Polish Diplomats Who Rescued Jews and Those They Cooperated With

Government Officials

General Wladyslav Sikorski Head of the Polish government in exile in London, England.

General Wladyslav Sikorski was the Head of the Polish government in exile in London, England. He protested the treatment of Polish Jews at the hands of the German occupying forces. He sent numerous protests and requests for intervention to world leaders.

[Braham, Randolph L. The Politics of Genocide: The Holocaust in Hungary. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1981), p. 695. Laqueur, Walter (Ed.) and Judith Tydor Baumel (Assoc. Ed.). The Holocaust Encyclopedia. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001), pp. 482, 484, 485, 486, 491.]

“Bartoszewski Władysław Zegota (the Council for Aid to Jews) Deputy-director of the Jewish Section of the Department of Internal Affairs of the Polish government-in-exile in London

From September 1942, even before the establishment of Zegota (the Council for Aid to Jews), Władysław Bartoszewski was a loyal and devoted member of the Provisional Committee for Aid to Jews. When Zegota was established in December 1942, Bartoszewski (whose undercover name was “Ludwik”) threw himself wholeheartedly into working for the organization, as well as helping many Jewish refugees on a personal basis. In Zegota, Bartoszewski represented "The Polish Revival Front,” a clandestine Catholic organization, and served as deputy-director of the Jewish Section of the Department of Internal Affairs of the Polish government-in-exile in London. Bartoszewski saved the lives of many Jews who fled from the Warsaw ghetto and hid on the Aryan side of the city or elsewhere. Throughout his underground activities, Bartoszewski maintained close ties with Jewish representatives of Zegota, including Leon Feiner, the Bund representative and Adolf Berman, representative of the Jewish National Council. As part of his underground activity, Bartoszewski sent information to England and the United States on the situation of the Jews in Poland under the German occupation. The author, Rachel Auerbach, and Dr. A. Berman subsequently testified that, after the war, Bartoszewski, who was, by then, a reputed journalist and publicist, tried hard to bring the heroism of Polish Jewry to the notice of the Polish public. He published many articles and essays noted for their objectivity and sympathy toward the Jewish people, and helped promote harmony between Poles and Jews.

On December 14, 1965, Yad Vashem recognized Władysław Bartoszewski as Righteous Among the Nations.

[Laqueur, Walter (Ed.) and Judith Tydor Baumel (Assoc. Ed.). The Holocaust Encyclopedia. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001), p. 55.]

Diplomats

Tadeusz Brzezinski, Polish Consul General in Prague, 1931-1936

Consul General Tadeusz Brzezinski issued visas to hundreds of Jewish refugees to leave Germany and emigrate overseas. Later, Brzezinski became the Polish Consul General in Montreal, Canada. While in Canada, he helped the Jewish community to help Jewish refugees enter the country. Brzezinski worked with Victor Podoski, the Polish Ambassador to Canada. Brezezinski’s son was Zbigniew Brzezinski, who was the National Security Advisor under President Carter. His grandson was the US Ambassador to Sweden in the Obama administration.

[Abella, Irving & Harold Troper. None is Too Many: Canada and the Jews of Europe 1933-1948 (3rd Ed.). (Toronto: Key Porter Books, 2000), pp. 82-83, 99.]

Feliks Chiczewski, Polish consul in Lipsk, Germany, 1938-39?

Feliks Chiczewski was the Polish consul in Lipsk, Germany. He prevented Polish Jews from being expelled from Germany by allowing them to seek refuge in the Polish consulate building and garden. At least half of the Jews in the town were given refuge during the time of the deportations.

[Gutman, Yisrael (Ed.). Encyclopedia of the Holocaust, 4 vols. (New York: Macmillan, 1990), p. 1727.]

Jan Karski,* Polish Diplomat, courier

Polish diplomat-courier Jan Karski was a witness to the conditions in the Warsaw ghetto and the Izbica camp near the Belzec death camp. Karski prepared written eyewitness accounts of the German atrocities in Nazi occupied Poland. Later, he was smuggled out of Poland and into the United States, where he reported to US Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter. Frankfurter arranged for Karski to report to President Roosevelt. Frankfurter was skeptical of the report: “I did not say that he was lying, I said that I could not believe him. There is a difference.” Karski gave hundreds of talks to organizations all over the United States and Great Britain to bring pressure to intervene to save Jews from the Holocaust. Karski was declared a Righteous Among the Nations in 1975 and made an honorary citizen of the state of Israel.

[Karski, Jan. Story of a Secret State. (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1999). Gutman, Yisrael (Ed.). Encyclopedia of the Holocaust, 4 vols. (New York: Macmillan, 1990), pp. 10, 481, 787, 1749. Laqueur, Walter (Ed.) and Judith Tydor Baumel (Assoc. Ed.). The Holocaust Encyclopedia. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001), pp. 13, 109, 123, 379, 481, 485, 486.]

Dr. Julius Kuhl (Juliusz Kühl), Polish Consul in Bern, Switzerland, 1938-45

Consul Dr. Julius Kuhl was born to a prominent Jewish family in Sanok, Poland. Kuhl issued thousands of protective visas and passports to Jews from the Polish embassy in Bern, Switzerland, 1938-45. Kuhl worked with help and encouragement from Polish ambassador Alexander Lados. Both Kuhl and Lados gave visas to a number of Jewish relief and rescue agencies working out of Europe. These precious papers enabled Jews to remain in Switzerland or emigrate to the United States, Canada, South America, Africa, Palestine and other countries.

[Friedenson, Joseph, and David Kranzler, forward by Julius Kuhl. Heroine of Rescue: The Incredible Story of Recha Sternbuch Who Saved Thousands from the Holocaust. (Brooklyn, NY: Mesorah Publications, 1984), pp. 22, 55, 59-76, 83, 93, 101, 109, 116-123, 139, 140, 150. Kranzler, David. Thy Brother’s Blood: The Orthodox Jewish Response During the Holocaust. (Brooklyn, NY: Mesorah, 1987), pp. 195, 200-203. Penkower, Monty Noam. The Jews Were Expendable: Free World diplomacy and the Holocaust. (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1983), pp. 66-68, 78, 190, 249, 263, 265n.7, 368n.46.]

Pilecki Institute biography:

Juliusz Kühl (1913–1985), attaché of the Polish Legation. He studied in Bern from 1929. He was employed by Ładoś in 1940. His task was to maintain contact with Jewish organizations and to obtain passport forms in blank from Latin American diplomats. After the war, he emigrated to Canada, and then to the USA. (Courtesy of the Pilecki Institute)

Alexander Lados (Aleksander Ładoś), Polish Ambassador to Switzerland, 1938-45

Ambassador Lados approved the issuing of thousands of protective Polish passports and visas to Jews stranded in Switzerland, 1938-45. He specifically approved the work of Dr. Julius Kuhl to issue passports and fake citizenship paper to Latin American countries through the Polish embassy in Bern, Switzerland. In addition, Lados persuaded the London-based Polish government-in-exile to provide money and relief to Polish Jews interned in Swiss camps. These documents also allowed Jews who were interned to be exchanged for German prisoners of war, preventing their deportation to the Nazi death camps. Lados and his staff worked with various Jewish rescue and relief agencies in Switzerland, particularly in support of Recha Sternbuch. Lados worked with Konstanty Rokicki, Abraham Silberschein, Chaim Eiss, Stefan Ryniewicz and Juliusz Kühl, who became known as the Lados Group.

[Friedenson, Joseph, and David Kranzler, forward by Julius Kuhl. Heroine of Rescue: The Incredible Story of Recha Sternbuch Who Saved Thousands from the Holocaust. (Brooklyn, NY: Mesorah Publications, 1984), pp. 22, 54, 57-68, 82, 104, 117, 209. Kranzler, David. Thy Brother’s Blood: The Orthodox Jewish Response During the Holocaust. (Brooklyn, NY: Mesorah, 1987). Kranzler, David. Thy Brother’s Blood: The Orthodox Jewish Response During the Holocaust. (Brooklyn, NY: Mesorah, 1987), pp. 190, 201-203. Penkower, Monty Noam. The Jews Were Expendable: Free World diplomacy and the Holocaust. (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1983), pp. 78, 249.]

Pilecki Institute biography:

Aleksander Ładoś (1891–1963), a Polish diplomat, publicist and politician. He was a member of the “Piast” Polish People’s Party from 1913 and joined the People’s Party following the unification of the agrarian people’s movement in 1931. He began his service as a diplomat in 1919. He was a secretary for the Polish delegation during peace talks with the Soviet Union in 1920–21. He then became the Polish envoy in Latvia (1923–26) and the general consul in Munich (1927–31). He was released from service at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1931 shortly after Józef Beck became Deputy Minister. He dedicated most of his time during the 1930s to writing political columns. Following the outbreak of the war, he was a minister without portfolio for the People’s Party in Władysław Sikorski’s government-in-exile between 3 October and 7 December 1939. He then became the Polish envoy to Switzerland as a chargé d’affaires ad interim from 1940–45. He aided refugees from Poland and the interned soldiers of the 2nd Infantry Division. He was the leader of the group that issued illegal passports of Latin American countries to Jews being persecuted by the Germans. As the head of the Polish Legation in Bern, Ładoś provided diplomatic protection to the group. In 1943, after the Swiss authorities discovered the passport campaign, he intervened with the local foreign minister and helped to quieten the case. He also enabled Jewish organizations in Switzerland to use Polish diplomatic ciphers so that they could stay in contact with the United States. He remained in Switzerland after the war and moved to France in 1946. He returned to Poland in 1960. He died in Warsaw three years later. (Courtesy of the Pilecki Institute)

Victor Podoski, Polish Ambassador to Canada

Victor Podoski was the Polish Ambassador to Canada. He requested the admission to Canada “for the duration of the war” of 2,000 Polish refugees, many of them government officials. This request included more than 100 Jewish children. Eventually, Polish refugees were let into Canada.

[Abella, Irving & Harold Troper. None is Too Many: Canada and the Jews of Europe 1933-1948 (3rd Ed.). (Toronto: Key Porter Books, 2000), pp. 77, 80, 82-90, 93, 95-96, 99, 104, 109, 111, 116-117.]

Konstanty Rokicki (1899–1958), deputy consul, soldier of the Polish-Bolshevik war, in Polish diplomacy since the early 1930s. He personally filled in at least one thousand Paraguayan passports. After the war, he remained in Switzerland, where he died in poverty. He was named Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem in 2019, the only member of the Ładoś Group to receive the title. (Courtesy of the Pilecki Institute)

Count Tadeusz Romer, Polish Ambassador to Japan, 1937-1941

The Polish Ambassador to Japan representing the government in exile, Count Tadeusz Romer, served as the ambassador from 1937-1941. Though Poland was conquered by Germany and Russia, Japan recognized the Polish government-in-exile in London until October 1941. Up till that time, Romer helped Jews stranded in Japan to find safe havens. Romer issued more than 300 visas to Polish Jews. He wrote to his fellow diplomats in Canada, Great Britain and Australia: “It is…not fitting to enquire whether this or that Polish refugee is Jew or Christian but only whether or not he is a faithful and devoted servant of his country and thereby of the common cause of the Allies.”

[USHMM, Flight and Rescue, 2001.]

Wojciech Rychlewicz, Polish Consul General in Turkey. The Polish Consul General in Turkey, Wojciech Rychlewicz, issued a number of fake baptismal certificates to Jews to pass freely through Turkey. He worked with Antoni Wojdas SDB, who was a priest in Polonezkoy/Adampol, a Polish village in Turkey. Wojdas verified the forged baptismal certificates, which were issued in Istanbul. The priest asserted that the people who were issued the baptismal certificates were part of his congregation, and were thus Catholic. Surviving examples of the baptismal certificates indicate that the Jews were from Zakopane and Bielsko, Poland. (A story by @eldadbeck today in @IsraelHayomHeb.)

Stefan Jan Ryniewicz (1903–1988), Aleksander Ładoś’ deputy and head of the consular section. Ryniewicz worked in diplomacy from 1928, and in Bern from 1938. He is considered one of the initiators of the passport operation. His job in the Ładoś Group included maintaining contact with Jewish organizations and providing diplomatic protection. He settled in Argentina after the war. (Courtesy of the Pilecki Institute)

Henryk Slawik,* Polish Chargé d’Affaires in Budapest, Hungary, 1944

Henryk Slawik was the Polish Chargé d’Affaires in Budapest, Hungary, in 1944. He issued thousands of documents certifying that Polish Jewish refugees in Budapest were Christians. One hundred of these were children, and were put in a Catholic orphanage. Slawik was caught and deported to Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria, where he was murdered. Slawik was honored as Righteous Among the Nations in 1977.

[Lévai, Jenö. Black Book on the Martyrdom of Hungarian Jewry. (Central European Times Publishing, 1948). Braham, Randolph L. The Politics of Genocide: The Holocaust in Hungary. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1981).]

J. Weytko, Polish Embassy Official?, London, 1944

J. Weytko, of the Polish embassy in London, approached Henderson and Randall of the British Foreign Office on behalf of Jews in Nazi occupied Europe in general and Polish nationals in Hungary.

[Braham, Randolph L. The Politics of Genocide: The Holocaust in Hungary. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1981), p. 1289 fn 223.]

Zimmerman, Polish diplomat stationed in Budapest, 1944-45

Zimmerman was a Jewish Polish diplomat who worked clandestinely in Budapest. He worked under Henryk Slawik.

Lévai, Jenö. Black Book on the Martyrdom of Hungarian Jewry. (Central European Times Publishing, 1948). Braham, Randolph L. The Politics of Genocide: The Holocaust in Hungary. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1981).

Polish Ambassador to Turkey, 1943?

The Polish Ambassador to Turkey gave 542 visas to Jews stranded in Teheran, according to Yishuv rescuer Chaim Barlas.

[Laqueur, Walter (Ed.) and Judith Tydor Baumel (Assoc. Ed.). The Holocaust Encyclopedia. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001), p. 642.]

Polish Consul in Marseilles, France, 1940?

The Polish consul in Marseilles, France, provided Polish passports to Varian Fry and Albert Hirschmann of the Emergency Rescue Committee. These documents were necessary in order to get refugees safe passage through Spain to Lisbon.

[Fry, Varian. Surrender on Demand. (New York: Random House, 1945), pp. 40-41. Marino, Andy. A Quiet American: The Secret War of Varian Fry. (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999), p. 141. Ebel, Miriam Davenport. An Unsentimental Education: A Memoir by Miriam Davenport Ebel. (1999).]

Polish Representative to the Holy See, 1942

The Polish representative to the Holy See, along with the Belgian and Yugoslavian representatives, whose countries were also occupied by Germany, submitted a joint demarche on September 12, 1943. This demarche asked the Pope to condemn Nazi atrocities in their occupied areas.

[Tittmann, Harold H., Jr., Harold H. Tittmann III (Ed.). Inside the Vatican of Pius XII: The Memoir of an American Diplomat During World War II. (New York: Image Books Doubleday, 2004), pp. 117-120.]

Worked with Polish Diplomats

Monsignor Philippe Bernardini, Papal Nuncio and Dean of the Diplomatic Corps, Bern, Switzerland, 1942-45

Monsignor Philippe Bernardini, Papal Nuncio in Bern, Switzerland, repeatedly intervened on behalf of Jewish refugees who were stranded in Switzerland after fleeing Germany and Nazi occupied countries. This prevented them from being deported from Switzerland during the war. Bernardini placed couriers of the Vatican diplomatic service at the disposal of Jewish relief agencies. They were thus able to issue visas through Ambassador Lados and Dr. Julius Kuhl in countries that had severed diplomatic relations with Poland. Bernardini personally intervened on behalf of the Jews of Slovakia. In addition, Bernardini helped Jewish relief agencies to save Jews by acquiring and distributing fictitious South American passports. Bernardini also worked with the Red Cross to obtain recognition of these documents by South American governments.

[Bauer, Yehuda. American Jewry and the Holocaust. (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1981), p. 289. Friedenson, Joseph, and David Kranzler, forward by Julius Kuhl. Heroine of Rescue: The Incredible Story of Recha Sternbuch Who Saved Thousands from the Holocaust. (Brooklyn, NY: Mesorah Publications, 1984), pp. 22, 54, 57, 78-76, 104, 122, 125, 184, 198. Vatican (Holy See). Actes et documents du Saint-Siège relatifs à la Seconde Guerre Mondiale. 12 vols. (1966-1981). Morley, John. Vatican Diplomacy and the Jews during the Holocaust, 1939-1943. (New York: Ktav, 1980), pp. 31-32, 35, 40, 60-61, 67-68, 79-80, 84, 117, 135-136, 140-142, 203, 212. Rothkirchen, Livia. “Vatican Policy and the ‘Jewish Problem’ in ‘Independent’ Slovakia (1939-1945).” Yad Vashem Studies, 6 (1967), pp. 40. Kranzler, David. Thy Brother’s Blood: The Orthodox Jewish Response During the Holocaust. (Brooklyn, NY: Mesorah, 1987), pp. 190, 197-199, 202-203. Penkower, Monty Noam. The Jews Were Expendable: Free World diplomacy and the Holocaust. (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1983), pp. 63, 249, 252, 365n.7. Pawlikowski, John T. The Catholic response to the Holocaust: Institutional perspectives. In Berenbaum, Michael, and Abraham J. Peck (Eds.). The Holocaust and History: The Known, the Unknown, the Disputed, and the Reexamined, pp. 551-565. (Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1998), p. 557. Conway, John S. “Records and documents of the Holy See relating to the Second World War.” Yad Vashem Studies, 15 (1983), 327-345. Tittmann, Harold H., Jr., Harold H. Tittman III (Ed.). Inside the Vatican of Pius XII: The Memoir of an American Diplomat During World War II. (New York: Image Books Doubleday, 2004), pp. 36-37.]

Chaim Yisroel Eiss (1876–1943), Swiss representative of the Agudat Yisrael movement.

Pilecki Institute biography:

Chaim Eiss (1876–1943), an orthodox Jew who emigrated from the Austrian partition of Poland in 1900. One of the founders and the main Swiss representative of the Agudat Yisrael movement. Eiss organized the passport smuggling network, obtained personal data and financial resources for the group. He died suddenly of a heart attack in Zurich in November 1943. (Courtesy of the Pilecki Institute)

Dr. Abraham Silberschein (Alfred), Relief Committee for Jewish War Victims

Dr. Abraham Silberschein (Alfred) was with the Relief Committee for Jewish War Victims, a Jewish rescue effort headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. He was successful in obtaining “rescue papers” from the consulates of various Latin American countries, including Bolivia, Chile, Haiti, Honduras and Peru, for Jewish refugees in Poland, Holland, Germany and other countries. Silberschein dispatched documents, including “promesas,” which were documents that would guarantee entry into Latin American countries. He sent these to various personal acquaintances and others involved in relief efforts. Among the Jewish agencies with which he cooperated were the Rescue Committee of the Jewish Agency, the Ichud Poalei-Zion Hitachdut, the World Jewish Congress and the Jewish Workers’ Councils in the USA.

[Eck, Nathan. “The Rescue of Jews With the Aid of Passports and Citizenship Papers of Latin American States.” Yad Vashem Studies on the European Jewish Catastrophe and Resistance, 1 (1957), pp. 125-152. Friedenson, Joseph, and David Kranzler, forward by Julius Kuhl. Heroine of Rescue: The Incredible Story of Recha Sternbuch Who Saved Thousands from the Holocaust. (Brooklyn, NY: Mesorah Publications, 1984), pp. 65, 68, 101. Rothkirchen, Livia (Ed.). “Rescue efforts with the assistance of international organization: Documents from the archives of Dr. A. Silberschein.” Yad Vashem Studies, 8 (1970), 69-80. Feingold, Henry. The Politics of Rescue: The Roosevelt Administration and the Holocaust, 1938-1944. (New Brunswick, NJ: (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1970), p. 226. Bauer, Yehuda. American Jewry and the Holocaust. (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1981), pp. 97, 328, 351-352, 373-374.]

Pilecki Institute biography:

Abraham Silberschein (1882–1951), a member of the World Jewish Congress and of the Polish parliament in 1922–27. He arrived in Switzerland three weeks before the outbreak of the war. He founded the Relief Committee for the War stricken Jewish Population (RELICO). He provided the personal data and photographs of people for whom passports were issued and was also responsible for securing financial support for the operation. He remained in Switzerland after the war. (Courtesy of the Pilecki Institute)

Isaac Sternbuch and Recha Sternbuch, Swiss Representatives of the Va’ad ha-Hatsala, American Union of Orthodox Rabbis

The Sternbuch’s were Orthodox Jews living in Bern, Switzerland. They ran a major Jewish rescue operation out of Switzerland throughout the war. Thousands of Jews were saved by the Sternbuch’s. Recha Sternbuch was arrested for her activities by Swiss authorities and was later released from jail. They worked with Chinese Consul General Dr. Feng Shan Ho, from his office in Vienna, and with Polish Ambassador Alexander Lados and his assistant Julius Kuhl, from their office in Bern.

[Isaac Sternbuch: Penkower, Monty Noam. The Jews Were Expendable: Free World diplomacy and the Holocaust. (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1983), pp. 68-71, 190, 201, 204, 209-210, 253, 247, 250-251, 255, 257-258, 261, 287, 365n.13. Kranzler, David. Thy Brother’s Blood: The Orthodox Jewish Response During the Holocaust. (Brooklyn: Mesorah, 1987). Friedenson, Joseph, and David Kranzler, forward by Julius Kuhl. Heroine of Rescue: The Incredible Story of Recha Sternbuch Who Saved Thousands from the Holocaust. (Brooklyn, NY: Mesorah Publications, 1984).]

[Recha Sternbuch: Penkower, Monty Noam. The Jews Were Expendable: Free World diplomacy and the Holocaust. (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1983), pp. 190, 248-249, 254, 256, 261-262, 278. Kranzler, David. Thy Brother’s Blood: The Orthodox Jewish Response During the Holocaust. (Brooklyn: Mesorah, 1987). Friedenson, Joseph, and David Kranzler, forward by Julius Kuhl. Heroine of Rescue: The Incredible Story of Recha Sternbuch Who Saved Thousands from the Holocaust. (Brooklyn, NY: Mesorah Publications, 1984).]

Wikipedia entry (excerpt):

“She had access to the Polish diplomatic pouch and was able to send coded cables to her contacts in Va’ad Hatzalah (Rescue Committee) in the United States and Turkey. One important use of this channel was the Sternbuch’s alerting the New York branch of Va’ad Hatzalah, on 2 September 1942, to the horrors of the Holocaust, a message reinforced by the subsequent 8 August 1942 Gerhardt-Riegner cable. It was sent to alert American Jewry to the reality of the Holocaust and led to a meeting of 34 Jewish organizations. The Polish diplomatic pouch was also used to send secret messages, money to Jews in Nazi occupied Europe and as bribes for rescue.

“Recha Sternbuch also developed good connections with the Papal Nuncio to Switzerland, Monsignor Phillippe Bernadini, dean of the Swiss diplomatic community. He gave her access to Vatican couriers for sending money and messages to Jewish and resistance organizations in Nazi occupied Europe. Recha Sternbuch was among the first to obtain South American identity papers and distribute them to Jews whose life was endangered by the Nazis.

Antoni Wojdas, priest in Polonezkoy/Adampol, Turkey. The Polish Consul General in Turkey, Wojciech Rychlewicz, issued a number of fake baptismal certificates to Jews to pass freely through Turkey. He worked with Antoni Wojdas SDB, who was a priest in Polonezkoy/Adampol, a Polish village in Turkey. Wojdas verified the forged baptismal certificates, which were issued in Istanbul. The priest asserted that the people who were issued the baptismal certificates were part of his congregation, and were thus Catholic. Wojdas was helped by some Polish families living in Polonezkoy. Some of the baptismal certificates were issued to Jews from Zakopane and Bielsko, Poland. (A story by @eldadbeck today in @IsraelHayomHeb.)

Updated November 24, 2021