NATIONAL DAY OF REMEMBRANCE FOR POLES WHO RESCUED JEWS UNDER GERMAN OCCUPATION
24 March is celebrated as National Day of Remembrance for Poles who rescued Jews under German occupation. The choice of the date refers to the day on which the Germans murdered the Ulma family in Markowa in 1944: Jozef and Wiktoria and their children, together with the Jews who were hiding with them.
On this occasion, the Chapel of Remembrance, which is part of the Sanctuary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Star of New Evangelisation, and St John Paul II in Toruń, commemorated Poles who, in defiance of German occupation laws during World War II, brought aid to persecuted Jews.
Eight more names were honoured for sacrificing their lives for their fellow man with a symbolic plaque in the Memorial Chapel – Mieczysław Borkowski, Jan Bożek, Stanisława Bożek, Stanisław Drabich, Teofil Gruszka, Czesław Kowalewski, Wanda Zacharewicz and Witold Zacharewicz.
The organisers of the commemoration were Foundation Lux Veritatis, St. John Paul II 'MEMORY AND IDENTITY’ Institute, St. John Paul II 'MEMORY AND IDENTITY’ Museum, Academy of Social and Media Culture and the Regional Centre for International Debate in Toruń.
PKN Orlen was a patron of the celebrations.
The Day of Remembrance, which was established by the Polish Parliament in 2018 on the initiative of President Andrzej Duda, honours all Polish citizens – regardless of nationality – who helped Jews subjected to genocidal extermination by the German occupiers. The choice of date refers to the day on which the Germans murdered the Ulma family in Markowa (today’s Podkarpackie voivodeship). On 24 March 1944, Józef Ulma, his pregnant wife Wiktoria, their six minor children, and eight Jews from the Didner, Grünfeld and Goldman families hidden by the Polish family lost their lives.
Poles, but also representatives of other countries who rescued Jews during the German occupation, have been awarded the honour of the Righteous Among the Nations, which has been conferred since 1963 by Israel’s Yad Vashem (Hebrew for „Place and Name”) Institute for the Remembrance of Martyrs and Heroes. Righteous Among the Nations are people of non-Jewish origin who showed selfless help to Jews during the Second World War. On its website, Yad Vashem states that by 1 January 2022 (the latest figures provided by the Institute) it has honoured more than 28,217 heroes, including 7,232 Poles, who make up the largest group of Righteous among the citizens of 51 countries around the world.
The titulature of Righteous Among the Nations refers to Jewish tradition. The term denoted non-Jews who were good and God-fearing people. Also stamped on the medal awarded to the Righteous is a maxim from the Talmud – „Whoever saves one life saves the whole world” (Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin, 37a).
