Rescue of Jews by Poles during the Holocaust

Death penalty for the rescue of Jews in occupied Poland
Public announcement
NOTICE

Concerning:
the Sheltering of Escaping Jews.
      There is a need for a reminder, that in accordance with Paragraph 3 of the decree of 15 October 1941, on the Limitation of Residence in General Government (page 595 of the GG Register) Jews leaving the Jewish Quarter without permission will incur the death penalty.

      According to this decree, those knowingly helping these Jews by providing shelter, supplying food, or selling them foodstuffs are also subject to the death penalty

      This is a categorical warning to the non-Jewish population against:
         1) Providing shelter to Jews,
         2) Supplying them with Food,
         3) Selling them Foodstuffs.

Tschenstochau,
Częstochowa, 24.9.42   

Der Stadthauptmann
Dr. Franke
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Polish Jews were the primary victims of the Nazi Germany-organized Holocaust in Poland. Throughout the German occupation of Poland, Jews were rescued from the Holocaust by Polish people, at risk to their lives and the lives of their families. According to Yad Vashem, Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust, Poles were, by nationality, the most numerous persons identified as rescuing Jews during the Holocaust.[1] By January 2022, 7,232 people in Poland have been recognized by the State of Israel as Righteous among the Nations.[1]

The Polish government-in-exile informed the world of the extermination of the Jews on June 9, 1942, following a report from the Jewish Labour Bund leadership smuggled out of the occupied Poland by Home Army couriers.[2] The Polish government-in-exile, together with Jewish groups, pleaded for American and British forces to bomb train tracks leading to the Auschwitz concentration camp,[3] although, for debated reasons, the Allies did not do so.[4] The rescue efforts were aided by one of the largest resistance movements in Europe, the Polish Underground State and its military arm, the Home Army. Supported by the Government Delegation for Poland, the most notable effort dedicated to helping Jews was spearheaded by the Żegota Council, based in Warsaw, with branches in Kraków, Wilno, and Lwów.[5]

Polish rescuers were hampered by the German occupation as well as frequent betrayal by the local population.[6][7] Any kind of help to Jews was punishable by death, for the rescuer and their family,[8] and would-be rescuers moved in an environment hostile to Jews and their protection, exposed to the risk of blackmail and denunciation by neighbours.[9] According to Mordecai Paldiel, "The threats faced by would-be rescuers, both from the Germans and blackmailers alike, make us place Polish rescuers of Jews in a special category, for they exemplified a courage, fortitude, and lofty humanitarianism unequalled in other occupied countries."[10]

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference YV Stats was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Zimmerman 2015, p. 144-146.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Epstein was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Epstein, Catherine A. (27 January 2015). Nazi Germany: Confronting the Myths. John Wiley & Sons. p. 172. ISBN 9781118294789 – via Google Books.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Piotrowski119 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Paldiel 1993, pp. 184–5: "The occupation authorities threatened with death any person who obstructed Nazi designs to destroy the Jews. This dire punishment was not only written in the law and known to studious attorneys but made public by posters on bulletin boards in all major cities. Any Pole caught hiding a Jew could be shot on the spot. If lucky, he would be dispatched to a concentration camp. [...] The threat facing would-be rescuers, however, also came from the direction of the local population. There were not a few Poles who exerted pressure on rescuers to expel their Jewish wards."
  7. ^ Zimmerman 2003, p. 5: "Besides the obvious German threat, Polish rescuers cited fear of denunciation by their neighbors as the second greatest obstacle."
  8. ^ Grabowski 2013, p. 56: "The Poles involved in Judenbegünstigung [Rescue of Jews] had no guarantee whether—in case of arrest—they would face prison terms, or be executed together with their families, but they had to assume the worst."
  9. ^ Tec 1986, p. 58: "Not only did rescuers know that their protection of Jews would meet with Polish disapproval, but many feared that this Polish disapproval would come with actual reprisals."
  10. ^ Paldiel 1993, p. 185.