Poland Creates New Holiday To Remember Poles Who Saved Jews During WWII
Nazi Horror: Nazi soldiers force Jews from their homes in the Warsaw ghetto. Image by getty imaged
(JTA) — Poland observed a new national holiday to remember Poles who saved Jews during World War II.
President Andrzej Duda initiated the National Remembrance Day for Poles Who Saved Jews earlier this month. It was observed on Saturday, March 24.
On March 24, 1944, the Germans murdered the Ulma family – Józef, Wiktoria, and their six children – in Markowa, in southeastern Poland. Jews who were hiding in their house also were killed that day.
The main celebration was held Saturday in Markowa. Poland’s president and prime minister each sent letters that were read at the ceremony, which praised the courage of the Markowa family and the thousands of other Poles who helped Jews, the Associated Press reported.
On March 17, 2016, the Museum of Poles Rescuing Jews was opened in Markowa.
Some 6,000 Poles have been named Righteous Among the Nations by the Yad Vashem memorial in Jerusalem for saving Jews, the most of any nation.
The marking of the new Polish holiday to celebrate Poles who saved Jews during the Holocaust comes amid a diplomatic crisis between Poland and Israel, which protested the passing last month of legislation in Poland that criminalizes blaming Poles for Nazi crimes. Jewish groups said the law limits debate and research on the actions of thousands of Poles who betrayed Jews to the Nazis or killed Jews.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news. All donations are still being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000 until April 24.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
