Polish ‘Righeous’ Get New Office — Thanks to Jewish Group
Image by From the Depths
An organization promoting Holocaust commemoration in Central Europe pledged to provide new offices to an association of Poles who jeopardized their lives to save Jews during the Nazi genocide.
Jonny Daniels, founder of the From the Depths group, on Sunday said his organization had decided to allocate an open-ended subsidy of approximately $15,000 annually for a new office space for the Polish Society of the Righteous Among the Nations. Righteous Among the Nations is a title conferred by the State of Israel on non-Jews who risked being murdered for helping Jews survive the Nazi-led persecution during World War II.
Founded in 1985, the association is currently run from a 280-square feet room on the second floor of a building without an elevator on Warsaw’s outskirts. This has prevented some of the members, who are all older than 80, from being able to attend meetings, according to Anna Stupnicka, a member of the association who helped hide three Jews in her apartment and smuggled food into the Warsaw Ghetto.
Since the confinement to a wheelchair of a 100-year-old member of the association, other members have been forced to hold meetings in the building’s lobby so he may also attend, she said. “All we want in our life is to share our stories. It’s very difficult to do it without support. Each month we are not sure if we will keep our small office,” she added.
Daniels’ group also allocated roughly $2,500 this year to sending flowers to each one of Poland’s some 250 living Righteous on their birthdays. He said this will be an annual expense.
“The former Polish administration spent eight years in talks and public debates about building monuments” for the Righteous, Daniels said, adding he hoped that “the new administration will not shirk its responsibility in honoring these heroes while it still can.”
Roughly 6,500 Poles have been recognized as Righteous Among the Nations – the highest number of any country.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
