Poles murdered for help to Jews

Fr. Paweł Rytel-Andrianik

In Treblinka on 4-5 October there was an academic conference entitled: ‘What do we know about Treblinka? - The state of studies’. It was attended by academic workers from Majdanek, Treblinka, Toruń, Warsaw, Koszalin, Stafford and Oxford. One of the topics of the conference concerned Poles murdered for helping Jews. Attention was drawn to a book unknown in Poland by dr. Wacław Zajączkowski, entitled ‘Martyrs of Charity’ published in Washington in 1988. In this publication there are mentioned 5368 surnames of Poles who were murdered for helping Jewish people. It turns out that no academic work on a nationwide topic has appeared so far. The attempt to fill this scientific gap is an academic publication entitled: ‘I will give them a name forever (Is 65,5). Poles from the neighbourhood of Treblinka are helping Jews’.
The conclusion concerning Poles who were murdered for hiding Jews is very sad: Germans murdered them and Israelis have not given them a medal ‘The fair one among the nations in the world’ and Poles forgot about them, at least so far. During the conference a question was asked how it was allowed and how this scientific and intellectual crisis can be overcome.

PS: the book by dr W. Zajączkowski entitled ‘Martyrs of Charity’ is available on the website of Drohiczyn Library – www.drohiczynska.pl

(AA)

"Niedziela" 43/2011

Editor: Tygodnik Katolicki "Niedziela", ul. 3 Maja 12, 42-200 Czestochowa, Polska
Editor-in-chief: Fr Jaroslaw Grabowski • E-mail: redakcja@niedziela.pl