705 Polish Righteous were killed for helping Jews "D"

How many people in Poland rescued Jews? Of those that meet Yad Vashem's criteria—perhaps 100,000. Of those that offered minor forms of help—perhaps two or three times as many. Of those who were passively protective—undoubtedly the majority of the population. — Gunnar S. Paulsson

Would you risk your own life and your family's to save another human being?
Germans selected occupied Poland as the only country where aiding a Jew, be it only to give him a slice of bread, was immediately punished by death. Failure to inform on a neighbor hiding Jews meant deportation to a GERMAN NAZI Concentration and Extermination Camp(1939-1945) AUSCHWITZ, BUCHENWALD, DACHAU, BERGEN BELSEN, Ravensbrück, SACHSENHAUSEN, MAUTHAUSEN, NEUENGAMME, GROSS-ROSEN, SZUCHA, PAWIAK, PALMIRY.

On August 22, 1939, a week before his attack on Poland, Hitler exhorted his nation: "Kill without pity or mercy all men, women and children of Polish descent or language. Only in this way can we obtain the living space we need." As many as 200,000 Polish children, deemed to have "Germanic" (Aryan) features, were forcibly taken to Germany to be raised as Germans, and had their birth records falsified. Very few of these children were reunited with their families after the war.
More than 500 towns and villages were burned, over 16 thousand persons, mostly Polish Christians, were killed in 714 mass executions of which 60% were carried out by the Wehrmacht (German army) and 40% by the SS and Gestapo. In Bydgoszcz the first victims were boy scouts from 12 to 16 years old, shot in the marketplace. All this happened in the first eight weeks of the war. See Richard C. Lucas, The Forgotten Holocaust; The Poles under German Occupation. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky [c1986].

According to the AB German Plan, Poles were to become a people without education, slaves for the German overlords. Secondary schools were closed; studying, keeping radios, or arms of any kind, or practicing any kind of trade were prohibited under the threat of death.
Out of its pre-war population of 36 million, Poland lost 22%, a higher percentage than any other country in Europe. The heaviest losses were sustained by educated classes, youth and democratic forces that could have challenged totalitarianism. See I. C. Pogonowski, Poland: A Historical Atlas. New York, Hippocrene Books, 1987.
Righteous Among the Nations:
POLAND- 6066 - more than from any other German Nazi-occupied country
Total Persons- 22,211

Zegota-Council for Aid to Jews in Occupied Poland(1939-1945). ZEGOTA (in Polish: ŻEGOTA) was the only government-sponsored (London-based Polish Government-in-Exile) social welfare agency established to rescue Jews in German-occupied EUROPE.

The German occupying forces made concealing Jews a crime punishable by death for everyone living in a house where Jews were discovered. Although this penalty was rarely enforced in practice - it is estimated that some 705 Poles were killed for hiding Jews.

The stories of the rescuers are a shining example of the most selfless sacrifice, surpassing in its heroism that of all the soldiers on the battlefield, whom we commemorate each November. In fact the soldier must fight; he cannot refuse. He is sustained by the entire military organization and his efforts are mostly limited to battles that have a clear beginning and end. He is paid and given the food, supplies and weapons that he needs.
Rescuers of Jews in German-occupied Poland were alone, often deprived of their pre-war means of livelihood, expelled from their farms, factories, businesses, offices and even homes, most of them living in dire poverty. All found it virtually impossible to earn a living. They were under no legal obligation to risk their own lives and, even more, those of their families and neighbors. Their help most often lasted days and nights, weeks, months, even years, always in secret, and always risking discovery. To save one person sometimes several dozens of people risked their lives.

Who of us would do it today, especially in the above mentioned conditions?

German Plan "Final Solution" (German: Die Endlösung), German Plan "Generalplan Ost", German Plan "Operation Reinhard", German Plan "AB-Aktion" or "Außerordentliche Befriedungsaktion" (German for Special Pacificational Action or Operation), German Plan Sonderaktion Krakau: a 1939 German Nazi arrest of professors and academics of the Jagiellonian University in Poland, German Plan "Operation Tannenberg", Pacification operations in German-occupied Poland 1939-1945, RSHA, Sicherheitspolizei, Sicherheitsdienst Reinhard Heydrich, German "Einsatzgruppen" -- (Einsatzgruppen der Sicherheitsdienstes [SD] und der Sicherheitspolizei [SIPO])—special Security Service and Security German Police groups assigned to carry out special tasks to the rear of the Wehrmacht, Operation Tannenberg,

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[ferdovit]

Polish citizens have the highest count of Righteous among the Nations in the world, at 6,066, despite the fact that in German-occupied Poland all household members were punished by death if a Jew were found concealed in their home or on their property. Over 700 Polish Righteous among the Nations were murdered by the Germans for aiding or sheltering their Jewish neighbors.

[mikinomiki]

On February 17th , 1941 the Gestapo came and took f. Kolbe to Pawiak prison. On May 25th , 1941 he was transferred to a

concentration camp Oświęcim (Auschwitz), where he got a number 16 670.

The German butchers needed the place so Kolbe and the other three were executed with an injection of carbolic acid (phenol) on

the eve of the Assumption of Holy Virgin Mary , on August 14th , 1941

[39rc6cf]

I am Jewish and say God bless the memories of such righteous and decent Poles. They practiced what Jesus taught. Lastly, fuck the warmongering Germans. They'd do it again if they had the chance,

[solidarity1981]

Hundreds of thousands of Poles were executed for hiding Jews, yet they never received the credit they deserve...Instead they are viewed as Nazi colaborators...Such shame...Why?

[solidarity1981]

The Polish people never got the credit they deserve for saving Jewish lives...Instead they are looked at as Nazi colaborators. Such shame...What a way to thank the ones that were executed for hiding Jews... WHY? SHAME...

[solidarity1981]

The Polish people never got the credit they deserve for saving Jewish lives...Instead they are looked at as Nazi colaborators. Such shame...What a way to thank the ones that were executed for hiding Jews... WHY? SHAME...

[divustitus]

I judged the Poles by their enemies. And I found it was an almost unfailing truth that their enemies were the enemies of magnanimity and manhood. If a man loved slavery, if he loved usury, if he loved terrorism and all the trampled mire of materialistic politics, I have always found that he added to these affections the passion of a hatred of Poland. She could be judged in the light of that hatred; and the judgment has proved to be right."

Gilbert Keith Chesterton

[mikinomiki]

Talmud: "He who saves one life, saves the entire world." Father Maksymilian Kolbe saved thousands Jews, thousands Poles, thousands people during German nazi occupations Poland and Europe 1939 - 1945.

[BratWody]

Does it change things he wrote about a bit?

[BratWody]

How many people were humilated or beaten or even killed because what he wrote in his paper?

You treat him as a saint if you wish, I won't