West and deliver a report on the situation of occupied Poland to the Polish government-in-exile in London. The situation of the Jews in Poland was to be one section of that report. Since the government in exile was concerned with the internal politics of the Poland’s underground parties, Karski held meetings with the different factions, including the Jewish Zionist and the Jewish Socialist Bund movements. Thus, shortly before his departure, Karski met with two Jewish leaders who asked him to inform the world’s statesmen of the desperate plight of Polish Jewry and of the hopelessness of their situation. Their message was: "Our entire people will be destroyed". The Jewish leaders' appeals touched Karski, and he decided to see things with his own eyes in order to make his report.
“With great risk to his life, he was smuggled into the Warsaw ghetto and into a camp in the Lublin area. The horrors he witnessed marked him deeply and propelled him to become not only the messenger of the Polish underground, but to concentrate on giving voice to the suffering of the dying Jews. In November 1942, Karski reached London, delivered the report to the Polish government-in-exile, and set out to meet Winston Churchill, other politicians, journalists, and public figures. Upon completing his mission, Karski went on to the United States, where he met with President Roosevelt and other dignitaries, and tried in vain to stir up public opinion against the massacre of the Jews. In a report written a week after his July 18, 1943, meeting with President Roosevelt, Karski described his meeting with FDR. Most of the time was dedicated to Polish issues, but Karski insisted on reporting about the fate of the Jews, and askd the American President to act in order to stop the murder. In 1944, while in the United States, Karski wrote a book on the Polish Underground (Story of a Secret State), with a long chapter on the Jewish Holocaust in Poland. After the war, Karski stayed in the United States where he was later appointed Professor at Georgetown University, Washington DC. He became committed to perpetuating the memory of the Holocaust victims, identified whole-heartedly with the tragedy, and suffering of the Jewish people, and was unable to come to terms with the world’s silence at the slaughter of six million Jews. These notions were well reflected in a speech he delivered in 1981 to a meeting of American military officers who had liberated the concentration camps. He stated that he had failed to fulfill his wartime mission and said: “And thus I myself became a Jew. And just as my wife’s entire family was wiped out in the ghettos of Poland, in its concentration camps and crematoria – so have all the Jews who were slaughtered become my family. But I am a Christian Jew… I am a practicing Catholic… My faith tells me the second original sin has been committed by humanity. This sin will haunt humanity to the end of time. And I want it to be so”. On 2 June 1982, Yad Vashem recognized Jan Karski as Righteous Among the Nations. Although he had not saved individual Jews, The Commission for the Designation of the Righteous decided that he had risked his life in order to alert the world to the murder. He had incurred enormous risk in penetrating into the Warsaw ghetto and a camp, and then committed himself wholly to the case of rescuing the Jews. Karski’s case is quite exceptional in many ways. While other rescuers had taken the difficult decision to leave the side of the bystanders, not to remain silent and to stand up and act, Karski, after he reached the West, brought this dilemma to the doorstep of the free world's leaders. In 1994, Professor Karski was awarded honorary citizenship of Israel. In a speech he gave on the occasion, he stated: “This is the proudest and the most meaningful day in my life. Through the honorary citizenship of the State of Israel, I have reached the spiritual source of my Christian faith. In a way, I also became a part of the Jewish community… And now I, Jan Karski, by birth Jan Kozielewski – a Pole, an American, a Catholic – have also become an Israeli.”
Zofia Kossak-Szczucka, helped save several thousand Jews, especially children (co-founder of Żegota) [51]
“Zofia Kossak-Szczucka (Polish pronunciation: [ˈzɔfʲja ˈkɔssak ˈʂt͡ʂut͡ska]; 10 August 1889[a] – 9 April 1968) was a Polish writer and World War II resistance fighter. She co-founded two wartime Polish organizations: Front for the Rebirth of Poland and Żegota, set up to assist Polish Jews to escape the Holocaust. In 1943, she was arrested by the Germans and sent to Auschwitz concentration camp but survived the war.
“Zofia Kossak was the daughter of Tadeusz Kossak, who was the twin brother of painter Wojciech Kossak, and granddaughter of painter Juliusz Kossak. She married twice. In 1923, following the death of her first husband Stefan Szczucki in Lwiw, she settled in the village of Górki Wielkie in Cieszyn Silesia where in 1925 she married Zygmunt Szatkowski.[2]
“She was associated with the Czartak literary group and wrote mainly for the Catholic press. Her best-known work from that period is The Blaze, a memoir of the Russian Revolution of 1917. In 1936, she received the prestigious Gold Laurel (Złoty Wawrzyn) of the Polish Academy of Literature. Kossak-Szczucka's historical novels include Beatum scelus (1924), Złota wolność (Golden Liberty, 1928), Legnickie pole (The Field of Legnica, 1930), Trembowla (1939), Suknia Dejaniry (The Gift of Nessus, 1939). Best known are Krzyżowcy (Angels in The Dust, 1935), Król trędowaty (The Leper King, 1936), and Bez oręża (Blessed are The Meek, 1937) dealing with the Crusades and later Francis of Assisi, translated into several languages. She also wrote Z miłości (From Love, 1926) and Szaleńcy boży (God's Madmen, 1929), on religious themes.
“During the German occupation of Poland, she worked in the underground press: from 1939 to 1941, she co-edited the underground newspaper Polska żyje (Poland Lives). In 1941, she co-founded the Catholic organization Front Odrodzenia Polski (Front for the Rebirth of Poland), and edited its newspaper, Prawda (The Truth).
“In the underground, she used the code name Weronika.[3]
In the summer of 1942, when the liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto began, Kossak-Szczucka published a leaflet entitled "Protest," of which 5,000 copies were printed. In the leaflet, she described in graphic terms the conditions in the Ghetto, and the horrific circumstances of the deportations then taking place. "All will perish ... Poor and rich, old, women, men, youngsters, infants, Catholics dying with the name of Jesus and Mary together with Jews. Their only guilt is that they were born into the Jewish nation condemned to extermination by Hitler."
“The world, Kossak-Szczucka wrote, was silent in the face of this atrocity. "England is silent, so is America, even the influential international Jewry, so sensitive in its reaction to any transgression against its people, is silent. Poland is silent... Dying Jews are surrounded only by a host of Pilates washing their hands in innocence." Those who are silent in the face of murder, she wrote, become accomplices to the crime. Kossak-Szczucka saw this largely as an issue of religious ethics. "Our feelings toward Jews have not changed," she wrote. "We do not stop thinking of them as political, economic and ideological enemies of Poland." But she wrote, this does not relieve Polish Catholics of their duty to oppose the crimes being committed in their country.
“She co-founded the Provisional Committee to Aid Jews (Tymczasowy Komitet Pomocy Żydom), which later turned into the council to Aid Jews (Rada Pomocy Żydom), codenamed Żegota, an underground organization whose sole purpose was to save Jews in Poland from Nazi extermination. In 1985, she was posthumously named one of the Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem.[4]
“Regarding Kossak-Szczucka's "Protest", Robert D. Cherry and Annamaria Orla-Bukowska wrote in the introduction to Rethinking Poles and Jews: "Without at all whitewashing her antisemitism in the document, she vehemently called for active intercession on behalf of the Jews - precisely in the name of Polish Roman Catholicism and Polish patriotism. The deportations from the Warsaw Ghetto precipitated her cofounding of Żegota that same year - an Armia Krajowa (AK, Home Army) unit whose sole purpose was to save Jews."[5]
“On September 27, 1943, Kossak-Szczucka was arrested in Warsaw by a German street patrol.[6] The Germans, not realising who she was, sent her first to the prison at Pawiak and then to Auschwitz II-Birkenau death camp. When her true identity became known in April 1944, she was sent back to Warsaw for interrogation and sentenced to death. She was released in July of 1944 through the efforts of the Polish underground and participated in the Warsaw Uprising.
“At the end of World War II, a communist regime began to establish itself in Poland. In June 1945, Kossak was called in by Jakub Berman, the new Polish Minister of the Interior, who was Jewish. He strongly advised her to leave the country immediately for her own protection, knowing what his government would do to political enemies, and also knowing from his brother, Adolf Berman, what Kossak had done to save Jewish lives.[7] Kossak escaped to the West, but returned to Poland in 1957.
“Kossak-Szczucka published Z otchłani (From the Abyss, 1946), based on her experiences of Auschwitz. Dziedzictwo (1956–67) is about the Kossak family. Przymierze (The Covenant, 1951) tells the story of Abraham. Kossak-Szczucka also wrote books for children and teenagers, including Bursztyn (1936) and Gród nad jeziorem (Settlement by the Lake, 1938).
“In 1964 she was one of the signatories of the so-called Letter of 34 to Prime Minister Józef Cyrankiewicz regarding freedom of culture.
“In 1982 the Yad Vashem Institute in Jerusalem recognised Zofia Kossak as a Righteous Among Nations. In 2009, the National Bank of Poland issued a coin posthumously commemorating the work of Kossak, Irena Sendler and Matylda Getter in helping Jews (see Żegota). In 2018 Zofia Kossak was awarded the highest Polish order, the Order of the White Eagle.
“Zofia's daughter, Anna Szatkowska (15 March 1928, Górki Wielkie – 27 February 2015), wrote a book about her experience during the Warsaw Uprising.[7]
“She was the author of many works, a number of which have been translated into English.[8]
a. 8 August 1890, has usually been given as her birthdate, including by herself, but her recently discovered birth certificate confirms the date as 10 August 1889 — see [1]
1. "Archived copy" (in Polish).
2. Zdzisław Hierowski (1947). 25 [i.e., Dwadzieścia pięć] lat literatury na Śląsku, 1920-1945. Drukarnia Cieszyńska. p. 194.
3. Tomaszewski, Irene; Werbowski, Tecia (2010). Code Name Żegota: Rescuing Jews in Occupied Poland, 1942-1945: the Most Dangerous Conspiracy in Wartime Europe. ABC-CLIO. p. 37.
4. "The Righteous Among The Nations: Szczucka Zofia (1989 - 1968)".
5. Robert D. Cherry; Annamaria Orla-Bukowska (2007). Rethinking Poles and Jews: Troubled Past, Brighter Future. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 5.
6. Maria Przyłęcka (1997). "Zofia Kossak jaką pamiętam (wspomnienia łączniczki)". In Heska-Kwaśniewicz, Krystyna. (ed.). Zwyczajna świętość: Zofia Kossak we wspomnieniach [Ordinary Sainthood: Remembering Zofia Kossak]. Katowice: Macierz Ziemi Cieszyńskiej. pp. 62–64.
7. La maison brulée (The burned house). A sixteen-year-old voluntary helper during the Warsaw insurrection. Anna Szatkowska, Les Éditions Noir sur Blanc, CH-1007 Lausanne, 2005 (in French)
Kossak-Szczucka (Szatkowska), Zofia
“During the war, Zofia Kossak-Szczucka (Szatkowska by her second marriage) lived in Warsaw. From 1939, she was active in the Polish underground movement and from early 1941, she was engaged in the activities of a Catholic organization called Front for the Revival of Poland (Front Odrodzenia Polski). In July 1942, after the Nazis commenced the extermination of the inhabitants of the Warsaw ghetto, Zofia Kossak wrote an appeal entitled Protest, published in leaflet form. “The world is watching this crime,” read the leaflet, “the most horrible crime that has ever taken place in history and keeps silent. The slaughter of millions of defenseless people is being carried out amidst general and ominous silence… We must not tolerate this silence any longer. He who keeps silent in the face of slaughter becomes an accomplice to murder. He who does not condemn, complies with the murder." Zofia was also one of those who initiated the establishment of the Żegota, set up by delegates’ office of the Polish Government-in-Exile. Zofia was one of the principal activists of Żegota and was involved in the rescue of many people. She devoted herself selflessly to help Jews. "Her individual initiatives and efforts in rescuing the persecuted from death preempted her organizational activities in the field. She herself was wanted by the Gestapo and made a special sortie to Cracow in order to rescue an orphaned Jewish child,” wrote Bartoszewski Władysław* in his book The War Experiences 1939 – 1945.
“On September 25, 1943, Zofia was detained by a German patrol. They suspected her of being Jewish and of having forged papers. After a ten-day stay in the Pawiak prison, she was transferred to Auschwitz and then returned once again to Pawiak in the spring of 1944. (She described her experiences in Auschwitz in her famous book Back from the Abyss.) After the Warsaw Uprising in August 1944, Zofia found herself in Częstochowa. In the summer of 1945, she returned to Warsaw. On September 13, 1982, Yad Vashem recognized Zofia Kossak-Szczucka (Szatkowska) as Righteous Among the Nations.” File 2377a
Maria Kotarba, "Angel of Auschwitz" delivering food and medicine, cooking for Jewish female prisoners [52]
“Maria Kotarba (4 September 1907 — 30 December 1956) was a courier in the Polish resistance movement, smuggling clandestine messages and supplies among the local partisan groups. She was arrested, tortured, and interrogated by the Gestapo as a political prisoner before being imprisoned in Tarnów and then deported to Auschwitz on 6 January 1943. Maria Kotarba was recognised as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem on 18 September 2005 for risking her life to save the lives of Jewish prisoners in two Nazi concentration camps.[1][2]
“Kotarba was born near Nowy Sącz in southern Poland (then in the Austrian Partition). After the Nazi German invasion of Poland in September 1939, Maria Kotarba, a Catholic, witnessed the extermination of her Jewish neighbours near Gorlice, where she lived, and vowed to aid any Jew she could.[3] Arriving at Auschwitz in the winter of 1943 she was allocated the prisoner number 27995, and after a range of camp duties, in the middle of 1943 was assigned to Kommando Gartnerei, the Gardening Commando labour squad. She worked in the confiscated gardens around the nearby village of Rajsko, involved in the cultivation of vegetables and other ancillary labours.[2] By the summer of 1943, the resistance movement in the camp became organised and brought Kotarba into their ranks. Her reputation as a skilled courier traveled with her from Tarnów. Maria was involved in smuggling food, medicine, and messages from the outside resistance groups into the camp.[2]
“In the camp, Kotarba met Lena Mankowska (née Bankier), deported to the camp from the Jewish Ghetto in Białystok. At registration, the prisoner-clerks registered Lena as a Polish political prisoner on account of her non-Jewish looks. The two women developed a deep and lasting friendship.[2] Kotarba was aware of the other woman's perilous position and did all she could to help her as well as her sister, Guta, who arrived in Auschwitz from the concentration camp at Lublin-Majdanek with her friend Henia Trysk. Lena Mankowska referred to Kotarba as the "Mommy of Auschwitz" (Polish: Mateczka).[4] As a courier, Kotarba delivered medicine for the prisoner-doctors and brought in other supplies, which they shared. She used her resistance contacts to have Lena Mankowska allocated to lighter duties when she fell sick, and cooked soup for her on a small stove in her block.[5]
“In January 1945, the SS evacuated the camp through Birkenau deeper into Nazi Germany. The two women arrived separately at Ravensbrück in open coal wagons. Kotarba found her Jewish friend almost dead in the snow and carried her to her own barracks.[3] In February 1945, the SS again moved the prisoners to the Neustadt-Glewe sub-camp, where the Red Army liberated the women in May 1945. After liberation, the two friends parted. Maria Kotarba returned to her home in Poland, remained single and died in 1956, aged 49, never having returned to the health she enjoyed before the war. She was buried in Owczary.[6]
“Lena Mankowska married and settled in Great Britain. In 1997, Lena made an unsuccessful attempt to get Maria, her "Angel of Auschwitz",[2][7] recognised as one of the Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. Eight years later James Foucar successfully resubmitted her testimony, which was approved by Yad Vashem on 8 December 2005 based on Kotarba's qualifications for inclusion.[5]
1. Yad Vashem Remembrance Authority, Maria Kotarba
2. The State Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau, Poland. James Foucar, Angel of Auschwitz honoured www.auschwitz.org.pl
3. McDonough, Chris "Maria Kotarba, Poland" International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation
4. (in Polish) Ireneusz Dańko, Pośmiertne honory dla "Mateczki z Auschwitz", (Posthumous Honors for the "Mommy of Auschwitz") October 25, 2006, Gazeta.pl, Kraków
5. James Foucar, homepage, Maria Kotarba: Righteous Among the Nations
6. "Who saves one life... Former Auschwitz prisoner has been awarded "Righteous among the Nations". Museum News / Auschwitz-Birkenau. Państwowe Muzeum Auschwitz-Birkenau. 20 October 2006.
Kotarba, Maria
“Maria Kotarba was born in Oblazy Ryterskie (Nowy Sącz County, Kraków District). She was a devout Catholic and stemmed from a poor farming family, working since early childhood. During the German occupation Maria Kotarba joined the local armed resistance as a courier carrying messages for the Polish partisan groups. Upon her arrest, she was sent to prison in Tarnów and then deported to Auschwitz on January 6th, 1943, as a political prisoner. In the camp, Maria continued to work for the resistance movement as a courier. She smuggled fresh vegetables back into the camp since she worked outside growing fruit, vegetables, and flowers. Maria saved the life of Helena Maria (Lena) Mankowska (neé Bankier), who was born in Warsaw on November 20, 1922, and had lived there with her husband Symcha Mankowski. They were deported from ghetto Białystok to Auschwitz during the first Aktion that took place in the ghetto on February 5-12, 1943. Symcha Mankowski was immediately murdered while his wife, Lena, was sent to the Women’s Camp. Polish fellow inmates working as clerks decided to report that she was a Polish political prisoner mistaken for a Jew. Although Lena managed to survive on her own for a few months she later owed her life to Maria Kotarba’s continuous help and support. Risking her own life, Maria made her nutritious soups that allowed Lena to recover from typhus. She arranged to transfer her friend to lighter duties. Lena called Maria, “Mother”, since she was taken care of as a mother would treat her only child.
“Maria continued to help Lena despite protests by Polish inmates that she should be helping a fellow Pole instead. She also helped other Jewish inmates, including Lena’s sister, Guta Scharf. Maria and Lena were both evacuated to Ravensbrück in January 1945. One day there, Maria found Lena dying in the snow and carried her back to the barrack where she fed her. After they were both liberated by the Red Army on May 2nd, 1945, in a sub-camp of Neustadt-Glewe, Maria protected Lena from sexual assaults by the soldiers. Maria Kotarba then returned to Poland, while Lena made her way to Paris, where she met a recently liberated Polish Army officer, Władysław Łakomy. They married in Paris in December 1946 and moved to England in late 1947, where they lived first in Middlesbrough and later in London. Despite Lena’s efforts to locate Maria she only succeeded in gaining some information in 1997 after a special appeal was broadcast in Poland in the television program, “Dopóki żyje ostatni świadek” (As Long as the Last Witness Lives). She found out that Maria Kotarba had died of cancer in Owczary near Nowy Sącz (Gorlice County) in 1956. In April 1997, Lena traveled to Poland to visit her grave. On September 18, 2005, Yad Vashem recognized Maria Kotarba as Righteous Among the Nations. File 10214
Władysław Kowalski, hid 50 Jews around Warsaw [53]
“Władysław Kowalski (26 August 1894 – 14 December 1958) was a Polish communist politician, writer and journalist who served as the Minister of Art and Culture and the Sejm Marshal during the first postwar parliament Sejm of the Polish People's Republic (1947–1952) and, in his capacity as Sejm Marshal, ex officio, as the acting head of state (Acting President of the State National Council) for one day (4–5 February 1947). He was also a publisher and writer.
“Kowalski was also known by the pseudonyms Sałas, Bartłomiej Zarychta and Stanisławski.
“Władysław Kowalski was born in a small village of Paprotnia near Rawa Mazowiecka (then Russian Empire, now east-central Poland) as a son of farm worker. Because of his family poverty, he graduated just three school grades and later became an autodidact.[1]
“He was member of various peasant parties before he became a communist, including the Polish People's Party "Wyzwolenie" (since 1918), the Peasant's Independent Party (1925–1927), United People's Left "Samopomoc" (1927–1931), and People's Party (1944–1949 – various factions). He was also an active member of the Communist Party of Poland (since 1928) and Polish Workers' Party (since 1942).
“During World War I he fought in the Imperial Russian Army and later in the Puławy Legion. From 1918 to 1939 in the Second Polish Republic he was an active writer and publisher. During World War II he was a member of the Polish underground resistance. He hid 50 Jews around Warsaw.[2]
“After the War, he was a Minister of Culture (1945–1947) and member and Vice President of the State National Council.”
Kowalski, Władysław
“During the occupation, Władysław Kowalski, a qualified engineer, and colonel in the Polish army, put all his energy and money into saving Jews. His courageous rescue activities began already in the summer of 1940, when a Jewish boy called Bruno Boral approached him in the street stating: “I am a Jewish boy, who is being persecuted. I haven’t eaten for three days. Please buy me something to eat.” Kowalski immediately did as requested, and arranged shelter for Boral in a friend’s house, thereby saving his life. From that day on, Kowalski decided to make saving Jews his life’s mission. He let his house in Warsaw be used as a shelter for Jewish refugees and arranged hiding places for others with his relatives and friends. Despite the danger, he provided the refugees with food and saw to their needs, until the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising in August 1944. In early October 1944, the uprising was brutally suppressed, and all Warsaw’s inhabitants were forced out of the city. Kowalski refused to abandon the Jewish refugees hiding under his care; he prepared a bunker amid the rubble of Warsaw and stayed there with his charges until January 1945, when the area was liberated by the Red Army. Among the survivors who owed their lives to Kowalski were: Lea Buchholz (whom he later married); Aron and Helena Bialer; Mieczysław and Barbara Rezyka and Rachel and Józef Tylia, all of whom Kowalski smuggled out of the ghetto and helped while they were hiding on the Aryan side of the city.
“Before the deportation of the remnants of the Jews from the ghetto in the town of Izbica, in the county of Krasnystaw, Lublin district, Kowalski entered the ghetto and, at great personal risk, smuggled out Chaim and Malvina Rozen, their daughter, Wanda, and Rozen’s sister, Ada, and arranged for them to stay with a friend, thereby saving their lives. From September 1942 to August 1944, Kowalski hid Aron and Helena Bialer, Golda and Roman Fischer, Roman’s brother Mordechai, Seweryn and Wanda Wachholer, Mieczysław and Barbara Rezyka, Dawid Goldfarb, and Bina Bergman in his cellar. After the war, Kowalski and his wife, Lea, immigrated to Israel, where Kowalski was treated like a hero. Most of the refugees saved by Kowalski immigrated to Israel after the war. The remainder immigrated to Canada, the United States, Australia, France, Brazil, Germany, and Belgium. Kowalski died in 1971 at the age of 76 and was buried at Kibbutz Yad Mordechai. Engraved on Kowalski's tombstone is the image of the Yad Vashem Righteous medal and the inscription Righteous Among the Nations who risked his life to save Jews during the Holocaust.” On June 4, 1963, Yad Vashem recognized Wladyslaw Kowalski as Righteous Among the Nations. File 2/4
Stefan Korboński
“Stefan Korboński (2 March 1901 in Praszka - 23 April 1989 in Washington, D.C., USA) was a Polish agrarian politician, lawyer, journalist, and a notable member of the wartime authorities of the Polish Secret State. Among others, he was the last person to hold the post of Government Delegate for Poland. Arrested by the NKVD in 1945, he was released soon afterwards only to be forced into exile. He settled in the United States, where he remained active among the local Polish diaspora. An active journalist, he was among the few people whose names were completely banned by the communist censorship in Poland.
“Stefan Korboński was born 2 March 1901 in Praszka near Wieluń.[1] In 1908 his family moved to Częstochowa, where Korboński received basic education at the local gymnasium.[1] However, already in 1918 he joined the ranks of the Lwów Eaglets as a volunteer and took part in the Defence of Lwów.[1] After the besieged city had been liberated, he returned home and volunteered for the Polish Army at the outbreak of the Polish-Soviet War.[1] Demobilized after the end of hostilities, he did not return home and instead volunteered for the third time - this time joining the ranks of the troops of the Third Silesian Uprising.[1] For his service in various formations he was awarded with the Virtuti Militari and the Silesian Cross.[2]
“After the Polish conflicts for the borders ended, Korboński passed his matura exams and joined the Adam Mickiewicz University of Poznań, where he graduated from the faculty of law. During his studies he became involved in politics and joined the ranks of the Polish People's Party "Wyzwolenie" and then, in 1931, the People's Party. Following his application, he started working in the local Prosecutors Office and in 1929 opened up his own practice in Warsaw.[1] He also quickly rose through the ranks of his party and in 1936 became its chairman for the Białystok Voivodeship (1919-1939). Korboński married Zofia Ristau on 10 July 1938.[3]
“Prior to the outbreak of World War II, he was mobilized for the Polish Army and commissioned to the 57th Infantry Regiment in the rank of First Lieutenant. During the Polish Defensive War his unit got surrounded by the Red Army and Korboński himself was taken prisoner by the NKVD. However, he managed to escape and reach the German-occupied part of Poland.[3] He help found the Polish underground as an active member of the Union of Armed Struggle (ZWZ) and then the Armia Krajowa.[3] Simultaneously, he was also one of the leaders of the clandestine People's Party, active within the system of the Polish Secret State.
“As such in 1940 he became a member of the Political Communications Committee, a clandestine political platform attached to the underground army as its political arm and a nucleus of the future parliament. Supported by most parties, already in April of the following year he became the chief of the Directorate of Civil Struggle, the agenda of the Polish government responsible for the coordination and organization of civilian resistance, information, and propaganda. During his term at the office, Korboński also extended the responsibilities of the Directorate by including maintaining law and order, organizing a net of underground civil courts, and coordinating carrying out their verdicts by the National Security Corps.
“Korboński in December 1942 became head of Directorate of Civil Resistance.[4] It was Korboński who informed the London-based Poles that the slaughter of Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto had started. The BBC broadcast the information.[5] In July 1943 Korboński also became the head of the Social Resistance Department of the Directorate of Underground Resistance. Following the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising in August 1944, Korboński became the chief of the Department of Internal Affairs, a de facto minister of internal affairs of Poland. However, the fall of the Uprising put an end to that duty. Korboński managed to leave Warsaw as a civilian and continued his duties in hiding. In March 1945, after the NKVD arrested Jan Stanisław Jankowski, Korboński became the last Government Delegate at Home and held that post until his arrest by the NKVD in June of the same year, during which time he worked to rebuild Government Delegacy.[6][7][8]
“In 1980 the Yad Vashem Institute granted Korboński with the Righteous Among the Nations medal.[12][13] Korboński was also a recipient of the Cross of the Home Army, the 1939-1945 War Medal, Golden Cross of Merit and the Order of the White Eagle [2] (posthumously in 1995).
"He died of aneurysm at the George Washington University Hospital.” [14]
Korboński authored numerous works devoted to the history of AK and Polish underground.[15] They include:
Wimieniu Rzeczypospolitej, Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1954
Wimieniu Polski Walczącej, London: B. Świderski, 1963
Polskie Państwo Podziemne, Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1975
Między młotem a kowadłem, London: Gryf, 1969
Wimieniu Kremla, Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1956
The Jews and the Poles in World War II, New York: Hippocrene Books, 1989.
1. Stefan Korbonski The Polish Underground State Hippocrenre, 1981
2. Stefan Korbonski Fighting Warsaw Hippocrenre, 2004
3. Stefan Korbonski Fighting Warsaw Hippocrenre, 2004 Page 3
4. Richard Lukas Forgotten Holocaust Hippocrene, 1990 Page 96
5. Richard Lukas Forgotten Holocaust Hippocrene, 1990 Page 156-157
6. Richard Lukas Forgotten Holocaust Hippocrene, 1990 Page 25
7. Anita Prazmowska Civil War in Poland, 1942-1948 Palgrave, 2004 Page 154
8. Jozef Garlinski Poland in the Second World War Macmillan, 1985 Page 341
9. Stanislaw Mikolajczyk The Pattern of Soviet DominationSampson Low, Martston & Co, 1948 Page 168
10. Stanislaw Mikolajczyk The Pattern of Soviet DominationSampson Low, Martston & Co, 1948 Page 267
11. Wojciech Rojek The Poles in Britain 1940-2000 Frank cass, 2004 Page 35
12. Richard Lukas Forgotten Holocaust Hippocrene, 1990 Page 79
13. "Korbonski Stefan". The Righteous Among The Nations Database, Yad Vashem.
14. Barnes, Bart (1989-04-25). "S. KORBONSKI DIES". Washington Post.
15. Press release (2013). "Stefan Korboński". Literary Output. Institute of National Remembrance.
Korbonski, Stefan
“During the occupation, Stefan Korbonski, a jurist and politician, and leader of the PPR was head of the Civil Struggle Directorate. As part of his duties, Korbonski sent reports about events in occupied Poland, including the liquidation of ghettos, to the Polish Government-In-Exile in London. On September 17, 1942, the Civil Struggle Directorate published a leaflet stating: "In addition to the terrible tragedy that has befallen the Polish Population and the many losses it has suffered at the enemy’s hands, a systematic and horrifying massacre of the Jews has been taking place in our land over the past year – a massacre the likes of which has never been recorded in the annals of mankind. All the atrocities we have learned about in history pale in comparison.... The number of people who have been butchered exceeds a million and is growing from day to day while we look on helplessly. In the name of the Polish people, the Civil Struggle Directorate protests this crime that is being perpetrated against the Jews. All political and public organizations support this protest. As with the Polish victims, the physical responsibility for this crime will be placed on the hangmen and their collaborators. In March 1943, Korbonski published another manifesto explicitly condemning Nazi collaborators and informers as "traitors” and calling for the death penalty against them. It was this manifesto that led the underground courts to sentence Nazi collaborators and informers to death.
“On June 12, 1980, Yad Vashem recognized Stefan Korbonski as Righteous Among the Nations.” File 1415
Jerzy and Irena Krępeć saved over 30 Jews on their two rented estates near Płgock [54]
“Jerzy and Irena Krępeć, a Polish husband and wife, living in Gołąbki near Warsaw during Nazi German occupation of Poland in World War II, were the Righteous who rescued Polish Jews with families including refugees from the Ghetto in Warsaw during the Holocaust.[1]
“Following the 1939 invasion of Poland, Jerzy Krępeć (1896–1981) and Irena née Adamus (1906–17.11.1999),[3] were forced out by the Nazis from their estate near Płock. They moved to Gołąbki near Warsaw with their three children: Tadeusz (14), Krystyna (13) and Maria (9), and rented a farm called Osada not far from where Irena’s parents lived. Soon they began to take in Jews who escaped from Nazi persecution. Among them: Krystyna Izbicki, Anna Zofia, and her son Jozef Ettinger, Krystyna Radziejewski and her foster-daughter Larissa Sztorchan, Czeslawa Konko (children's instructor), Zofia Sidor, her sisters, Eliza Temler and Dr. Tworkowski. More than 20 Jewish refugees joined in after the Warsaw Uprising.[1] They all worked at the farm and in the fields to maintain food supplies and also, for their own cover. Children, both Christian and Jewish, attended classes at an underground school set up by the family.
“Jerzy Krępeć rented a second farm nearby where he placed his two sisters: Alina Tyszka (with daughters, Marta and Stefa) and Eugenia Muszynski with her teenage daughter Olenka (14). Alina Tyszka was expelled from her estate near Bydgoszcz (which was incorporated into Nazi Germany). Her husband Feliks, a Polish officer, was executed by the Nazis with his two uncles. Alina escaped when threatened with arrest, because of her earlier assistance given to Jews at a forced labor camp in Bielin where she worked in 1941. Eugenia's husband was held as a Polish POW in Germany. The two sisters immediately began sheltering more Jews. They all worked together at the farm. Their older children, especially Tadeusz and Olenka helped. The Jews moved from one farm to the other in case of danger. Some received false identification cards thanks to Jerzy's underground contacts, which was good also for their morale.
“The entire Krepec family helped everybody in need with shelter, food, clothing, and moral support. People in the village knew about the numerous Jewish families living at both farms, but nobody betrayed them, and all refugees survived. Indeed, Jerzy Krepec had many silent partners, including neighbors well aware of the succession of farmhands speaking Polish with an accent. Undeterred by the associated risk, Tadeusz Krepec used to sneak out at night and steal guns and grenades from the German Panzer division stationed nearby, then bury them at the farm for the Polish Underground.[1]
“After the war, the Krepec family kept in touch with the Jewish friends who had stayed with them during the occupation. They were receiving shipments of oranges from Israel; however, they would not accept the offer to help emigrate from their homeland. Their son, Tadeusz Krepec, who studied at the Warsaw Polytechnic eventually moved to Montreal in 1973 as an engineer.[1]
“Jerzy and Irena Krępeć were bestowed the titles of Righteous among the Nations by Yad Vashem on April 18, 1994.[2] Their medals of honor were presented to a widowed Irena Krępeć by the Israeli Consul General in Canada Daniel Gal, during the ceremony at the Israeli consulate in Montreal, on December 12, 1995, in the presence of the Polish Consul General Małgorzata Dzieduszycki, and the French and English press.
“Daniel Gal explained in his speech that the Holocaust survivors pleaded on behalf of the entire Krępeć family with all its members and that Yad Vashem honored Jerzy and Irena first. Subsequently, their son, Tadeusz living in Montreal, and Jerzy’s two sisters, Eugenia Krępeć–Muszyński and Alina (Halina) Krępeć–Tyszka, were recognized as Righteous in May and November 2002, with more testimonies by their Jewish countrymen. The ceremony was written about in 12 newspaper articles in three languages. "My father never sought recognition or compensation for what he did," said André Krepec — the eldest son of Tadeusz Krepec — who attended the forum together with his widowed mother Halina, three brothers, sister, and their families. "For him, it was just a question of human values…"[1]
1. 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, August 5, 2003, and: Montreal Gazette, December 10, 1994.
2. Jerzy and Irena Krępeć -
3. (in Polish) Nekrologi warszawskie: Gazeta Wyborcza, Gazeta Stołeczna, Życie Warszawy, Trybuna, etc.
Peggy Curran, "Decent people: Polish couple honored for saving Jews from Nazis," Montreal Gazette, December 10, 1994. See also: Montreal Gazette, August 5, 2003.
Janice Arnold, "Polish widow made Righteous Gentile," The Canadian Jewish News (Montreal edition), January 26, 1995.
Irene Tomaszewski and Tecia Werbowski, Żegota: The Council for Aid to Jews in Occupied Poland, 1942–1945, Montreal: Price-Patterson, 1999, pp. 131–32.
Krępeć, Jerzy
Krępeć, Irena
Krępeć, Tadeusz
Tyszka, Alina Muszyńska,
“Eugenia Jerzy Krępeć, an engineer, and his wife Irena, from Gołąbki near Warsaw, decided to fight the German occupiers by helping Jewish fugitives on the Aryan side of the city. Accordingly, the Krępećes prepared two hiding places to be used by persecuted Jews – one on a farm rented by Krępeć in Gołąbki where his sisters lived, and the other in their own home. The Krępećes’ activity began in 1942, when their friend, Anna Ettinger, after escaping from the Warsaw ghetto with her four-year-old son, Józef, knocked on their door. The Krępećes immediately offered her unconditional shelter. Later, the boy was reunited with his mother and both mother and son stayed with the Krępećes until January 1945, when the area was liberated by the Red Army. Krępeć and his wife, guided by humanitarian motives, which overrode considerations of personal safety or economic hardship, treated the refugees as members of the family. Another person to benefit from their kindness was Krystyna Izbicka who, during the Warsaw Uprising in August 1944, was released from Pawiak prison, where she had been sent in July 1943, for possession of forged documents. The Krępećes put up the exhausted, wounded, and starving Izbicka on the farm in Gołąbki, where they cared for her devotedly until January 1945, when the area was liberated by the Red Army. The Krępećes also hid nine-year-old Marysia Sztorchajn on the farm in Gołąbki and looked after her until the liberation.
“The Krępećes were aided in their rescue activities by Jerzy’s two sisters Alina and Eugenia. Their son Tadeusz, despite his young age, also took part in caring for the fugitives. After the war, the survivors left Poland and kept up a correspondence with the Krępećes until the latter’s death. On December 20, 1994, Yad Vashem recognized Irena and Jerzy Krępeć as Righteous Among the Nations.
“On November 15, 2001, Yad Vashem recognized Alina Tyszka (nee Krępeć) and Eugenia Muszyńska (nee Krępeć) as Righteous Among the Nations File 5974.”
Updated October 24, 2021