The Holocaust and Polish-Jewish Relations. Selected Issues
Edited by Martyna Grądzka-Rejak, Adam Sitarek. This publication presents selected results of research on the extermination and Polish and Jewish relations during the Second World War, carried out by employees of the Institute of National Remembrance in recent years.
On the one hand, the overriding idea of their publication in English is to familiarize foreign readers with the scientific achievements of the employees of the Institute of National Remembrance and to encourage them to refer to the scientific publications published by the Institute, on the other hand, to introduce valuable publications into international academic circulation.
ISBN 978-83-8098-446-2; The Institute of National Remembrance, 2018,
hardback, A5 format, pp. 398
Persecution for providing help to Jews in occupied Polish territories during World War II, vol. 1
Persecution for providing help to Jews in occupied Polish territories during World War II, vol. 1, edited by Aleksandra Namysło, Martyna Grądzka, Warsaw 2022, 464 pp., ISBN 978-83-8376-767-3
This publication presents the preliminary results of work carried out within the ‘Index of Poles murdered or persecuted for helping Jews during World War II’ programme. The main and, at the same time, the overriding aim of the activities undertaken as part of the ‘Index’ project is to establish the names of Polish citizens of various ethnic origin not covered by the Nuremberg legislation, living in the territory of the Republic of Poland within the borders of 31 August 1939, who experienced persecution for helping Jews during World War II.
The present publication contains 333 short descriptions of the persecution of 654 individuals who helped Jewish people in occupied Polish territories. The term of persecution is meant as activities of the military and civil authorities of the Third Reich, including, in particular, courts and prosecutor’s offices, police and security services with co-operation of the Nazi party and its affiliated and collaborative organisations, against people who violated the rules of contact with Jewish population as stipulated by the occupier’s law.
The authors have tried, first of all, to reconstruct the circumstances and causes of persecution, taking into account factors such as motivation and type of help.
Rich source material of multiple provenance formed the basis for compiling the list of people persecuted. The collected material consists of documents produced during World War II, such as documents of the German administration, courts and the terror apparatus, German press, Jewish testimonies written during the war, press and materials produced by the Polish and Jewish underground resistance. Valuable for the project turned out trial files of persons suspected of collaboration with the German occupiers, materials collected since 1945 by the Główna Komisja Badania Zbrodni Niemieckich w Polsce (GKBZNwP; Chief Commission for the Study of German Crimes in Poland) and its continuators.
This volume is the first in the series “Persecution for helping Jews during World War II”.
The Righteous and the Merciful. The Rescue of Jews by the Poles and the Tragic Consequences for Ulma Family from Markowa
Mateusz Szpytma, The Righteous and the Merciful. The Rescue of Jews by the Poles and the Tragic Consequences for Ulma Family from Markowa, Warsaw 2023, 2nd edition, supplemented, 152 pp., ISBN 978-83-8229-835-2
The Markowa massacre is a textbook example of German bestiality during the Second World War. Like many others, it was not properly appraised. […]
But what happened in Markowa on 24 March 1944 is not only an example of blatant injustice, but also proof of how much good a person can do. […] Like the Good Samaritan in Christ’s parable, Józef and Wiktoria Ulma decided to help people of other nationalities and faiths. The biblical injunction to love one’s neighbour meant more to them than the death penalty that threatened Poles for helping Jews. And it was with their lives – their own and those of their children – that they paid for their commendable stand.
They were not alone. During the Second World War, around a thousand Poles died saving Jews. We commemorate their heroism every year on 24 March – on the National Day of Remembrance of Poles who saved Jews under the German occupation, which for several years has been celebrated on the anniversary of the Markowa massacre. We also try – as far as possible – to commemorate each individual Pole who saved Jews with dignity.
(from the Preface of the President of IPN Karol Nawrocki)
Poles Saving Jews in World War II - Exhibition
Authors: Elżbieta Rączy, Jakub Izdebski
Series graphic concept: Aleksandra Kaiper-Miszułowicz
Graphic Design: Karol Czechowicz
Rewievers:Aleksandra Namysło, Filip Musiał
Translation:Jerzy Giebułtowski
Background photograph: Wiktoria and Józef Ulma, Mateusz Szpytma's collection/ Ulma Family Museum of Poles Saving Jews in World War II in Markowa
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A website dedicated to the Ulma family from Markowa
No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. (John 15: 13)
The IPN remembers about the oldest holder of the Righteous Among the Nations title
Anna Koźmińska, the oldest living holder of the Righteous Among the Nations medal (granted individually), is celebrating her 101st birthday on 22 May 2020. Her story had remained unknown for decades. Risking their own lives, Anna Koźmińska and her foster mother Maria, hid four Jews, including providing long-term shelter for a boy – Abraham Jabłoński – during German occupation.
Repressions for helping Jews
No less than 467 people were killed for aiding Jews – point out Aleksandra Namysło and Martyna Grądzka-Rejak, the author of the book “Repressions for helping Jews in the occupied Polish lands during the Second World War”.
It was our national duty to establish this day, Dr. Mateusz Szpytma on the Remembrance Day of Poles Rescuing Jews under German Occupation
Poles are the nation which has the biggest number of trees in YadVashem site. And yet not only in the world, but even in Poland, it was difficult for this fact to enter the collective consciousness. Perhaps people lacked individual human stories, which would show the heroism of individuals and even entire families, who risked the lives of their loved ones, including young children.
Distinctions for Humanity
An online press conference with the participation of the Deputy President of the Institute of National Remembrance Dr Mateusz Szpytma on the occasion of the Polish National Day of Remembrance of Poles Rescuing Jews under German occupation - March 23, 2020
The Polish Post has issued a new stamp in cooperation with the Institute of National Remembrance
A monument dedicated to Polish and Jewish citizens of the Republic of Poland, murdered by the Germans, has been erected in Popardowa (poviat of NowySącz)
The monument commemorates the residents of Nawojowa and KamionkaWielka: Agnieszka and Jan Rumin, Ludwik Borek and Jakub Tokarz as well as the six members of the Jewish families of Kaufer, Neugröschl and Schreiber whom they had been hiding.
The 150th anniversary of the birth of Mother Matylda Getter - 25 February 2020
Mother Matylda Getter from the Congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of the Family of Mary, risking her own life, saved several hundred Jewish children sentenced to extermination by the German occupiers. On 25 February at 8.00 a.m. the President of the IPN Dr.JarosławSzarek will pay tribute to Matylda Getter at her resting place in the Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw (plot F / G, row 2, places 26–31, entrance from Powązkowska Street - IV).
The IPN exhibition "Żegota" in Israel 25-27 June 2019
The Polish National Day of Remembrance of Poles Rescuing Jews under German Occupation - 24 March 2019
On the occasion of the Polish National Day of Remembrance of Poles Rescuing Jews under German occupation the IPN has undertaken numerous activities. We invite you for the screenings of "Passports to Paraguay" in numerous Polish towns and villages, and for the exhibition "It is Deeds that Make the Man. Poles helping Jews during the Holocaust on the Eastern Borderlands of the Second Republic of Poland "and the ceremony of the unveiling of the plaque in homage to Mother Matilda Getter.
The third National Summit of Poles Who Saved Jews during the Second World War – Rzeszów, 17-19 October 2018
‘We couldn’t but help them. They were our neighbours’ – An Interview with Eugeniusz Szylar, Righteous from Markowa
In connection with the Polish National Day of Remembrance of Poles Rescuing Jews under German Occupation we would like to refer back to an IPN interview with Eugeniusz Szylar, a Righteous from Markowa.
PASSPORTS TO PARAGUAY
The Internet premiere of the IPN production "Passports to Paraguay" directed by Robert Kaczmarek, 5 p.m., 24 March 2020
On the occasion of the Polish National Day of Remembrance of Poles Rescuing Jews under German occupation the IPN has prepared an Internet screening of the IPN production ”Passports to Paraguay”. A year after its premiere, the film directed by RoberKaczmarek, will be available to viewers online.
“Passports to Paraguay” in Jerusalem – 15 December 2019
″PASSPORTS TO PARAGUAY” to be screened in Moscow, 6 June, 8 p.m.
As part of the exhibition entitled ″He, Who Saves One Life, Saves an Entire Universe. The Righteous Among the Nations and Their Stories”, the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center, in collaboration with the Polish Institute in Moscow, is hosting a premiere screening of ″Passports to Paraguay”.
24 March - The screening of “Passport to Paraguay” in English (24.03.2019)
Whoever saves one life, saves the world entire…The IPN's "Passports to Paraguay" continued
A meeting with the filmmakers of the film Polmission. Passports’ Secrets took place after the premiere of the film, on 24 October 2020 as part of the Echoes of Katyn International Film Festival on Totalitarianisms. The debate was attended by: Jacek Papis - film director, Robert Kaczmarek - producer, Jakub Kumoch - former Polish Ambassador to Switzerland, Sebastian Piątkowski Ph.D. (IPN),and Barbara Stanisławczyk-Żyła, who hosted the meeting.
