705 Polish Righteous were killed for helping Jews "N"

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Uploaded by on Dec 7, 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 Vashems 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.

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  • The world should also be made aware as to the Soviet Union's part in aiding and abetting the NAZIs in the destruction of Poland

  • @NativeNewYorkGuy Also Poland was the only place where your whole family would be executed for housing or even feeding a Jew. Most Jews also helped the Soviets when they invaded and turned over Polish patriots to be executed, so what the Poles did for the Jews was especially noble considering the horrible acts committed by Communist Jews who turned over Poles to be murdered. Once again, I highly DOUBT that any Jew would help a Goyim - who they considered cattle and spat passing churches...

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  • @NativeNewYorkGuy I doubt that ONE JEW would save a Pole! and there were many more that saved Jews, but it went unrecorded.

  • The world should also be made aware that Poland was most complicit in aiding and abetting the Nazis in the murder of the Jews as where the Ukrainians and Lithuanians.....Of course there were exceptions and many righteous people were murdered for doing what was right. God holds them in his care.

    But if 705 Poles were killed for trying to save Jews and a some may "gotten away with it" .....its still a very tiny number of the Polish population....SHAME ON POLAND!

  • CRAIG u r right! But i'm afraid there is,for some reason, a campaign of "Dis-Information & outright lies spread in various countries through media & educational channels of all things against the written record...

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