Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Polish President Pens Passionate Eulogy for Sobibor Survivor

– In an unusual gesture, the president of Poland published a long statement eulogizing a Holocaust survivor who was among a handful of people to have escaped the Sobibor death camp in the country’s east.

Andrzej Duda published his 650-word eulogy of Filip Białowicz on the president’s official website on Friday.

“We are saying goodbye to an ardent advocate of mutual friendship and respect among nations, religions and world views,” Duda wrote about Białowicz, who died Aug. 6 in Florida, where he lived, at 90. His death, Duda added, marks the passing of a “person who did much to ensure that the crime of the Holocaust forever remains a closed chapter of history. So that nobody, under no circumstances, experiences it ever again.“

Białowicz and his older brother, Symcha, escaped from Sobibor along with 300 other Jewish prisoners after staging a well-planned rebellion in which the death camp’s German guards were killed. Most of the prisoners were recaptured and killed, but the brothers Białowicz were among a few dozen who got away. Symcha Białowicz died in Israel in 2014.

Filip Bailowicz spoke frequently about the Nazi death machine and in 2010 published a memoir titled “A Promise at Sobibor.”

Duda added in his passionate eulogy, which was unusual both in length and tone: “It is with utmost reverence that I reflect upon his involvement in the community live, his lectures, meetings with the youth, his multiple visits to Poland. I admired his deeply wise and balanced view of the past and present of Jews, Poles, Germans, Americans, and last but not least, of the entire humanity who, until today, dwells on the tragedy of the Holocaust.”

Jonny Daniels, founder of the From the Depths Holocaust commemoration group in Poland, called “this extraordinary gesture” by Duda “heartwarming.” Daniels said the eulogy, addressed to Białowicz’s family, is “symbolic of President Duda’s continued efforts to bring the Jewish and Polish nations closer.”

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.