705 Polish Righteous were killed for helping Jews "C"

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Uploaded by on Aug 17, 2008

Over 705 Polish Righteous among the Nations were murdered by the Germans for aiding or sheltering their Jewish neighbors. These Poles were only a small percentage of the thousands reportedly executed by the German Nazis for aiding Jews. "Władysław Bartoszewski, who worked for Żegota during the war estimates that 'at least several hundred thousand Poles... participated in various ways and forms in the rescue action.' Recent research suggests that a million Poles were involved" in the rescue of Jews,"but some estimates go as high as three million." Similarly, "estimates of the number of Poles who perished at the hands of the Germans for aiding Jews vary from a few thousand [see above] to fifty thousand" according to different research.

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?

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Uploader Comments (tomasmarec)

  • to fast!

  • Vid on You Tube=10 minutes. It must be a short and fast. Suggestion: use Pause. Thanks.

Top Comments

  • Jürgen Stroop wrote "When we invaded the Ghetto the Jews and the Polish bandits succeeded in repelling the participating units, including tanks and armored cars, by a well-prepared concentration of fire."The main Jewish battle group, mixed with Polish bandits, had already retired during the first and second day to Muranowski Square and was reinforced by a considerable number of Polish bandits". Another proof for legendary "polish antisemitism"

  • My most sincere congratulations for rescuing this forgot part of the story of so many victims and heros, like Irena and many others...

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  • Sorry bardzo ale mój dziadek przechował żyda ale później go wydał dla Komunistycznych władz że jest w AK !! A Później po dziadku ani słowa ;/

  • @MrTfszip

    Dear Mr fszip, I thank you and your family for helping the Jews. I am sorry for the loss of your beautiful family. You are heroes!

  • Dear Mr fszip, I thank you and your family for helping the Jews. I am sorry for the loss of your beautiful family. You are heroes!

  • My great Grandpa was a butcher in Poland. When the Nazis caught the Jews hiding in the forest, they told the SS that they were getting spare meat from the animals my great-grandpa slaughtered. The SS took him away and put him on a train. He froze to death on board,  like Popsicle stick, along with his Jewish friends.

    This loss devastated our family for generations, especially after leaving 10 fatherless children behind to live in poverty. My father was one of them.

  • My great Grandpa was a butcher in Poland. When the Nazis caught the Jews hiding in the forest, they told the SS that they were getting spare meat from the animals my great-grandpa slaughtered. The SS took him away and put him on a train. He froze to death on board, like Popsicle stick, along with his Jewish friends.

    This loss devastated our family for generations, especially after leaving 10 fatherless children behind to livee in poverty. My father was one of them.

  • Israel Singer, General Secretary of the World Jewish Congress stated that “More than three million Jews died in Poland and the Polish people are not going to be the heirs of the Polish Jews. We are never going to allow this. (…) They’re gonna hear from us until Poland freezes over again. If Poland does not satisfy Jewish claims it will be “publicly attacked and humiliated” in the international forum.

  • i hate hitler

  • 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

  • and now American Jews called Poles the worst antisemites on whole world...

    Question is what American Jews do for Polish Jews in WWII? Because We Poles do many to Them... 50 000 Jews get aid from polish Żegota mouvement. Poles are on the first position of Righteous Among Nation list - 6123 persons. What occupied nation do more?

  • My family in Poland sheltered a Jewish doctor and his family in a coal bunker.

    If they had been discovered, everybody would have been executed on the spot.

    Many of my family made it to the UK and joined the British Army under General Anders to fight Naziism.

    I hear of Polish anti-Semitism sometimes.

    Poland was not anti-Semitic, It's why so many Jewish people were there.

    Uneducated peasantry is different. Nazis recruited sociopaths, morons, thugs etcetera.

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