Poles who I admire

[Bonobo]

These two men, Bartoszewski and Karski, are true heroes and noble figures.

France inducts Pole into Legion of Honor
2009-04-30
WARSAW, Poland (AP) - French Prime Minister Francois Fillon has honored Wladyslaw Bartoszewski, a Polish Auschwitz survivor and politician, making him a member of the Legion of Honor.
French officials say Bartoszewski was decorated for his «courageous commitment» to save Jews during World War II, his resistance to the Nazi regime and his postwar efforts to built a united Europe.
Fillon bestowed the honor on Bartoszewski, 87, Thursday at the French Embassy in Warsaw.
Bartoszewski is a Roman Catholic who was imprisoned in the Auschwitz concentration camp for political resistance. He was Poland's foreign minister in the 1990s and is now an adviser to the government on Germany.
Created by Napoleon Bonaparte, the Legion of Honor is France's elite national merit society.

Władysław Bartoszewski (pronounced [vwaˈdɨswaf bartɔˈʃɛfskʲi]; born February 19, 1922 in Warsaw) – Polish politician, social activist, journalist, writer, historian, Auschwitz concentration camp inmate, soldier of Armia Krajowa, Polish underground activist, participant of the Warsaw Uprising, twice the Minister of Foreign Affairs, chevalier of the Order of the White Eagle, honorary citizen of Israel.




pl.auschwitz.org.pl/m/index.php?option=com_ponygallery&func=watermark&id=562&Itemid=17



Bartoszewski studied at Saint Stanisław Kostka Secondary School. In 1939 he graduated from The Humanist High School of the Roman Catholic Future Educational Society in Warsaw.

World War II and occupation

In September 1939, Bartoszewski took part in the civil defense of Warsaw as a stretcher-bearer. From May 1940, he worked in the first social clinic of the Polish Red Cross in Warsaw.

On September 19, 1940, Bartoszewski was detained in the Warsaw district of Żoliborz during a surprise round-up of members of the public (łapanka). From September 22, 1940, he was an Auschwitz concentration camp prisoner (his inmate number was 4427). He was released from Auschwitz on April 8, 1941, due to actions undertaken by the Polish Red Cross.

Polish Underground
Wladyslaw Bartoszewski on May 21, 2005 at the International Book Fair in Warsaw, Poland, promoting his Polish language book Moja Jerozolima, mój Izrael (My Jerusalem, my Israel)

After his release from Auschwitz, Bartoszewski contacted the Association of Armed Struggle (Związek Walki Zbrojnej). In the summer of 1941, he reported on his concentration camp imprisonment to the Information Department of the Information and Propaganda Bureau of the Home Army (Armia Krajowa, or AK, a reformed version of the Association of Armed Struggle and the largest resistance movement in Poland). In summer 1942, he joined the Front for the Rebirth of Poland (Front Odrodzenia Polski) – a secret, Catholic, social-educational and charity organization founded by Zofia Kossak-Szczucka. From October 1941 until 1944 Bartoszewski studied Polish Studies in the secret Humanist Department of Warsaw University at the time when higher education of Poles was outlawed by the German occuaptional authorities.

In August 1942, Bartoszewski became a soldier of the Home Army, working as a reporter in the "P" Subdivision of the Information Department of its Information and Propaganda Bureau. His pseudonym “Teofil” was inspired by Teofil Grodzicki - a fictional character from Jan Parandowski’s novel entitled The Sky in Flames. He cooperated with Kazimierz Moczarski in the two-man P-1 report of the "P" subdivision.

From September 1942, Bartoszewski was active on behalf of the Front for the Rebirth of Poland in the Provisional Committee for Aid to Jews and its successor organization, the Council for Aid to Jews (codenamed Żegota). Żegota, a Polish World War II resistance organization whose objective was to help Jews during the Holocaust, operated under the auspices of the Polish Government in Exile through the Delegatura, its presence in Warsaw. Bartoszewski remained a member of Żegota until the Warsaw Uprising. In 1943, he replaced Witold Bieńkowski in the Jewish Department of the Delegatura.[1]

From November 1942 to September 1943, Bartoszewski was an editorial team secretary of the Catholic magazine Prawda (The Truth), the press organ of the Front for the Rebirth of Poland. From fall of 1942 until spring of 1944, Bartoszewski was the editor-in-chief of the Catholic magazine Prawda Młodych (The Youth's Truth), which was also connected with the Front for the Rebirth of Poland and was addressed to university and high-school students. In November 1942, Bartoszewski became a vice-manager of a division created in the Department of Internal Affairs of the Delegatura whose remit was to help prisoners of Pawiak prison. In February 1943, Bartoszewski begame a reporter and vice-manager of the Department's Jewish Report. As a part of his activities for Żegota and the Jewish Report, Bartoszewski organized assistance for the participants of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in April 1943.
Wladyslaw Bartoszewski at the 60th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising in 2004

On August 1, 1944, Bartoszewski began his participation in the Warsaw Uprising. He was an aide to the commander of radio post “Asma” and editor-in-chief of the magazine The News form the City and The Radio News. On the September 20, by the order of the commandant of the Warsaw District of the AK – General Antoni “Monter” Chruściel, Bartoszewski was decorated with the Silver Cross of Merit (as a result of the proposal put forward by the chief of the Information and Propaganda Bureau in General Headquarters of the Home Army – Colonel Jan Rzepecki). On October 1, he was appointed Second Lieutenant by the AK commander general Tadeusz “Bór” Komorowski (also due to a proposal by Rzepecki). He received the Cross of Valor order on October 4.

Bartoszewski left Warsaw on October 7, 1944. He continued his underground activity in the Information and Propaganda Bureau of the Home Army, at its General Headquarters in Kraków. From November 1944 to January 1945 he held a position as editorial team secretary for Information Bulletin. At the end of February 1945 he returned to Warsaw, where he began his service in the information and propaganda section of NIE resistance movement. From May to August 1945, Bartoszewski was serving in the sixth unit of the Delegatura (he was responsible for information and propaganda) under the supervision of Kazimierz Moczarski). On October 10, 1945, he revealed that he had served in the AK.

In autumn 1945 he started his cooperation with the Institute of National Remembrance at the presidium of the government and theHead Commission of Examination of German Crimes in Poland. His information gathered during the occupation period about the Nazi crimes, the situation in concentration camps and prisons, as well as his knowledge concerning the Jewish genocide appeared to be very helpful.

In February 1946 he began his work in the editorial section of Gazeta Ludowa (People’s Gazette), the main press organ of the Polish People's Party (Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe, PSL). Soon, he joined the PSL, at that time the only influential party in opposition to the communist government. In the articles published in Gazeta Ludowa, he mentioned the outstanding figures of the Polish Underground State (the interview with Stefan Korboński, the report from the funeral of Jan Piekałkiewicz), and the events connected with the fight for liberation of the country (a series of sketches presenting the Warsaw Uprising entitled Dzień Walczącej Stolicy).

Due to the collaboration with the oppositional PSL he soon fell victim to repressions by the security services. On November 15, 1946, he was falsely accused of being a spy. He was arrested and held by the Ministry of Public Security of Poland. In December he was transferred to the Mokotów Prison and released on the April 10, 1948, due to the help of Zofia Rudnicka (a former chief of Żegota, then working in the Ministry of Justice). Although he was accepted into the third year of Polish Studies in December 1948, Bartoszewski's arrest in 1949, and the resultant five years' imprisonment, rendered him unable to finish his studies.

Bartoszewski was again arrested on December 14, 1949. On May 29, 1952, he was sentenced by the Military District Court for eight years under the accusation of being a spy. In April 1954, he was moved to the prison in Rawicz and in June to the prison in Racibórz. He was released in August 1954 on a year parole due to his bad health condition. On March 2, 1955, during the wave of de-stalinization, Bartoszewski was informed he was wrongly sentenced.

Read sabout Zegota, an organization who aided Jews during WW2.
www.holocaustresearchproject.org/revolt/zegota.html

[Bonobo]

As a child, I read a few books about animals by Zabiñski. I thought he wrote fascinating stories. It seems, apart from being an excellent writer, he was a hero, too.


Jan ¯abiñski (8 April 1897, Warsaw - 26 July 1974, Warsaw) was a Polish zoologist and zootechnician, recognized by the State of Israel to be one of the Righteous Among the Nations.[1] He was director of the Warsaw Zoo before the outbreak of World War II and additionally superintendent of the city's public parks during the Nazi occupation. He his wife Antonina and their son Ryszard used their personal villa and the zoo itself to shelter hundreds of displaced Jews. Additionally he fought during the Warsaw Uprising, was subsequently injured and became a prisoner of war. ¯abiñski also authored approximately 60 popular science books.
Polish underground activities

Zabinski was a Polish agricultural engineer and zoologist who saved many Jews in Warsaw. On the eve of the German occupation, Zabinski was director of the Warsaw Zoo. The Germans appointed him superintendent of the city's public parks as well. Availing himself of the opportunity to visit the Warsaw ghetto, ostensibly to inspect the state of the flora within the ghetto walls, Zabinski maintained contact with prewar Jewish colleagues and friends and helped them escape and find shelter on the "Aryan" side of the city.

Many cages in the zoo had been emptied of animals during the September 1939 air assault on Warsaw, and Zabinski decided to utilize them as hiding places for fleeing Jews. Over the course of three years, hundreds of Jews found temporary shelter in these abandoned animal cells, located on the eastern bank of the Vistula River, until they were able to relocate to permanent places of refuge elsewhere. In addition, close to a dozen Jews were sheltered in Zabinski's two-story private home on the zoo's grounds. In this dangerous undertaking he was helped by his wife, Antonina, a recognized author, and their young son, Ryszard, who nourished and looked after the needs of the many distraught Jews in their care. At first, Zabinski paid from his own funds to subsidize the maintenance costs; then money was received through ¯egota: Council to Aid Jews.

An active member of the Polish underground Armia Krajowa (Home Army), Zabinski participated in the Warsaw Polish Uprising in August and September 1944. Upon its suppression, he was taken as a prisoner to Germany. His wife continued his work, looking after the needs of some of the Jews left behind in the ruins of the city.
[edit] Legacy

On October 30, 1968 a tree planting ceremony was held at Yad Vashem honoring Righteous Among the Nations, including Zabinski.

In 2007, the U.S. writer Diane Ackerman published The Zookeeper's Wife, a book about the Zabinski family's courageous wartime activities, mostly based on the diary of Zabinski's wife. The Polish film director Maciej Dejczer has announced plans for a film about Zabinski's wartime activities.









VoiceTOONS studio director Anthony Reece has won the 2009 Crystal Reel Award by the Florida Motion Picture & Television Association for his Narration work on the Documentary “Safe Haven.”

In the opening days of World War II, the Nazis occupy Warsaw. In a display of extraordinary courage and commitment, Zookeeper Jan Zabinski decides to hide the city’s most endangered residents in his home. Before war’s end, the Warsaw Zoo will become a safe haven for 300 Jewish men, women, and children.

From award-winning director Gary Lester, comes this compelling Holocaust story of ordinary people doing extraordinary things.
The documentary was produced by Blue Heron Films, and tells the story of heroic zookeeper Jan Zabinski and his family, who successfully hid 300 Jewish men, women, and children from the Gestapo inside the Warsaw Zoo, Poland during World War II. The film has received world wide attention with over 12 million views at the IMDb alone.

The film will be a permanently archived film on display at both Yad Vashem in Jerusalem and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC and is also exhibited to visitors at the Warsaw Zoo in Poland.