DOCSLIB.ORG

Ceremony of Presenting the Righteous Among the Nations Awards

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Ceremony of Presenting the Righteous Among the Nations Awards CCEERREEMMOONNYY OOFF PPRREESSEENNTTIINNGG TTHHEE RRIIGGHHTTEEOOUUSS AAMMOONNGG TTHHEE NNAATTIIOONNSS AAWWAARRDDSS CCOOMMMMEEMMOORRAATTIIIOONN OOFF TTHHEE 7700tthh AANNNNIIIVVEERRSSAARRYY OOFF TTHHEE CCRREEAATTIIIOONN OOFF TTHHEE PPOOLLIIISSHH CCOOUUNNCCIIILL TTOO AAIIIDD JJEEWWSS ‘‘‘ŻŻEEGGOOTTAA’’’ WARSAW, DECEMBER 4th 2012 Welcoming the Guests Ewa Rudnik, the Director of the Righteous Department, Embassy of Israel to Poland Marek Zaj ąc, the Secretary of the International Auschwitz Council Speech by Prof. Władysław Bartoszewski, the Secretary of State for International Dialogue in Chancellery of the Chairman of Ministers Council Speech by H.E. Zvi Rav-Ner, the Ambassador of Israel Presentation on Righteous Among the Nations and the Polish Council to Aid Jews ‘ Żegota’ by the Museum of the History of Polish Jews Presenting the Righteous Among the Nations Medals and Certificates of Honour Helena Godlewska Presentation of the decoration into the hands of the Heroine’s son, Leon Godlewski of Gda ńsk Michał and Maria Golba Speech by the Survivors’ children, Rami Safri and Nechama Lind from Israel Presentation of the decoration into the hands of the the Heroes' grandson, Stefan Spała of Słupsk Antoni and Leokadia Jastrz ąb Presentation of the decoration into the hands of the Heroes' daughter, Liliana Wierzbi ńska of Marki Stanisława Olewnik On behalf of the Heroine’s son, Jan Olewnik, Mayor of Grodzisk Mazowiecki Grzegorz Benedykci ński will collect the medal Aniela Woroniecka neé Czartoryska and Ró ża Chmielewska Presentation of the decoration into the hands of Aniela Woroniecka’s nephews: Adam Czartoryski from Denmark, Gustaw Czartoryski of Puszczykowo, Juliusz Czartoryski and Tytus Czartoryski of Morz ęcin Mały, and Zygmunt Czartoryski of Opole Musical performance by Ola Bili ńska Conclusion of the ceremony and taking group pictures • • • Refreshments Whosoever saves a single life, saves an entire universe Since 1963 a special commission of Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority in Jerusalem, headed by the Israel's Supreme Court, has been awarding Righteous Among the Nations medals .( read: Chasid umot ha-Olam , חסיד אומות העולם ) and certificates of honour This decoration pays tribute to the Heroes who were putting their lives in danger in order to rescue their Jewish friends, neighbours, acquaintances, sometimes perfect strangers, all of them doomed to extermination. Persons recognized as Righteous are awarded a specially minted medal bearing their name and a certificate of honour. The names and surnames of Righteous are also engraved on stone plates in the Garden of the Righteous in Jerusalem. The planting of olive trees for the Heroes has ceased few years ago for there is hardly no area left. The certificates of honour and medals are being presented during ceremonies taking place in Israel or in the Israeli diplomatic missions. The Embassy of Israel to Poland organizes a dozen or so of such ceremonies each year, mainly in Warsaw. In 2011, in 12 ceremonies, 65 Poles were recognized as Righteous Among the Nations, and 11 honorary citizenships of the State of Israel were conferred upon them. All coverages of the ceremonies held in Poland are published on the website of the Embassy: ( www.israel.pl ), the photos are available in the public virtual gallery at ( http://picasaweb.google.com/ambasada.izraela ). Yad Vashem has honoured over 24 000 Heroes from all over the world, among them over 6 000 Poles, to name few Polish Righteous: Zofia Kossak- Szczucka, Irena Sendlerowa, Mieczysław Fogg, Igor Newerly, Henryk Sławik and Władysław Bartoszewski. Names of the Righteous from Poland on the Wall of Honour in the Garden of the Righteous at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem The Polish Council to Aid Jews On December 4 1942, the Polish Council to Aid Jews, the codename ‘ Żegota’, was established at the Government in Exile Branch for Poland ( Delegatura Rz ądu na Kraj ). The tasks of ' Żegota' consisted in organizing and providing systematic support for persecuted Jews on the territory of the occupied Poland. The creation of an organization attached to the government, the operation of which was exclusively aimed at helping Jews, was unique in the occupied Europe. Among the missions of ' Żegota' were: seeking out apartments and hiding places, safely escorting and placing the fugitives in those places, issuing forged documents, providing financial and medical help for those in hiding, taking care of children and giving protection against blackmailers. The Council established its local branches in Cracow and Lviv. Its operation was possible thanks to the input and work of many, often anonymous and ordinary people, people of different age and of different social and material status. They managed to cooperate regardless of religious or outlook differences. Julian Grobelny, known by the pseudonym 'Trojan', was appointed the Head of ‘ Żegota’. Leon Feiner, known by the pseudonym 'Mikołaj', and Tadeusz Rek, known by the pseudonym 'Ró życki', became his Deputies. Other senior positions were held by: Ferdynand Arczy ński 'Marek' (Treasurer), Adolf Abraham Berman 'Borowski' (Secretary-General). Witold (Jan) Bie ńkowski, served as a liaison officer between ' Żegota' and the Polish Government in Exile, he was helped by Władysław Bartoszewski, 'Ludwik'. In 1963, Maria Kann and Władysław Bartoszewski planted a tree for ' Żegota' in the Yad Vashem Avenue of the Righteous, which later has become the Garden of the Righteous. Władysław Bartoszewski is the only living co-founder of ' Żegota'. Planting a tree in honour of ‘ Żegota’ in Yad Vashem, October 28 th 1963; Archive of Władysław Bartoszewski Helena Godlewska A tiny, gaunt Jewish girl, Masha Borenstein, got to the family of Helena and Leon Godlewski of Warsaw in the summer of 1942. She was smuggled out of the Warsaw ghetto in a rucksack by the Godlewskis’ daughter – El żbieta Andersz. From then on, the girl, called Misia, became a full member of the family. With the help of a priest friend, Edward Tyszka, they arranged her a forged baptism certificate for the name Irena Maria Godlewska. In 1943, Helena Godlewska's husband was arrested for his activity in the Home Army, and he was killed in the KL Auschwitz-Birkenau. Henceforth, the woman had to deal with raising her four children on her own. Despite their difficult financial situation, she did not leave little Misia and took great care of her until the end of the occupation. In 1956, Masha Borenstein / Miriam Adika immigrated to Israel, where she started her own family. Helena Godlewska (1896-1967) in the 1950s Misia Borenstein, ca. 1947 Michał and Maria Golba During the German occupation, Michał and Maria Golba were hiding three Jewish refugees: Hanna Kurz (Reiss-Lind) and Tonia Szulkind with her son Natan on their farm in Zdzieci, a small village near Połaniec in the Świ ętokrzyskie voivodeship. Although they could barely provide for themselves and their two sons, they did not refuse to help those who were in need, and who were also perfect strangers. The passage from Tonia Szulkind's (Seiden) memoirs reads: ‘ We were hiding at Maria and Michał's place for over a year. All that time, they were great. They took care of all our needs, without any payment. Never did they show any sign of fear or impatience’ . The Golba family took every effort so that their neighbours would not find out about their secret. All of them safely lived through the end of the occupation in August 1944. After the war, the Survivors emigrated from Poland, yet they have never forgotten their rescuers. Tonia Szulkind with her son Natan Hanna Reiss-Lind Antoni and Leokadia Jastrz ąb Antoni Jastrz ąb and Joel Grinkraut knew each other well before the war. They both were tailors and lived in Zawiercie. When a ghetto was established in their home town, and all the Jewish population of Zawiercie was resettled into the ghetto, Leokadia and Antoni Jastrz ąb convinced Priwa Grinkraut, their friend's wife, to get out to the Aryan side. They were hiding her in their house for six weeks. At that time, they arranged forged documents for her, issued for the name Zofia Jabło ńska, whereas Leokadia and Antoni's children thought Priwa some catholic prayers. Then, thanks to some contacts in the employment office, Antoni Jastrz ąb fixed Priwa up with a job for a German farmer in the Sudetes. The whole time he remained in contact with her, and helped to deliver the correspondence between Priwa and Joel. The latter ∗ survived the war with the help of a German air force officer, Willi Garbrecht. Leokadia Jastrz ąb (1911-1995) Antoni Jastrz ąb (1908-1979) ∗ Between 1942 and 1944, Willi Garbrecht saved several dozens of Jewish inhabitants of Zawiercie from deportation to the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp by hiring them in the Luftwaffe plant. The ceremony of awarding the title of Righteous Among the Nations to Willi Garbrecht took place in the Embassy of Israel in Berlin in 2011. The son of Joel and Priwa Grinkraut, Prof. Abraham Gonen was present at the ceremony. Stanisława Olewnik During the war Stanisława Olewnik lived in Krzemie ń near Maków Mazowiecki. She was a farm labourer and a single mother of two little sons. Regardless of the great danger, she agreed to provide help for 5 members of the Mławski family, who escaped from the Maków ghetto. In the autumn of 1943, during the German raid, the Mławskis, who were hiding in the woods, were arrested. After cruel torture, one Jewish girl admitted that Stanisława Olewnik was hiding her in her house, and then equipped the girl with her own documents, so as to facilitate the girl's survival on the Aryan side. The rescuer and the rescued were imprisoned in the Gestapo torture cell in the castle of Pułtusk. Next, they were transported to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. We can read in the survived documents that Stanisława Olewnik, Ruchla Mławska and her daughters perished there in 1944.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • 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]
  • 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.
    [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]
  • Perpetrators & Possibilities: Holocaust Diaries, Resistance, and the Crisis of Imagination
    Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University History Theses Department of History 8-3-2006 Perpetrators & Possibilities: Holocaust Diaries, Resistance, and the Crisis of Imagination Eryk Emil Tahvonen Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/history_theses Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Tahvonen, Eryk Emil, "Perpetrators & Possibilities: Holocaust Diaries, Resistance, and the Crisis of Imagination." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2006. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/history_theses/14 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of History at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in History Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. PERPETRATORS & POSSIBILITIES: HOLOCAUST DIARIES, RESISTANCE, AND THE CRISIS OF IMAGINATION by ERYK EMIL TAHVONEN Under the Direction of Jared Poley ABSTRACT This thesis examines the way genocide leaves marks in the writings of targeted people. It posits not only that these marks exist, but also that they indicate a type of psychological resistance. By focusing on the ways Holocaust diarists depicted Nazi perpetrators, and by concentrating on the ways language was used to distance the victim from the perpetrator, it is possible to see how Jewish diarists were engaged in alternate and subtle, but nevertheless important, forms of resistance to genocide. The thesis suggest this resistance on the part of victims is similar in many ways to well-known distancing mechanisms employed by perpetrators and that this evidence points to a “crisis of imagination” – for victims and perpetrators alike – in which the capability to envision negation and death, and to identify with the “Other” is detrimental to self-preservation.
    [Show full text]
  • Los Justos De Las Naciones1
    Los Justos de las Naciones1 En un mundo de debacle moral generalizada, hubo una pequeña minoría que supo desplegar un extraordinario coraje para mantener los valores humanos en pie. Ellos fueron los Justos de las Naciones, que remaron contra la corriente general de indiferencia y hostilidad que prevaleció durante el Holocausto. Contrariamente a la tendencia generalizada, estos salvadores veían a los judíos como seres humanos comunes y corrientes, incluidos dentro de su universo de obligaciones. La mayoría de los salvadores comenzaron como observadores pasivos. En muchos casos el cambio ocurría cuando eran confrontados con la deportación o la matanza de judíos. Algunos habían permanecido indiferentes en las etapas tempranas de la persecución, cuando los derechos de los judíos eran restringidos y sus propiedades confiscadas, pero llegó un punto en el que decidieron actuar, una barrera que no estaban dispuestos a cruzar. A diferencia de otros, ya no pudieron consentir con las crecientes medidas que afectaban a los judíos. En muchos casos eran los judíos los que se dirigían a los gentiles en busca de ayuda. No sólo los salvadores manifestaron ingenio y coraje, sino también los judíos luchaban por su supervivencia. Wolfgang Benz, quien realizara una exhaustiva investigación sobre el rescate de judíos durante el Holocausto, sostiene que, al escuchar las historias de salvataje, las personas rescatadas pueden ser vistas como meros objetos de cuidado y caridad. Sin embargo, “el intento de sobrevivir en la clandestinidad era, antes que nada, un acto de autoafirmación y un acto de resistencia judía contra el régimen nazi. Sólo unos pocos tuvieron éxito en dicha resistencia”.
    [Show full text]
  • Carrier / Chiriac with Niran / Sinai Explaining the Holocaust And
    Carrier / Chiriac with Niran / Sinai 2021 Explaining the Holocaust and Genocide in Contemporary Curricula, Textbooks and in Pupils’ Writings in Europe Country Studies Peter Carrier / Christine Chiriac with Ben Niran and Stavit Sinai Explaining the Holocaust and Genocide in Contemporary Curricula, Textbooks and in Pupils’ Writings in Europe Country Studies urn:nbn:de:0220- 2021-0037 This publication was published under the creative commons licence: Attribution 3.0 Germany (CC BY 3.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0/. Cite as: Peter Carrier and Christine Chiriac with Ben Niran and Stavit Sinai. Explaining the Holocaust and Genocide in Contemporary Curricula, Textbooks and in Pupils’ Writings in Europe: Country Studies. (2021). urn:nbn:de:0220- 2021-0037. Explaining the Holocaust and Genocide in Contemporary Curricula, Textbooks and in Pupils’ Writings in Europe COUNTRY STUDIES The National Dimensions of Explanations of the Holocaust and Genocides in European Educational Media Peter Carrier / Christine Chiriac with Ben Niran and Stavit Sinai Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 3 ALBANIA .................................................................................................................................. 4 AUSTRIA ................................................................................................................................. 10 BELARUS ...............................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • ARTYKUŁ the Council to Aid Jews “Żegota”
    The Council to Aid Jews “Żegota” ARTYKUŁ The Council to Aid Jews “Żegota” HISTORICAL ERA (1939-1945) II wojna światowa Author: Marcin Urynowicz 28.01.2020 The Council to Aid Jews with the Government Delegation for Poland, also called “Żegota”, was the only official state organisation helping Jews in Europe between the years 1939-1945. “The world is watching… and stays silent” The organisation was created on September 27th 1942, in Warsaw, as the “Konrad Żegota” Committee of Social Help for the Jewish Population. At least several other, smaller initiatives contributed to its founding, especially the one started by Zofia Kossak-Szczucka, the president of the Catholic “Front for the Rebirth of Poland” (FOP) which, as a response to deportations of Jewish Varsovians to the gas chambers of Treblinka, wrote a “Protest”: The world is watching this crime, which is more terrible than anything history has ever witnessed, and stays silent. (…) This silence can no longer be tolerated (…) It is despicable. No one should remain inert in the face of a crime. Who stays silent in the face of murder – becomes the murderer’s accomplice. Who does not condemn – gives allowance. The smaller initiatives could expand their actions thanks to the support of the official Polish underground authorities. The decision of the chief administrator of the Government Delegation, Leopold Rutkowski (codename “Trojanowski”, “Muszyński”) to award the first subsidies for social organisations bringing aid to Jewish escapees from ghettos and creating networks of aid turned out to be crucial. “No one should remain inert in the face of a crime. Who stays silent in the face of murder – becomes the murderer’s accomplice.” From that point on, it was possible to conduct a wider, international, well-organised operation.
    [Show full text]
  • Wp Content/ Uploads/ 2016/ 03/ MOTL
    SEARCH SAVE PDF TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTERS A Welcome and Introduction 1 B Acknowledgements 2 C To the Children... A Dedication 3 D Suggested Reading List 4 E This Study Guide and You 6 F My Journal - A Silent Dialogue with Myself 7 G Understanding Human Emotions 11 H Hurricane Andrew and the Holocaust 16 I You Are the Best 17 UNIT I - DANGER SIGNALS I Exploring Our Roots 19 II Prejudice and Discrimination 27 III A Study of Words 37 IV Anti-Semitism and the Holocaust 44 V "Vus is geven is geven" - What was lost is lost forever 53 UNIT II - THE PERSECUTION YEARS VI A State of Terror: Germany 1933-1939 70 VII The War against the Jews 79 VIII The Ghetto 95 IX The Camps 110 Study Guide X Living with Dignity in a World Gone Insane 133 XI The Silent World and the Righteous Few Who Did Respond 154 XII Poland Today 176 XIII PostScript 186 UNIT III - ISRAEL XIV Shivat Zion - The Return to Zion 196 XV The Yishuv - During the Shoah 206 XVI B'riha - The Illegal Immigration (1945-1947) 213 XVII The Struggle for Independence and the Birth of the State of Israel (1945-1948) 224 XVIII The War of Independence (1947-1949) 238 XIX Yom HaZikaron and Yom Ha'Atzmaut 254 XX Jerusalem 261 XXI The Legacy: The War of Independence and the Current Peace Process 269 HOME A. WELCOME Dear March of the Living Participant, You are about to embark upon an exciting experience, one that may just change your life.
    [Show full text]
  • Remembrance for Poles Who Saved Jews
    MONDAY, 26 MARCH 2018 DZIENNIK ZACHODNI A SUPPLEMENT PREPARED WITH SUBSTANTIVE COLLABORATION OF THE INSTITUTE OF NATIONAL National Day of REMEMBRANCE Remembrance for Poles who saved Jews Jarosław Szarek, PhD, President of IPN: Let’s celebrate the National Day of Remembrance for Poles who saved Jews Distinctions for pinpoint the actual date when the word “Righteous” was used for the first time in relation to someone Humanity who helped Jews. It has been in use officially since 1963. The title of Dorota Koczwańska-Kalita PhD, such strict regulation, many the extent of these risks was Emanuel Ringelblum, a historian Righteous Among the Nations can Head of the IPN Delegation in Poles decided to engage in acts incomparable. of the ghetto, appealed for be awarded after a commission Kielce of humanity. Szymon Datner in It appears that, in general recognising such actions with recognises that the saved person his "Las sprawiedliwych. Karta terms, the dilemma could be an “order for humanitarianism” was a Jew and the rescuer was not, he outbreak of z dziejów ratownictwa Żydow solved in four ways: the first in future Poland. Julian and that the help did not involve World War 2 in w okupowanej Polsce" with would be to turn the Jew in Aleksandrowicz, a great scholar any benefit. Poles constitute 1939 irreversibly uncanny accuracy describes to his pursuers in accordance from Kraków, requested the the largest group among the changed the the situation of people seeking with the ‘law’ imposed by the Israeli government to create a Righteous Among the Nations, world. The help and those who were asked invader, which equalled a death Chapter of the Commander’s with nearly seven thousand period through for help.
    [Show full text]
  • Chapter 4. the Konrad Zegota Committee
    PRESERVING THE PAST FOR THE FUTURE Irene Tomaszewski and Tecia Werbowski. Zegota. Price-Patterson Ltd. Montreal, Canada. Chapter 4. The Konrad Zegota Committee The Underground movement in Poland arose spontaneously and regionally as soon as the German occupation began. Polish officers and soldiers who had not been put in prisoner- of-war camps buried their uniforms and their arms, then met secretly in their neighbourhoods to plan resistance. Cells were composed of men and women from established political parties, from former army units, or – simply from their home districts. Eventually, all of these small units, – excluding the Communists on the extreme left and the fascists on the extreme right, united under one command. The military arm later became known as the Home Army – the AK (Armia Krajowa) – one facet of what became in reality an underground state. Resistance was not new to Poles. From the late 1700s, to 1918, their country had been partitioned and occupied by the Germans, the Russians and the Austrians. But Poles had never accepted foreign rule, resisting, regardless of the cost. They resisted again, but no one at first expected the perversions and savagery that would be directed against the entire population. Nor was it immediately apparent that this time Germany was determined to carry out the unprecedented biological destruction of entire nations, most notably the Jews. Even in the context of daily terror, it was not long before the special brutality directed against the Jews was noted. Reports appeared both in the Polish Underground press and in communiques to the West. After the death sentence was decreed for anyone helping Jews, Poles were exhorted in clandestine publications to defy this "law," but initially, no general strategy to do so was developed.
    [Show full text]
  • Ghetto Diary
    JANUSZ KORCZAK GHETTO DIARY WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY BETTY JEAN LIFTON CONTENTS WHO WAS JANUSZ KORCZAK? by Betty Jean Lifton GHETTO DIARY by Janusz Korczak Part One Part Two Korczak with his children WHO WAS JANUSZ KORCZAK? BETTY JEAN LIFTON Janusz Korczak, a renowned Polish Jewish writer and pediatrician and one of the world’s first children’s rights advocates, often said that life is a strange dream. But his death proved even stranger. Today he is remembered not for the way he lived, but for the way he died. Korczak became a legend in Europe when he refused offers to save his own life and chose to march with the orphans under his care in a dignified procession through the streets of the Warsaw ghetto to the trains that were to carry them to “Resettlement in the East” but took them instead to the death camp Treblinka. The Poles claim Korczak as a martyr, who would have been canonized if he had converted; the Israelis claim him as one of the Thirty-Six Just Men, whose pure souls make possible the world’s salvation. UNESCO declared 1978-79 the Year of Janusz Korczak, to coincide with the Year of the Child and the centenary of his birth. During the last three months of his life, Korczak was working on a manuscript that has become known as the Ghetto Diary. He began it as a personal memoir, shortly after Warsaw fell to the Germans in 1939, and about a year before the ghetto was established. As Nazi troops patrolled the streets outside his famed Jewish orphanage on 92 Krochmalna Street, he wrote the first line: “Reminiscences make a sad, depressing literature.” Depressing because everyone starts out with ambitious plans only to learn with old age that life did not turn out as they expected.
    [Show full text]
  • Holocaust Diaries Bearing Witness to Experience in Poland, the Netherlands, and France
    University of Central Florida STARS HIM 1990-2015 2011 Holocaust diaries bearing witness to experience in Poland, the Netherlands, and France Jessica Leah Oldham University of Central Florida Part of the European History Commons Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/honorstheses1990-2015 University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in HIM 1990-2015 by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Recommended Citation Oldham, Jessica Leah, "Holocaust diaries bearing witness to experience in Poland, the Netherlands, and France" (2011). HIM 1990-2015. 1172. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/honorstheses1990-2015/1172 HOLOCAUST DIARIES: BEARING WITNESS TO EXPERIENCE IN POLAND, THE NETHERLANDS, AND FRANCE by JESSICA LEAH OLDHAM A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Honors in the Major Program in History in the College of Arts and Humanities and in The Burnett Honors College at the University of Central Florida Orland, Florida Spring Term 2011 Thesis Chair: Dr. Amelia Lyons © 2011 Jessica Leah Oldham i ABSTRACT Most of the Holocaust‟s victims were never able to tell their stories, and of the millions of victims, only a few hundred were able to write about their experiences. This makes surviving personal testimonies precious in many ways. They provide a rich resource for understanding both individual experience, as well as the ways in which the socio-historical context (i.e. region, gender, and class) greatly influenced each distinctive experience.
    [Show full text]