DOCSLIB.ORG

STORIES of POLISH RESISTANCE About Half of the Six Million European Jews Killed in the Holocaust Were Polish

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
STORIES of POLISH RESISTANCE About Half of the Six Million European Jews Killed in the Holocaust Were Polish STORIES OF POLISH RESISTANCE About half of the six million European Jews killed in the Holocaust were Polish. In 1939 a third of the capital city Warsaw, and 10% of the entire country was Jewish. By 1945 97% of Poland's Jews were dead. These eleven examples of Polish resistance do not proport to give an overview of what happened in Irena Maximilian Emanuel Mordechai Witold Poland during The Holocaust. They have been Sendler Kolbe Ringelblum Anielewicz Pilecki chosen to reflect the unimaginably difficult choices made by both Jews and non-Jews under German occupation – where every Jew was marked for death and all non-Jews who assisted their Jewish neighbours were subject to the same fate. These individuals were not typical; they were exceptional, reflecting the relatively small Janusz Jan Zofia Father Jan & Józef & proportion of the population who refused to be Korczak Karski Kossak- Marceli Antonina Wiktoria bystanders. But neither were they super-human. Szczucka Godlewski Zabinski Ulma They would recoil from being labelled as heroes. They symbolise the power of the human spirit – their actions show that in even the darkest of Created by times, good can shine through… STORIES OF POLISH RESISTANCE Maximilian Kolbe Emanuel Ringelblum Mordechai Anielewicz Witold Pilecki Janusz Korczak Jan Karski Zofia Kossak-Szczucka Father Marceli Godlewski Jan and Antonina Zabinski Created by Józef & Wiktoria Ulma IRENA SENDLER 1910 - 2008 Irena Sendler was an exceptional woman who coordinated an Underground Network of rescuers that enabled many Jewish children to escape the Warsaw Ghetto and survive The Holocaust. Her father was a doctor who died during a typhus epidemic in 1917 after helping many sick Jewish families who were too poor to afford treatment. Out of gratitude, members of the community offered to support Irena’s family after his death and consequently there was a strong bond of friendship between Irena’s family and her Jewish neighbours. As a result she learnt to speak Yiddish, a skill that “My parents taught me, that if was invaluable in her later work. a man is drowning, no matter what his religion or nationality, you must help him, whether or not you can swim yourself.” UNDER OCCUPATION & THE WARSAW GHETTO Irena was incapable of ignoring injustice and joined Warsaw’s Social Services When the Warsaw department. She was a natural leader and became the heart of a network of women Ghetto was created who had the shared aim of helping Warsaw’s poorest residents. Under German Irena gained entry by obtaining a Health occupation it was illegal for Warsaw’s Social Services department to help Jews, so Irena Inspector pass so she altered client documents to continue supporting them. Although this was a very risky could continue to thing to do neither Irena nor her colleagues were deterred by the dangers. smuggle in much needed supplies. Irena was distressed to see so many children suffer from starvation and was determined to do something more to help them. Irena’s network distributed food and medicines to the poorest members of Warsaw’s Jewish community. RESCUE When residents of the Warsaw Ghetto stared to be deported to Treblinka death camp, Irena’s network stepped up their rescue operation by smuggling children out of the ghetto. This was dangerous as Germans killed those who helped Jews. Babies were sedated and hidden in tool boxes or medical bags and older children were smuggled out through the sewer system. But the risk remained, even after a child was living in a secret safe-house. If their real identities were suspected by a neighbour they would have to be relocated. This happened quite frequently. “How many mothers do most children have?” one child asked Irena. “So far I’ve had three.” Children were taken to ‘safe houses’ and given non-Jewish identities where they acclimatised to their new circumstances. DESPERATE CHOICES It was desperately difficult to hand over a child to a stranger and Jewish families agonised over such a painful decision . Those who agreed felt it was the only chance their child had of surviving. Irena described this heart-wrenching sacrifice as a parent’s final act of love. “The real heroes were the mothers” she would say. She hoped to reunite the Jewish families after the war and kept meticulous records of each child, burying lists of their names in jars next to a friend’s apple tree. The tree beside which were buried the real names of the hidden children. In October 1943 she was arrested by the Gestapo and was driven away for interrogation. Although she was brutally tortured, Irena refused to provide any information and was sentenced to death, but on the morning of her execution she was pulled out of line and told to run. Her escape had been bought with a bribe from the Polish Underground. RECOGNITION Lili Pohlman, a Holocaust survivor who was born in Krakow and hidden as a child in Lvov, championing the work of her close friend Irena Sendler. Irena was recognised as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem in 1965. Her close friend Lili Pohlman The tree of righteousness planted in Israel in Irena’s spoke widely in the UK about Irena’s work and in 1999 honour with the medal she students from Kansas made a play about her life - received finally the world got to learn about this amazing woman “I’ve tried to live a human life, and the network she coordinated. which isn’t always easy” STORIES OF POLISH RESISTANCE Irena Sendler Emanuel Ringelblum Mordechai Anielewicz Witold Pilecki Janusz Korczak Jan Karski Zofia Kossak-Szczucka Father Marceli Godlewski Jan and Antonina Zabinski Created by Józef & Wiktoria Ulma Father Maximilian Kolbe 1894 - 1941 Raymond Kolbe was born in Zdunska Wola, Poland, to a devout Roman Catholic family. When he was 12 he had a vision of the Virgin Mary which changed his life, when he learned that he was to become a martyr. He entered a seminary at Lvov in 1910 and was ordained as a priest in 1918. He formed a group called “Knights of the Immaculate” which was dedicated to fighting for goodness, encouraging people to have an interest in religion and to perform charitable works. They published a journal which was designed to ‘illuminate the truth and show the way to true happiness.’ In 1930 he travelled to Nagasaki, Japan and published the journal in Japanese. Here, he did not try to impose Christianity, but respected Buddhism and Shintoism looking for ways to engage in dialogue. He returned to Poland in 1936 and three years later, when the Germans invaded, he resumed his pamphleteering work and offered assistance to Polish refugees, both Jewish and non-Jewish. Kolbe with student priests Father Maximilian Kolbe 1894 - 1941 His work agitated the Nazi regime and he was imprisoned on many occasions, eventually being deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. This was the most notorious concentration camp that the Nazi’s built on Polish soil – more than a million of the six million European Jews that were murdered in the Holocaust died there. It was also were approximately 70,000 non-Jewish Poles were murdered. Although it was a terrible place of death, many remarkable stories of heroism have emerged from the testimony of survivors, - one such example is that of prisoner 16770 - Maximilian Kolbe. Kolbe was incarcerated in a part of the camp where Polish non-Jewish prisoners were kept. Even in these dreadful surroundings his instinct was to reach out to his fellow men. Auschwitz Survivors have reported that he shared his rations of soup or bread with others and, at night-time, moved from bunk to bunk, saying: 'I am a Catholic priest. Can I do anything for you?' The prisoner bunks at Auschwitz (this photo was taken many years after the war) Father Maximilian Kolbe 1894 - 1941 When it was reported that another prisoner had escaped from the camp, the Nazis decide to starve 10 others in retaliation. One of the selected men broke down and cried “My wife! My children! I will never see them again!” Hearing this, Maximilian Kolbe stepped forward and asked to die in his place. The Germans granted this request, probably because the young prisoner was more useful to them as a slave labourer than the much older, frailer Kolbe. After the war the prisoner that Kolbe replaced said 'I could only thank him with my eyes. I was stunned and could hardly grasp what was going on. The immensity of it: I, the condemned, am to live and someone else willingly and voluntarily offers his life for me - a stranger. Was this some dream?’ Father Maximilian Kolbe 1894 - 1941 Father Maximilian Kolbe died on 14 August, 1941 and his body was removed to the crematorium, without dignity or ceremony, like hundreds of thousands who had gone before him, and hundreds of thousands more who would follow. Another survivor declared that the when the news and circumstances of Father Kolbe's death became known it was like 'a shock filled with hope - like a powerful shaft of light in the darkness of the camp.' The cell in Auschwitz where Father Kolbe died is now a shrine and he was made a saint by Pope John Paul II in 1981. His story continues to inspire many people today. STORIES OF POLISH RESISTANCE Irena Sendler Maximilian Kolbe Mordechai Anielewicz Witold Pilecki Janusz Korczak Jan Karski Zofia Kossak-Szczucka Father Marceli Godlewski Jan and Antonina Zabinski Created by Józef & Wiktoria Ulma EMANUEL RINGELBLUM 1900 - 1944 Emanuel Ringelblum was born in Buczacz, Poland (now Ukraine) in 1900 and studied history at the University of Warsaw.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • A Resource Guide to Literature, Poetry, Art, Music & Videos by Holocaust
    Bearing Witness BEARING WITNESS A Resource Guide to Literature, Poetry, Art, Music, and Videos by Holocaust Victims and Survivors PHILIP ROSEN and NINA APFELBAUM Greenwood Press Westport, Connecticut ● London Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Rosen, Philip. Bearing witness : a resource guide to literature, poetry, art, music, and videos by Holocaust victims and survivors / Philip Rosen and Nina Apfelbaum. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references (p.) and index. ISBN 0–313–31076–9 (alk. paper) 1. Holocaust, Jewish (1939–1945)—Personal narratives—Bio-bibliography. 2. Holocaust, Jewish (1939–1945), in literature—Bio-bibliography. 3. Holocaust, Jewish (1939–1945), in art—Catalogs. 4. Holocaust, Jewish (1939–1945)—Songs and music—Bibliography—Catalogs. 5. Holocaust,Jewish (1939–1945)—Video catalogs. I. Apfelbaum, Nina. II. Title. Z6374.H6 R67 2002 [D804.3] 016.94053’18—dc21 00–069153 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available. Copyright ᭧ 2002 by Philip Rosen and Nina Apfelbaum All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, by any process or technique, without the express written consent of the publisher. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 00–069153 ISBN: 0–313–31076–9 First published in 2002 Greenwood Press, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881 An imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. www.greenwood.com Printed in the United States of America TM The paper used in this book complies with the Permanent Paper Standard issued by the National Information Standards Organization (Z39.48–1984). 10987654321 Contents Preface vii Historical Background of the Holocaust xi 1 Memoirs, Diaries, and Fiction of the Holocaust 1 2 Poetry of the Holocaust 105 3 Art of the Holocaust 121 4 Music of the Holocaust 165 5 Videos of the Holocaust Experience 183 Index 197 Preface The writers, artists, and musicians whose works are profiled in this re- source guide were selected on the basis of a number of criteria.
    [Show full text]
  • THE POLISH POLICE Collaboration in the Holocaust
    THE POLISH POLICE Collaboration in the Holocaust Jan Grabowski The Polish Police Collaboration in the Holocaust Jan Grabowski INA LEVINE ANNUAL LECTURE NOVEMBER 17, 2016 The assertions, opinions, and conclusions in this occasional paper are those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect those of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. First printing, April 2017 Copyright © 2017 by Jan Grabowski THE INA LEVINE ANNUAL LECTURE, endowed by the William S. and Ina Levine Foundation of Phoenix, Arizona, enables the Center to bring a distinguished scholar to the Museum each year to conduct innovative research on the Holocaust and to disseminate this work to the American public. Wrong Memory Codes? The Polish “Blue” Police and Collaboration in the Holocaust In 2016, seventy-one years after the end of World War II, the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs disseminated a long list of “wrong memory codes” (błędne kody pamięci), or expressions that “falsify the role of Poland during World War II” and that are to be reported to the nearest Polish diplomat for further action. Sadly—and not by chance—the list elaborated by the enterprising humanists at the Polish Foreign Ministry includes for the most part expressions linked to the Holocaust. On the long list of these “wrong memory codes,” which they aspire to expunge from historical narrative, one finds, among others: “Polish genocide,” “Polish war crimes,” “Polish mass murders,” “Polish internment camps,” “Polish work camps,” and—most important for the purposes of this text—“Polish participation in the Holocaust.” The issue of “wrong memory codes” will from time to time reappear in this study.
    [Show full text]
  • Jan Karski Papers
    http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf187001bd No online items Register of the Jan Karski papers Finding aid prepared by Irena Czernichowska and Zbigniew L. Stanczyk Hoover Institution Library and Archives © 2003 434 Galvez Mall Stanford University Stanford, CA 94305-6003 [email protected] URL: http://www.hoover.org/library-and-archives Register of the Jan Karski papers 46033 1 Title: Jan Karski papers Date (inclusive): 1939-2007 Collection Number: 46033 Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives Language of Material: Polish Physical Description: 20 manuscript boxes, 11 oversize boxes, 1 oversize folder, 6 card file boxes, 24 photo envelopes, and 26 microfilm reels(21.8 Linear Feet) Abstract: Correspondence, memoranda, government documents, bulletins, reports, studies, speeches and writings, printed matter, photographs, clippings, newspapers, periodicals, sound recordings, videotape cassettes, and microfilm, relating to events and conditions in Poland during World War II, the German and Soviet occupations of Poland, treatment of the Jews in Poland during the German occupation, and operations of the Polish underground movement during World War II. Includes microfilm copies of Polish underground publications. Boxes 1-34 also available on microfilm (24 reels). Video use copies of videotape available. Sound use copies of sound recordings available. Creator: Karski, Jan, 1914-2000 Hoover Institution Library & Archives Access The collection is open for research; materials must be requested at least two business days in advance of intended use. Publication Rights For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives. Acquisition Information Materials were acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives from 1946 to 2008. Preferred Citation [Identification of item], Jan Karski papers, [Box no., Folder no.
    [Show full text]
  • The Days of Future Past Thinking About the Jewish Life to Come from Within the Warsaw Ghetto
    S: I. M. O. N. Vol. 7|2020|No.2 SHOAH: INTERVENTION. METHODS. DOCUMENTATION. Justyna Majewska The Days of Future Past Thinking about the Jewish Life to Come from within the Warsaw Ghetto Abstract Jews imprisoned in the Warsaw Ghetto pondered not only how to survive the present but also the days to come. The day of liberation was calculated on the basis of rumours, interpre- tations of wartime developments, and Kabbalistic prophecies. In this paper, among different notions of the future expressed by the inhabitants of the Warsaw Ghetto, I focus especially on the perspective of Jews active in various parties and youth movements. I approach the question of what Jews thought about the future and what would lead to it within the broader context of the sociology of time. The primary source used in this paper is the Jewish under- ground press published in the Warsaw Ghetto. “As usual in such times, people believe in different fortune-tellers. Osso- wiecki1 […] predicted that a very important event would happen on 17 Au- gust. A Jewish woman, a fortune-teller who, according to the statements of a friend of mine, predicted the occupation of neutral states and war with Rus- sia, now claims that in three months’ time there will be peace”.2 These predictions were recorded by Dr Emanuel Ringelblum. A historian and cre- ator of the Warsaw Ghetto Underground Archive (Oneg Shabbat),3 in his Notes from the Warsaw Ghetto he often mentioned people looking for signs presaging the post- war era. In the imposed and ruthless reality of the Warsaw Ghetto, where between November 1940 and July 1942 nearly 500,000 people were imprisoned and about 100,000 died of hunger and disease, Jews pondered not only how to survive the pres- ent but also the days to come.
    [Show full text]
  • Irenapgrmpgs-V6-1.Pdf
    To wielki zaszczyt być tutaj z Państwem w Muzeum Historii Żydów Polskich POLIN, aby wspólnie upamiętnić życie i hojność Dr. Jana Kulczyka, przyznając mu Nagrodę im. Ireny Sendlerowej 2015. Gdy w lipcu otrzymaliśmy wiadomość o śmierci Dr. Kulczyka, pracowaliśmy nad planami tegorocznej uroczystości wręczenia Nagrody. Po rozmowach z Jego bliskimi doszliśmy do wniosku, że warto zgromadzić w tym miejscu Jego rodzinę, przyjaciół i kolegów, aby razem oddać hołd Jego życiu. Wyrażamy głęboką wdzięczność wobec Tad Taube Muzeum POLIN, Stowarzyszenia Żydowski Instytut Historyczny w Polsce, Teatru Wielkiego - Opery Narodowej, oraz – przede wszystkim – dzieci Jana, Dominiki i Sebastiana, za wsparcie i chęć uczestniczenia w tym wydarzeniu. Oddajemy hołd spuściźnie po Dr. Janie Kulczyku, który w doniosły sposób przyczynił się do budowania mostów w relacjach polsko-żydowskich oraz do odnowienia historii żydowskiej w Polsce. Zachowajmy Go w naszej pamięci. Shana Penn Przewodniczący Taube Philanthropies Dyrektor Wykonawcza Taube Philanthropies It is a privilege to gather with you at the POLIN Museum to commemorate the life and generosity of Dr. Jan Kulczyk, and to honor him with the 2015 Irena Sendler Memorial Award. At the time that we learned of Dr. Kulczyk’s passing this July, we had already been planning this evening’s award program. After speaking with his family and colleagues, we realized it would be meaningful to bring family, friends, and colleagues together to honor and celebrate his life. We deeply appreciate that the POLIN Museum, the Association of the Jewish Historical Institute of Poland, the Polish National Opera, and most importantly Jan’s children, Dominika and Sebastian, have supported our doing so and wished to be a part of it.
    [Show full text]
  • About Us Around the World Publications
    PublicAtions About us Around the world JAn KArsKi society „Na rozkaz serca” (At the heart’s com- – „It is extremely difficult to www.janKArsKi.org.Pl mand) – this book consists of the mem- accept the dark side of one’s ories of the ordinary people who found history – says Bogdan Białek, a psychologist who recently themselves in uncommon situations, formed a group of 15 Kielce citizens, including Zak, that will Henryk and Zbigniewa Pawelec. Henryk seek reconciliation with Jews abroad.” Pawelec, pseudonym Andrzej, is one The New York Times (the 6th of July 1996), Kielce UM Fot. of the last living veterans of the Second one of the biggest American newspapers World War. He began his military service on the 1st of September 1939 and it lasted „In the face of general indifference, till the end of occupation. Then he fought with Bolsheviks. occasional verbal abuse and even death threats, Bialek has been an „listy z getta” (Letters from ghetto) energetic advocate of many efforts to recognize Kielce’s past, – contains tens of miraculously saved including some of the plaques and monuments.” postcards, letters and photographies. The Jewish DAilY ForwArD (the 30th of June 2010) The author of the majority of the letters, – the American Jews newspaper in New York The Jan Karski Society was founded in March 2005. Its main aim Hanka Goldszajd, her mother Rywka, fa- is to act for popularization of openness and respect for peo- ther Jakub and her brother Chaim did „After 64 years from the tragic events ple and groups different in terms of race, ethnicity, nationality, not survive the Shoah.
    [Show full text]
  • Jewish Behavior During the Holocaust
    VICTIMS’ POLITICS: JEWISH BEHAVIOR DURING THE HOLOCAUST by Evgeny Finkel A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Political Science) at the UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN–MADISON 2012 Date of final oral examination: 07/12/12 The dissertation is approved by the following members of the Final Oral Committee: Yoshiko M. Herrera, Associate Professor, Political Science Scott G. Gehlbach, Professor, Political Science Andrew Kydd, Associate Professor, Political Science Nadav G. Shelef, Assistant Professor, Political Science Scott Straus, Professor, International Studies © Copyright by Evgeny Finkel 2012 All Rights Reserved i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation could not have been written without the encouragement, support and help of many people to whom I am grateful and feel intellectually, personally, and emotionally indebted. Throughout the whole period of my graduate studies Yoshiko Herrera has been the advisor most comparativists can only dream of. Her endless enthusiasm for this project, razor- sharp comments, constant encouragement to think broadly, theoretically, and not to fear uncharted grounds were exactly what I needed. Nadav Shelef has been extremely generous with his time, support, advice, and encouragement since my first day in graduate school. I always knew that a couple of hours after I sent him a chapter, there would be a detailed, careful, thoughtful, constructive, and critical (when needed) reaction to it waiting in my inbox. This awareness has made the process of writing a dissertation much less frustrating then it could have been. In the future, if I am able to do for my students even a half of what Nadav has done for me, I will consider myself an excellent teacher and mentor.
    [Show full text]
  • Thanks to William Szych for Starting This Reading List. Most of the Books Below Can Be Found on Amazon Or Other Sites Where
    Thanks to William Szych for starting this reading list. Most of the books below can be found on Amazon or other sites where you can read reviews of the books (Google Search). Remember you can usually request your local library to get books for you through regional book-lending agreements. If you know of other books that you think should be added, let us know. This list includes some works of historical fiction. 1. 22 Britannia Road, a novel by Amanda Hodgkinson 2. 303 Squadron: The Legendary Battle of Britain Fighter Squadron 3. A Death in the Forest (Poland’s Daughter: A Story of Love, War, and Exile) by Daniel Ford 4. A Long Long Time Ago and Essentially True, by Brigid Pasulka 5. A Memoir of the Warsaw Uprising, by Miron Bialoszewski 6. A Question of Honor: The Kosciuszko Squadron: Forgotten Heroes of World War II. Lynne Olson and Stanley Cloud 7. A Secret Life: The Polish Officer, His Covert Mission, and the Price He Paid to Save His Country, by Benjamin Weiser 8. A World Apart: Imprisonment in a Soviet Labor Camp During World War II 9. An Army in Exile—the Story of the Second Polish Corps, by Lt. General W. Anders 10. Andrew Bienkowski: One life to Give: A Path to Finding Yourself by Helping Others 11. Andrzej Pityński Sculpture. Anna Chudzik (Editor), Andrzej K. Olszewski, Irena Grzesiuk-Olszewska (Introduction) 12. As Far As My Feet Will Carry Me by Josef Bauer 13. Bieganski: The Brute Polak Stereotype in Polish-Jewish Relations and American Popular Culture by Danusha Goska 14.
    [Show full text]
  • The Holocaust Booklet
    • Memories of History • ...to remain silent and“ “indifferent is the greatest sin of all... By Elie Wiesel SPONSORED BY THE KNIGHT FOUNDATION “All that is needed for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” –– Edmund Burke, British statesman Learning from Memories of History ABOUT NEWSPAPER IN EDUCATION Holocaust survivor and Nazi hunter Simon emaciated bodies had been flung into shallow graves. The Tallahassee Democrat Newspaper in Wiesenthal wrote, “The new generation has to Education program is one of more than 950 hear what the older generation refuses to tell Eisenhower insisted on seeing everything. newspapers that offer educational activities, it.” Wiesenthal, who died in September 2005, He witnessed sheds piled with bodies, various workshops and guides to parents, teachers devoted his life to documenting the crimes of the torture devices and a butcher’s block used for and students. NIE programs make newspapers Holocaust and to hunting down the perpetrators available free to classrooms. smashing gold fillings from the mouths of the still at large. “When history looks back,” dead. According to the Dwight D. Eisenhower In cooperation with The National Council of Wiesenthal explained, “I want people to know Library Archives, “Eisenhower felt that it was Jewish Women (NCJW), Tallahassee Section, this the Nazis weren’t able to kill millions of people necessary for his troops to see for themselves, complementary teaching tool is attached to many and get away with it.” His work stands as a and the world to know about the conditions at learning strands and has been written and aligned reminder and a warning.
    [Show full text]
  • Jan Karski Conference
    JAN KARSKI CONFERENCE SEPTEMBER 19-20, 2014 LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO Lake Shore Campus 1032 West Sheridan Road MEMORY & RESPONSIBILITY “My faith tells me the second Original Sin has been committed by humanity: through commission, or omission, or self-imposed ignorance, or insensitivity, or self-interest, or hypocrisy, or heartless rationalization. This sin will haunt humanity to the end of time” DAY 1 – Friday, September 19, 2014 Piper Hall at Loyola Lakeshore Campus 08.30 – 09.00 REGISTRATION 09.00 – 09.15 WELCOME REMARKS Michael Garanzini, SJ, President of Loyola University Chicago Thomas Regan, SJ, Dean of College of Arts and Sciences Bozena Nowicka McLees, Director of the Interdisciplinary Polish Studies Program 09.15 – 10.00 KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY Senator Dick Durbin 10.00 – 11.30 PANEL 1: Jan Karski and His Legacy. The Man and His Unfinished Mission Moderator: Wanda Urbanska, Jan Karski Educational Foundation, Chicago Presenters: E. Thomas Wood, Author of Karski: How One Man Tried to Stop the Holocaust, Nashville “Jan Karski: Reflections on a Man” Ewa Wierzyńska, Polish History Museum and Fundacja Edukacyjna Jana Karskiego, Warsaw “Memory Revived – The Jan Karski Unfinished Mission Program” Michael Berenbaum, American Jewish University, LA “Jan Karski and the Context of American Responses toward the Murder of European Jews” 11.30 – 12.00 Coffee break 12.00 – 1.30 PANEL 2: Memory of Other 20th Century Genocides Moderator: Robert Kostro, Polish History Museum, Warsaw, Poland Presenters: John Kurowski, Kurowski Schultz LLC, IL “The Shadow
    [Show full text]
  • Patterns of Cooperation, Collaboration and Betrayal: Jews, Germans and Poles in Occupied Poland During World War II1
    July 2008 Patterns of Cooperation, Collaboration and Betrayal: Jews, Germans and Poles in Occupied Poland during World War II1 Mark Paul Collaboration with the Germans in occupied Poland is a topic that has not been adequately explored by historians.2 Holocaust literature has dwelled almost exclusively on the conduct of Poles toward Jews and has often arrived at sweeping and unjustified conclusions. At the same time, with a few notable exceptions such as Isaiah Trunk3 and Raul Hilberg,4 whose findings confirmed what Hannah Arendt had written about 1 This is a much expanded work in progress which builds on a brief overview that appeared in the collective work The Story of Two Shtetls, Brańsk and Ejszyszki: An Overview of Polish-Jewish Relations in Northeastern Poland during World War II (Toronto and Chicago: The Polish Educational Foundation in North America, 1998), Part Two, 231–40. The examples cited are far from exhaustive and represent only a selection of documentary sources in the author’s possession. 2 Tadeusz Piotrowski has done some pioneering work in this area in his Poland’s Holocaust: Ethnic Strife, Collaboration with Occupying Forces, and Genocide in the Second Republic, 1918–1947 (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 1998). Chapters 3 and 4 of this important study deal with Jewish and Polish collaboration respectively. Piotrowski’s methodology, which looks at the behaviour of the various nationalities inhabiting interwar Poland, rather than focusing on just one of them of the isolation, provides context that is sorely lacking in other works. For an earlier treatment see Richard C. Lukas, The Forgotten Holocaust: The Poles under German Occupation, 1939–1944 (Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 1986), chapter 4.
    [Show full text]
  • Walking Around Kielce
    Outdoor recreation options There is probably no other city in Poland with such a wide range of recreational activities. We may follow the marked routes: hiking (long-distance trekking into the Holy Cross Mountains, walking, urban, nature trails), cycling (including racing loops and bike paths); horse-back riding or cross-coun- try skiing. In the city there are two ski slopes with a chair-lift and T-bar lifts as well as two ice rinks. A seasonal ice-climbing slope is organized in the old quarries of Kadzielnia in the win- ter, and in the summer you may test your climbing skills in these rock walls or in a rope park at the Forest Stadium. Walking around Kielce Touring route around the city The trails are marked with rectangular signs 15 cm wide and 9 cm high, with three bars, the upper and lower white, while the middle bar is red with arrows indicating the walking direc- tion. By the signs you will find circles with consecutive numbers, as described below. 1. Niepodległości Square (railway station) Here is the beginning and end of the city route. Around the square you will see pub- lic buildings erected in the 1960’s and 1970’s – a hotel, post office and the railway station with a monumental statue of Independence. Built in the 10th anniversary of Polish independence (1928), and destroyed by the Ger- Monument of Independence mans during the occupation, in front of the railway station the monument was carefully restored by a local society in 2002. 156 Outdoor recreation options Top: convent on Karczówka Hill – on the right a visible clearing of Karczówkowska Street with chapels of the Way of the Cross Bottom right: garrison church in the former Orthodox temple at the intersection of Karczówkowska and Chęcińska Streets.
    [Show full text]