On the eve of the 81st anniversary of Szmul Zigielbojm’s suicidal appeal to help Polish Jews exterminated by the Germans, we present the 16th episode of the “Not only the Ulmas” series. The film “Only the Cross in the Forest Remains” presents the story of the Olesiejuk family from Kolonia Chominna near Biała Podlaska. Like tens of thousands of other Poles, long before the tragic appeal of the Jewish member of the National Council of the Republic of Poland in London, they risked their lives to help their most endangered compatriots remaining in occupied Poland.
The narrative about the Olesiejuk family was prepared, among others, on the basis of documents from the Archives of the Institute of National Remembrance with reference number IPN Lu 284/38, vol. 1.
The premiere of the film miniature “Only the Cross in the Forest Remains” took place on the eve of the 81st tragic anniversary of the suicide of Szmul Zygielbojm, a Jewish politician and member of the National Council of the Republic of Poland in London during World War II.
His suicide was a cry for help for the exterminated Jews, addressed to the whole world: ... The Germans are already murdering the remnants of Jews in Poland with ruthless cruelty. [...] Responsibility for the crime of murdering the entire Jewish nation primarily falls on the perpetrators, but indirectly burdens all of humanity, nations and governments of the Allied countries, who have not yet been capable of taking any concrete action to curtail this crime. By passively looking on to the murder of millions of defenceless and ill-treated children, women and men, they have become its co-perpetrators. [...] Through death I wish to express my deepest protest against the inaction with which the world looks on and allows the Jewish people to be exterminated. I know how little human life matters, particularly now. However, since I was unable to do this when alive, perhaps my death will contribute to a spurring from indifference all those who can and should act to still now, at the last moment, save that handful of Polish Jews still alive from certain death. [...] I bid farewell to all and everything that was dear to me and which I loved (copy of Szmul Zigielbojm’s farewell letter published in its entirety in: J. Żaryn, Polska wobec Zagłady [Poland in the face of the Holocaust], Oficyna Wydawnicza Volumen, Warsaw 2019, p. 241).
Six months later, the Olesiejuk family of five joined the many Poles who voluntarily sacrificed themselves for their Jewish fellow citizens. Just like tens or even hundreds of thousands of their compatriots, they helped Jews long before Szmul Zigielbojm’s tragic appeal.
Poles saved tens of thousands of Jews under German occupation. Most of those rescued were hiding in peasant families. In the countryside it was easier to help the hunted. Such a peasant family were the Olesiejuks, Stefania and Wojciech, together with their three underage sons, with whom they lived at the edge of the forest in Kolonia Chominna near Biała Podlaska.
Jewish refugees came to them asking for help, especially from the fall of 1942, when the Germans had already unleashed their extermination machine of “Aktion Operation Reinhardt”. For several months, the Olesiejuks provided shelter and food to many Jews in need. On 3 November 1943, German gendarmes surrounded their farm and murdered the entire family and a Jewish man who stayed in the house, probably named Reliniuk. The youngest of the shot sons of the Olesiejuk couple – Szymek, was three years old... Today, all that remains of the entire family is a steel Cross in the forest-covered place of the tragedy, and the memory of relatives. We encourage you to honour the memory of this Heroic Family and Szmul Zigielbojm.
By the end of World War II, the Germans had exterminated approximately six million Polish citizens, the overwhelming majority of them being ethnic Jews (approx. 3 million) and ethnic Poles. Most of the thousands of people who helped Jews during the German occupation have never been honoured and will most likely never be publicly known. We want to commemorate them all with a series of films “Not only the Ulmas”. We invite you to watch the 16th episode of the IPN film miniatures from the series “Not only the Ulmas” dedicated to the Olesiejuk family from Podlasie – “Only the Cross in the Forest Remains”, which we present in Polish and English versions on the IPNtv YouTube channel and on social media.
Watch previous episodes of the series "Not only about the Ulma's".