In the Face of the Holocaust Supplementary Notes

Home , Irena Sendler, Oskar Schindler, Szmul Zygielbojm

Glossary and key individuals: Timeline Autumn 1939 – The beginning of the gradual isolation of Jews from the Poles Righteous Among the Nations through a series of laws, obligatory armbands, forced labor, reduced mobili- Yad Vashem ty, and exclusion from economic, cultural, and social life through isolation in szmalcownik closed off neighborhoods (ghettos). perpetrator March 1940 – A report by Jan Karski for the Polish Government in Exile tel- The Council for Aid to Jews “Że- ling about the reluctant mood of Poles towards the Jewish population living in the eastern territories of Poland. gota” – Anti-Jewish incidents in Warsaw. genocide March 24–29, 1940 war criminal August 1940 – Anti-Jewish incidents in Paris. Nuremburg War Crimes Trial January 4, 1941 – The first request by a representative of the Polish authorities Zofia Kossak-Szczucka in exile in the UK to their military forces to bomb the Auschwitz Concentra- tion Camp in Oświęcim, which at that time was primarily a place where Po- Irena Sendler lish political prisoners were persecuted. Oskar Schindler February 1941 – Anti-Jewish incidents in The Hague and Amsterdam. Jan Karski Szmul Zygielbojm April 1941 – Anti-Jewish incidents in Antwerp. Raoul Wallenberg June 22, 1941 – German invasion of the USSR, the beginning of the mass mur- Chiune Sugihara der of Jewish civilians by the Einsatzgruppen. Henryk Sławik June/July 1941 – Anti-Jewish pogroms perpetrated with the participation Adolf Eichmann of the local population (Poles, Ukrainians, Lithuanians) after the start of the German-Soviet war in the East. Jan Dobraczyński July 10, 1941 – Murder of Jews (300–400 individuals) by their Polish neighbors in Jedwabne. October 15, 1941 – The General Government introduces the death penalty for Jews (for leaving the ghettos) and Poles (for providing any sort of assistance to, which included hiding, Jewish individuals). December 1941 – The opening of the first death camp for Jews, Kulmhof in Chełmno on the Ner. March 1942 – The beginning of the mass murder of Jews from the General Government in the death camps at Bełżec, Sobibor, Treblinka, and in Majda- nek in Lublin, as well as the Jews of Western Europe in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau. September 27, 1942 – Delegation of the Polish Government in Exile establishes the Provisional Committee for Aid to Jews, named in honor of Konrad Żegota. November/December 1942 – The second mission undertaken by Jan Karski to the Polish Government in Exile and the Government of Great Britain, as

well as to the U.S. President (July 1943), to provide a comprehensive report she lived in Warsaw and in 1968 she moved to Australia. on the situation and the extermination of Jews in the occupied Polish territories. Lila Lam-Nowakowska – born in 1924 in Stanisławów. During the war she December 4, 1942 – Establishment of the Council for Aid to Jews “Żegota” by stayed in the ghettos in Stanisławów and Warsaw, and later in numerous con- the Delegation of the Polish Government in Exile. centration camps, located in the Czech Republic, Austria (Mauthausen), and December 10, 1942 – A paper is sent by the Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs in Germany. of the Polish Government in Exile to the governments of the United Nations, which concerns the Germans’ crimes against the Jewish population in occu- Majer Grosman – born in 1926 in Warsaw. During the war he lived with his pied Poland. family in the Warsaw Ghetto. He was deported to the Treblinka Death Camp, October 1943 –The first death sentence was passed by the Special Civil Co- from where he managed to escape. He took part in the April uprising within urt Warsaw District against a so-called “szmalcownik” (blackmailer), for the Warsaw Ghetto (April‒May 1943) as well as in the Warsaw Uprising (Au- extorting, denouncing, or handing over of Polish citizens who were Jews to gust‒October 1944). After the war he was an officer of LWP (Polish Poeple’s the German authorities. Army), lived in Łódź, moved to Copenhagen.

Information about the interviews: a short biographies of the individuals Information on the main figures and authors of the resources

Sister Andrzeja, Maria Górska – Born in 1917 in Łódź. Before the war she Zofia Kossak-Szczucka (1889–1968) – A writer. During the occupation, a joined the Sisters of the Gray Ursuline Order in Warsaw. During the war co-organizer of Polish Resistance Front (in 1942‒1943, the editor of the new- she worked with Zofia Kossak-Szczucka, Irena Sendler, and “Żegota,” in spaper Prawda [Truth]) as well as the Council for Aid to Jews “Żegota” (ho- arranging assistance for Jewish children. In 1997, she was awarded the title of wever, she did not become one of its leaders). In the summer of 1942, she Righteous Among the Nations. published a protest against the extermination of the Jews, while calling on Christians to help the persecuted and murdered. During the years of 1943‒1944, she was imprisoned at Auschwitz. Afterwards, was moved to Pawiak prison Michał Głowiński – born in 1934 in Pruszków. During the war he remained in Warsaw and handed down a death sentence. With the help of the Polish with his family in the Warsaw Ghetto, but then hid on the Aryan side. With underground, she was freed and took part in the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. the help of Irena Sendler, he found refuge in a monastery in Turkowice near After the war she lived in exile for 12 years in England. After returning to the Hrubieszów, where he spent the time to witness the end of the war. He is Poland in 1957, she worked for the Catholic press and wrote prominent hi- now a respected literary theorist and professor at the Institute of Literary storical novels. In 1985, she was posthumously awarded the title of Righteous Research. His wartime experience is described in the book Czarne sezony Among the Nations. [Trans.: Black Seasons]. Irena Sendler – born in 1910 in Otwock near Warsaw. During the war she Mina Fuks – born in 1934 in Warsaw. During the war she was in, among was employed by the Department of Social Welfare of the City of Warsaw others, the ghettos in Warsaw and Łódź. She was also imprisoned inthe and also provided assistance to the persecuted Jews. When in 1942, the Coun- Auschwitz and Stutthof Concentration Camps. She survived the so-called De- cil for Aid to Jews “Żegota” was established, she started to work with this or- ath March to evacuate that camp. After the war she went on to live in Israel. ganization, leading the department for children. Thanks to the financial support as well as connections of the organization, she was able to provide support to her colleagues in helping those under her care. She saved Jewish chil- Maria Szarach – born in 1924 in Warsaw. During the war she lived with her dren from death in the ghetto by placing them with Polish families, or in care family in the ghettos in Lublin and Warsaw. She did labor for a German con- homes, orphanages, convents, in various supportive and educational institu- struction company in Małkinia, where in the summer of 1942 she saw rail tions. In this way, she managed to save about 2,500 Jewish children from the transports of Warsaw’s Jews being transported to Treblinka. After the war, Warsaw Ghetto. In 1965, she was awarded the title of Righteous Among the

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Nations—while in 2003, she was personally handed the Order of the White activist. Before the war, he associated himself with the national movement, Eagle by the Polish President. She has been nominated twice for the Nobel Pe- was a member of the National Party. In the years 1936‒1939 worked for ace Prize. associated with the National-Radical Camp weekly Prosto z mostu, in which he published anti-Semitic texts. He took part in the defensive war of 1939 and then participated in the underground military activities, and he was an offi- Oskar Schindler (1908–1974) – A German industrialist, who founded a cer of the National Military Organization and the Home Army. He participa- factory during the war in the Krakow district of Podgórze that produ- ted in the Warsaw Uprising in 1944. During the occupation, he worked with ced enamel pots, pans, and later, even munitions for the German military. Zofia Kossak-Szczucka, female religious congregations, and orphanages in The Schindler’s factory employed around 1,200 Jews from the Krakow Ghet- the rescue of Jewish children. After the war he was active in the PAX Associa- to. When the liquidation of the ghetto began (May‒June 1942), he attempted tion and was a member of to the Polish parliament, taking a political role on to protect his Jewish workers from deportation, and in October 1944 he eva- the side of the Communist authorities. In 1993, awarded the title Righteous cuated these individuals to his factory in the Czech Republic. In 1967, he was Among the Nations. awarded the title of Righteous Among the Nations.

Szmul Zygielbojm (1895–1943) – A Jewish labor union and political activist, Henryk Sławik (1894–1944) – A journalist, social and political activist asso- a member of the Bund, a councilor in Warsaw and then in Łódź. After the be- ciated with Silesia (participant in three Silesian Uprisings). During the war, ginning of the WII, he found himself in exile, where from 1942 he was a dele- he headed the Civilian Committee for the Care of Polish Refugees in Hunga- gate of the Polish National Council residing in London. On May 12, 1943, he ry; organized support for the Polish civilian refugees—especially fleeing Po- committed suicide in protest against the indifference of the world to the Ho- lish Jews—providing them with the documents that allowed them to escape locaust. to the West. He rescued Jewish children, for whom he helped in creating an orphanage in the town of Vác, near Budapest. He was arrested in 1944, after the occupation of Hungary by Nazi Germany, and then imprisoned at the Raoul Wallenberg (1912–?) – A Swedish industrialist and diplomat, in 1944 Mauthausen Concentration Camp, where he was murdered. For saving aro- became secretary of the Swedish Embassy in Budapest. When in the spring of und 5,000 Jews, he was posthumously awarded the title Righteous Among 1944, the Germans began the deportation of Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz, the Nations in 1990. Wallenberg as a representative of a neutral State in consultation with the Apostolic Nunciature in Budapest, Swedish and International Red Cross ren- dered aid to Jews who were imperiled by granting them Swedish citizenship Jan Karski (Kozielewski, 1914–2001) – As a courier of the Polish and passports, which guaranteed their safety and security. In January 1945, Underground State, he provided the free world with news about the situ- he was arrested by the NKVD on espionage charges and taken to Moscow. ation within the occupied territories. During his second mission during the His further fate is unknown. In 1966, he was honored with the title of Righte- autumn of 1942, he presented members of the Polish Government in Exile, ous Among the Nations. British as well as US politicians, (including the U.S. President), and representatives of Jewish organizations in America, a report about the Holocaust taking place on the occupied Polish territories as well as a request for assistan- Chiune Sugihara (1900‒1966) – Japanese diplomat in the years 1939‒1940, ce to the Jews who were being murdered. He had received this information the Vice Consul at the Japanese Embassy in Kaunas, Lithuania. Contrary to from members of the underground Jewish organizations. Twice, he was able his own government’s policy, together with his wife, he issued Jewish refuge- to enter the Warsaw Ghetto, and also managed to smuggle himself into to the es transit visas, which gave them the possibility of traveling through Japan. camp in Izbica Lubelska, where he watched the preparation of a transport of For those individuals, he also obtained permission from the Soviet govern- Jews to the extermination camp at Bełżec. After World War II, he remained in ment the right to travel through Siberia. The Jews of Lithuania, who were able the U.S. and taught modern history and political science at Georgetown Uni- to make their way to Japan, often benefited from the assistance of Polish di- versity in Washington, D.C. In 1982, he was honored with the title Righteous plomat, Tadeusz Romer. In 1984, Mr. Sugihara was awarded the title of Righ- Among the Nations. teous Among the Nations.

Jan Dobraczyński (1910–1994) – A Catholic writer, social and political Mordechai Gebirtig (1877–1942) – A Jewish folk poet and singer, howe-

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ver, carpenter by profession. He lived in Krakow, was killed along with two illegally left the ghetto and were hiding on the Aryan side. After the intro- daughters and his wife, shot by a German soldier during one of the depor- duction of the death penalty for hiding Jews or providing them assistance, on tations from the ghetto. He authored popular Jewish poems and songs, to October 15, 1941, the szmalcowniks were conscious helpers to the Germans in which he wrote his own music. the murder of Jews as well as the enemies of Poles who were rescuing Jews. From 1943, civilian and military courts of the Polish Underground State sentenced szmalcowniks to death, as traitors of the State and the Polish nation. Adolf Eichmann (1906‒1962) – A member of the SS, manager of the Jewish Affairs Department in the Gestapo as well as responsible for the implementa- tion of the “final solution of the Jewish question.” He managed a department Council for Aid to Jews “Żegota” – an underground social organization of the Reich Security Main Office, which dealt with the deportations of Jews formed in December 1942 by the Delegation of the Polish Government in from various countries of Europe to death camps that were located in German Exile, as a result of the transformation of the Provisional Committee for Aid occupied Polish territories. In 1941, he visited Auschwitz for the first time. to Jews, which operated from September 1942 under the leadership of Zo- On January 20, 1942, he organized of a conference at Wannsee near Berlin, fia Kossak-Szczucka. “Żegota,” included representatives from both political where his superior, Reinhard Heydrich, officially entrusted him with imple- parties and social organizations: Catholic, Jewish, leftist and democratic. The menting the “Final Solution.” In fulfilling this task Eichmann proved that he activities of “Żegota” were funded by the Polish Government in Exile (pro- possessed exemplary bureaucratic efficiency as well as an iron hand. He was viding 90% of funds) as well as Jewish organizations. The area of the organi- zealous in the realization of his duties and responsibilities. Since March 1944 zation’s operation was mainly Warsaw and its surrounding areas, but in 1943 he was personally responsible for the transports of Jews from Hungary to Au- local councils were also created in Krakow and Lwow. The Council hel- schwitz-Birkenau, he gained a reputation as the “murderer from behind the ped those in hiding, and financially supported about 4,000 individuals, also desk” After the war, he was arrested in the American zone of occupation in supplied false documents (to around 50,000), sought a home and hiding for Germany. But in 1946, he managed to escape to Argentina. On May 2, 1960, he individuals, and organized care for children. was arrested in a suburb of Buenos Aires by Israeli agents and taken to Israel, In total, assistance was provided to hundreds of thousands of people. where he was prosecuted in Jerusalem in an open trail. On December 2, 1961 The organization worked alongside the Home Army in the fight against he was sentenced to death for crimes against the Jewish people and crimes extortionists and blackmailers (szmalcowniks), called for the assistance of Jews, against humanity. He was executed on May 31, 1962. organized several escapes from forced labor camps and secretly transferred escapees to Hungary. In January 1945, it ceased its operations. Glossary of terms and ideas Yad Vashem – the Hebrew name of the The Holocaust Martyrs’ and Hero- genocide – the term (in Polish: ludobójstwo) created in 1944 by a Polish es’ Remembrance Authority operating in Jerusalem, Israel. This Institute was lawyer of Jewish origin, Raphael Lemkin, which specifies the mass killing or established in 1953 and fulfills the function of a historical monument, extermination of groups of peoples; this word was was adopted into interna- museum, education center, and research facility. Since 1963, it has presented tional law after the Second World War. the medal, Righteous Among the Nations, which recognizes the people who selflessly rescued Jews during the Holocaust. war crimes – actions violating the norms and customs of war codified in 1919 to identify and prosecute those who had committed such crimes during the collaboration – the knowing cooperation of a citizen of an occupied First World War. After the Second World War, the United Nations Commis- country who works for and on behalf of the occupational authorities and to sion on War Crimes identified the following types of crimes: 1) a crime aga- the detriment of their own state as well as its citizens. This term was adopted inst peace—the planning, preparation, initiation, and waging of a war of ag- during the Second World War as the name for the relationship between gression, or war which is a violation of peace treaties, agreements or inter- the government of Marshal Philippe Pétain’s Vichy France and that of the national agreements, and participation in any of the above-mentioned acts; German Third Reich. 2) violations of the laws and customs of war—including murder, inhumane treatment of people living in the occupied territories, deportation (such as, for forced labor), the murder and mistreatment of prisoners of war, the kil- szmalcownik (blackmailer) – a colloquial term an individual that made mo- ling of hostages, the seizure of public and private property, destruction of ci- ney during the war through the blackmail and denunciation of Jews who had ties, towns, villages, and any destruction that is not justified by military ne-

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cessity; 3) crimes against humanity—including the persecution, murder, de- MIESZKOWSKA, Anna, Ed., Matka dzieci Holocaustu. Historia Ireny Sendlero- portation, extermination, and other inhumane acts aimed at destruction of all wej, Warsaw 2005. or part of a national, ethnical, racial or religious group. PREKEROWA, Teresa, Konspiracyjna Rada Pomocy Żydom w Warszawie 1940– 1943, Warsaw 1982. Nuremburg War Crimes Trial – a court trial held by the International Mili- SZAROTA, Tomasz, U progu Zagłady. Zajścia antyżydowskie i pogromy w okupo- tary Tribunal at Nuremberg in 1945‒1946 against 22 major criminals of the wanej Europie. Warszawa, Paryż, Amsterdam, Antwerpia, Kowno, Warsaw 2000. Third Reich, accused of committing four types of crimes: participation in a SZPYTMA, Mateusz, and Jarosław SZAREK, Sprawiedliwi wśród narodów świa- conspiracy to commit international crimes, crimes against peace, crimes aga- ta. Przejmująca historia polskiej rodziny, która poświęciła swoje życie, ratując Ży- inst humanity, and war crimes. A death sentence was passed on twelve of the dów, second edition, Krakow 2007. accused, while three were acquitted. SZUCHTA, Robert, and Piotr TROJAŃSKI, Holokaust. Zrozumieć dlaczego, Warsaw 2006. Bibliography TYCH, Feliks, Ed., Pamięć. Historia Żydów polskich przed, w czasie i po Zagładzie, BARTOSZEWSKI, Władysław, and Zofia LEWINÓWNA, Eds., Ten jest z oj- Warsaw 2005. czyzny mojej. Polacy z pomocą Żydom 1939–1945, third edition, Warsaw 2007. URYNOWICZ, Marcin, Zorganizowana i indywidualna pomoc Polaków dla ludno- ENGELKING, Barbara, “Szanowny panie gistapo”. Donosy do władz niemieckich ści żydowskiej eksterminowanej przez okupanta niemieckiego w okresie drugiej woj- w Warszawie i okolicach w latach 1940–1941, Warsaw 2003. ny światowej, in Polacy i Żydzi pod okupacją niemiecką 1939–1945. Studia i mate- riały, Andrzej Żbikowski, Ed., Instytut Pamięci Narodowej, Warsaw 2006. FRANK, Anne, The Diary of a Young Girl, Otto H. Frank and Mirjam Pressler, Eds., reprint, London 2010. WYMAN, David S., The Abandonment Of The Jews: America and the Holocaust 1941–1945, New York 1984. GRABOWSKI, Jan, Szantażowanie Żydów w Warszawie 1939–1943, Warsaw 2004. ŻBIKOWSKI, Andrzej, Ed., Polacy i Żydzi pod okupacją niemiecką 1939–1945. Studia i materiały, Warsaw 2006. GROSS, Jan Tomasz, Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Je- dwabne, Poland, New York 2001. ŻBIKOWSKI, Andrzej, U genezy Jedwabnego. Żydzi na kresach północno- wschodniej II Rzeczypospolitej, Warsaw 2006. GRYNBERG, Michał, Księga Sprawiedliwych, Warsaw 1993. HILBERG, Raul, Perpetrators, Victims, Bystanders: The Jewish catastrophe, 1933‒1945, New York 1992. GRYNBERG, Henryk, Żydowska wojna. Ojciec, Warsaw 1989. IRANEK-OSMECKI, Kazimierz, Kto ratuje jedno życie... Polacy i Żydzi 1939– KRALL, Hanna, Hipnoza, Warsaw 1998. 1945, London 1968. MOCZARSKI, Kazimierz, Rozmowy z katem, Introduction by Norman Davies, JANKOWSKI, Stanisław M., and E. Thomas WOOD, Karski. Opowieść o emisa- Andrzej Krzysztof Kunert, Ed., Krakow 2004. riuszu, Krakow–Oświęcim 1996. NAŁKOWSKA, Zofia,Przy torze kolejowym, in Medaliony (multiple editions). KUREK-LESIK, Ewa, Gdy klasztor znaczył życie. Udział żeńskich zgromadzeń za- SZCZYPIORSKI, Andrzej, Początek, Poznań 1999. konnych w akcji ratowania dzieci żydowskich w Polsce w latach 1939–1945, Kra- kow 1992. LIBIONKA, Dariusz, ZWZ-AK i Delegatura Rządu RP wobec eksterminacji Ży- dów polskich, in Polacy i Żydzi pod okupacją niemiecką 1939–1945. Studia i materia- ły, Andrzej Żbikowski, Ed., Instytut Pamięci Narodowej, Warsaw 2006. ŁUBCZYK, Grzegorz, Polski Wallenberg. Rzecz o Henryku Sławiku, Warsaw 2003.