The Institute of Strategic Studies, an NGO from Cracow, has initiated a research programme which aims to show the real number of Poles who died in the effort to support Jews during the Nazi occupation of Poland.
Anna Szymanska-Klich says that this number has never actually been properly assessed.
“We don't know how many Poles were murdered, only because they were decent people trying to help other people. It is our aim to prepare a publicly available list of people who were killed or punished.”
Professor Daria Nalecz, the director of the State Archives, said that the programme will include interviews with witnesses and survivors of the holocaust, as well as a comprehensive library and archive.
“We intend to cooperate with Institute of the National Remembrance which has a large collection of archives. We will also make use of other archives such as the Jewish Historical Institute, archives of the Polish Red Cross and foreign archives mainly in Berlin and Ludwigsburg.”
The programme is supported by Professor Wladyslaw Bartoszewski, Polish ex-foreign minister and historian. Professor Bartoszewski says that it is a duty to remember those Poles who tried to oppose Nazi Germans in their attempt to exterminate Jews.
“We don't know specific figures, but we do know that help was widespread. And I mean, not tens or hundreds, but thousands of people. We must try to preserve the memory of all these brave people and acts, which may serve as an example for the future.”
The programme has no political agenda. The organisers made it clear that they did not intend to question the existence of Poles who collaborated with Nazis, or demand any compensation from families of the survivors. The only aim which may qualify as political is the fight against the stereotype of Polish anti-Semitism, says the Institute. Professor Israel Guttman from the Yad Vashem Institute in Jerusalem promised to provide any help necessary for the project.
“This is a way to fight against a stereotype concerning Poles that they are all either are or were antisemites. We must put an end to this stereotype which is not true.”
The organisers intend to prepare a special questionnaire which will be available in November by mail and through the website at the Institute of Strategic Studies, the State Archives and Institute of National Remembrance. Results of research will be published in book form, and the organisers also intend to build a monument to the brave Poles who gave their lives trying to help their Jewish neighbours.
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