The Righteous: The Unsung Heroes of the Holocaust

by Gilbert, Martin

  1 United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Photo Archive, Worksheet 00901.

  2 Hidden Child conference, Jerusalem, notes of the proceedings, 14 July 1993.

  3 United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Photo Archive, Worksheet 12471.

  4 Lydia Aran, letter to the author, 29 August 2001. In 1984 Lydia Aran had planted a tree in her rescuer’s name at Yad Vashem. At the time she was teaching Buddhism at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem.

  5 Samuel Bak, Painted in Words: A Memoir, pages 338, 357, 358–9.

  6 Yad Vashem Righteous Among the Nations Archive, file 2241.

  7 Archives of the Vilna Gaon Jewish State Museum, Vilnius.

  8 Yad Vashem Righteous Among the Nations Archive, file 6311.

  9 Yad Vashem Righteous Among the Nations Archive, files 5520, 5510A.

  10 Yad Vashem Righteous Among the Nations Archive, file 2072.

  11 ‘Life Story of Perela Esterowicz—Pearl Good’, typescript (sent to the author by Pearl Good).

  1 ‘Righteous Among the Nations—per Country & Ethnic Origin,’ 1 January 2002, Yad Vashem Department for the Righteous Among the Nations (list sent to the author on 29 January 2002). The exact Lithuanian figure was 504.

  2 Emanuelis Zingeris, ‘Introduction’, in Mikhail Erenburg and Viktorija Sakaite (editors), Hands Bringing Life and Bread, volume 1, pages v–vi.

  3 Mikhail Erenburg and Viktorija Sakaite (editors), Hands Bringing Life and Bread, volume 1, pages 34–35.

  4 Mikhail Erenburg and Viktorija Sakaite (editors), Hands Bringing Life and Bread, volume 1, pages 106–7.

  5 Mordecai Paldiel, ‘Simaite, Ona (1899–1970)’, Encyclopedia of the Holocaust, volume 4, page 1358.

  6 Yad Vashem Righteous Among the Nations Archive, file 3311.

  7 Ruth Kron’s story was told in Keith Morgan, ‘Hidden from the Holocaust’, a serial in four successive issues of the Vancouver Province, 24–27 October 2000.

  8 Joseph A. Melamed (editor), Lithuania: The Land of Blood.

  9 Quoted in Ilya Ehrenburg and Vasily Grossman, The Complete Black Book of Russian Jewry, pages 333–34.

  10 ‘Portrait of a Jewish child in hiding with her Lithuanian “sister”’

  11 Jolanta Paskeviciene, ‘Childhood Is Not a Dream’, Lithuania in the World magazine, 2001. In South Africa, Mulik Krol took the name Sam Keren. Of the nine members of his family, he was the only survivor.

  12 Jolanta Paskeviciene, ‘Childhood Is Not a Dream’, Lithuania in the World magazine, 2001.

  13 Rivka Lozansky Bogomolnaya, Wartime Experiences in Lithuania, pages 69–71.

  14 Yad Vashem Righteous Among the Nations Archive, file 1072.

  15 Margaret Kagan, manuscript (sent to the author, 10 August 2000).

  16 Joseph Kagan, Knight of the Ghetto: The Story of Lord Kagan, page 77.

  17 Margaret Kagan, manuscript (sent to the author, 10 August 2000).

  18 ‘Looking For…’, The Hidden Child newsletter, volume 9, number 1, Spring 2000.

  19 At the time of writing (May 2002), Rachala Goldberg had not been traced.

  20 Information provided by Eitan Finkelstein. In 1984, Zahar Kaplanas was among more than ten thousand Soviet Jews who had been refused permission to emigrate to Israel.

  21 Yad Vashem Righteous Among the Nations Archive, file 1183.

  22 Yad Vashem Righteous Among the Nations Archive, file 5414.

  23 Testimony of Dr Tania Ipp, Yad Vashem Righteous Among the Nations Archive, file 2472.

  24 Testimony of Miriam Krakinowski, Yad Vashem Righteous Among the Nations Archive, file 2472.

  25 Benjamin E. Lesin, ‘Lithuania, the Evil and the Righteous’, Los Angeles Jewish Times, 2 August 1996.

  1 General-Government Decree, issued by Governor-General Hans Frank, 15 October 1941.

  2 Wladyslaw Bartoszewski and Zofia Lewin (editors), Righteous Among Nations, page 600.

  3 Yitzhak Parlan (editor), Sefer Skierniewic (Memorial Book). Skierniewic is the Yiddish form of Skierniewice.

  4 Bulletin of the Central Commission for the Investigation of Nazi Crimes in Poland, volume 9, quoted in Kazimierz Iranek-Osmiecki, He Who Saves One Life, page 269.

  5 Testimony of Frieda Mazia, Eichmann trial, 4 May 1961, session 27.

  6 United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Photo Archive, Worksheet 25904. As Mira Reym Binford, Mira Rembiszewska later went to the United States, where she became a film-maker, and made a film of her experiences, Diamonds in the Snow.

  7 Ben and Vladka Meed, in conversation with the author, New York, 14 November 2001.

  8 Martin Gilbert, Holocaust Journey, page 210, ‘Day Eight, Cracow-Zamosc’.

  9 Baruch Sharoni, letter to the author, 5 September 2001.

  10 Joseph Dauman, letter to Yad Vashem of 26 February 1998, Yad Vashem Righteous Among the Nations Archive, file 1322.

  11 Eli Zborowski, letter to Yad Vashem, 2 February 1978, Yad Vashem Righteous Among the Nations Archive, file 1322. Eli Zborowksi was later chairman of the International Society for Yad Vashem.

  12 Eli Zborowski, letter to Yad Vashem, 2 February 1978, Yad Vashem Righteous Among the Nations Archive, file 1322; letter to the author, 30 April 2002.

  13 United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Photo Archive, Worksheet ID3753.

  14 Yad Vashem Righteous Among the Nations Archive, file 4534. The village was Boguty Milczi.

  15 Felicja Nowak, My Star: Memoirs of a Holocaust Survivor, page 138.

  16 Betty (Batja) Piechotka, letter to the author, 17 February 2002.

  17 United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Photo Archive, Worksheet 38506.

  18 Yad Vashem Righteous Among the Nations Archive, file 3359.

  19 United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Photo Archive, Worksheet 05705.

  20 Testimony of Aron Martin (Matuszynski), 29 December 1989. I am grateful to Bob and Myriam Wolf for sending me this testimony.

  21 Joseph Wisnicki, manuscript, ‘My Fight for Survival’, 1997, sent to the author 25 September 2000.

  22 ‘Portrait of Celina Berkowitz while hiding…’, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Photo Archive, Worksheet 29905.

  23 Uriel Reingold, Ha-reingoldim (‘The Reingolds’ in Hebrew; Tel Aviv, privately printed, 2000), pages 55–59.

  24 Uriel Reingold, letter to the author, 20 January 2001.

  25 United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Photo Archive, Worksheet 25573; Yad Vashem Righteous Among the Nations Archive, file 4742.

  26 Testimony of Anna Grabowska, as presented to Yad Vashem, Yad Vashem Righteous Among the Nations Archive, file 2004.

  27 Nechama Tec, When Light Pierced the Darkness.

  28 Nechama Tec, Dry Tears: The Story of a Lost Childhood, page 178.

  29 Doba-Necha Cukierman, A Guardian Angel: Memories of Lublin, page 153.

  30 Wladyslaw Bartoszewski and Zofia Lewinowna, Ten jest z Ojczyzny mojej (‘He is my fellow countryman’), page 464.

  31 Wladyslaw Bartoszewski and Zofia Lewinowna, Ten jest z Ojczyzny mojej (‘He is my fellow countryman’), page 110.

  32 Wladyslaw Bartoszewski and Zofia Lewin, Righteous Among Nations, page 608.

  33 ‘Parczew District, Bialka’, Scenes of Fighting and Martyrdom Guide, page 244.

  34 Wladyslaw Bartoszewski and Zofia Lewinowna, Ten jest z Ojczyzny mojej (‘He is my fellow countryman’), page 362.

  35 Wladyslaw Bartoszewski and Zofia Lewinowna, Ten jest z Ojczyzny mojej (‘He is my fellow countryman’), page 470.

  36 Dr Norris N. Wallach, letters to the author of 29 May 1983 and 17 September 1984.

  37 Interview by Dr Bronowski with Dr Nathan Wolk in Haifa, Yad Vashem Righteous Among the Nations Archive, file 331.

  38 Yehudis Pshenitse, ‘Wanderings of a Child’, Pinkas Novy-Dvor (Nowy Dwor memorial book), quoted in Jack Kugelmass and Jonathan Boyarin (translators and editors), From a Ruined Garden: The Memorial Books of Polish Jewry, pages 177–78.

  39 Yad Vashem Righteous Among the Nations Archive, file 5146.<
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  40 Lisa Garbus, letter to the author, 21 November 2000.

  41 Lisa Garbus, letter to the author, 21 November 2000.

  42 Lisa Garbus, letter to the author, 10 January 2001.

  43 Lisa Garbus, letter to the author, 22 September 2001.

  44 Terry Hokenson, ‘Sabina Zimering Gets Students’ Undivided Attention’, The Voice of Piotrkow Survivors magazine, number 24, October–November 2001. Sabina Zimering was telling her story to Jewish 8th grade students in Minneapolis on 13 May 2001.

  45 Suzan E. Hagstrom, Sara’s Children, pages 79–80.

  46 Suzan E. Hagstrom, letter to the author, 22 March 2002.

  47 Quoted in Wladyslaw Bartoszewski and Zofia Lewin, Righteous Among Nations, pages 599–600.

  48 Testimony of Tadeusz Seweryn, in Wladyslaw Bartoszewski and Zofia Lewin, Righteous Among Nations, page 607.

  49 Wladyslaw Bartoszewski and Zofia Lewin, Righteous Among Nations, pages 598–99.

  50 Testimony of Raya Barnea (Weberman), written at Hadera, Israel, on 10 January 1982. Copy sent to the author by Raya Barnea’s son, 1985.

  51 Information provided by Harvey Sarner (custodian of the Sarner Archive on the Righteous), in conversation with the author, 10 April 2001.

  52 Recollections of Dana Schwartz (Dana Szapira) in conversation with the author, Simi Valley, 2 November 1985.

  53 Dana Schwartz, in conversation with the author, 28 June 2002.

  54 Joseph Kermish and Shmuel Krakowski (editors), Emanuel Ringelblum: Polish–Jewish Relations during the Second World War, page 138.

  55 S. Zeminski, diary entry for 8 November 1942, Biuletyn (Warsaw), no. 27, 1958, pages 105–12; quoted in Joseph Kermish and Shmuel Krakowski (editors), Emanuel Ringelblum: Polish-Jewish Relations during the Second World War, page 138, n. 25.

  56 Eugenia Schenker, letter to the author, 1 June 2001.

  57 Letter to the author, 20 April 2001. Henry Herzog’s memoirs,…And Heaven Shed No Tear, were published in 1996.

  1 Emanuel Ringelblum, diary, 19 November 1940, in Jacob Sloan (editor), Notes from the Warsaw Ghetto: The Journal of Emanuel Ringelblum, New York: Schocken Books, 1958.

  2 Decree issued by the Governor of the Warsaw District, Dr Fischer, 10 November 1941.

  3 Yad Vashem Righteous Among the Nations Archive, file 1028.

  4 David Wdowinski, And We Are Not Saved, page 68. Wdowinski adds: ‘But more often the Ukrainians were not so humanitarian. Indeed they took the watch, but they did not bring the water. They simply shot.’

  5 Yad Vashem Righteous Among the Nations Archive, files 2485, 2485a.

  6 Yad Vashem Righteous Among the Nations Archive, file 2314.

  7 Letter of 8 May 2001 from Peter Dembowski, Yad Vashem Righteous Among the Nations Archive, file 87.

  8 Dr S. Margoshes, ‘Dr Felix Kanabus, Rescuer of Polish Jews, His Deeds of Heroism, Welcome!’, News and Views (New York), 7 September 1965. Kanabus was visiting the United States to attend the International Congress of Surgeons in Philadelphia.

  9 Mordecai Paldiel, ‘Zabinski, Jan (b. 1897)’, Encyclopedia of the Holocaust, volume 4, pages 1723–24.

  10 Mordecai Paldiel, ‘Getter, Matylda (d. 1968)’, Encyclopedia of the Holocaust, volume 2, pages 578–79.

  11 Mordecai Paldiel, ‘Kowalski, Wladyslaw (1895–1971)’, Encyclopedia of the Holocaust, volume 2, pages 828–99.

  12 ‘Alicja and Zofja Fajnsztejn…pose with their rescuers…’, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Photo Archive, Worksheet 82303.

  13 Bianka Kraszewski, letter to the author, 15 August 2001.

  14 William H. Donat, ‘Could I Still Be a Little Catholic Deep Inside?’, Hidden Child newsletter, Fall/Winter 1997.

  15 Yisrael Gutman, The Jews of Warsaw, 1939–1943, page 265.

  16 Wladyslaw Bartoszewski and Zofia Lewin, Righteous Among Nations, page 362. Bartoszewski was a member of the Council for Assistance to the Jews.

  17 Zofia Kossak was recognized by Yad Vashem on 13 September 1982. Yad Vashem Righteous Among the Nations Archive, file 577.

  18 Andrzej Krzysztof Kunert (editor), Poles–Jews, 1939–1945, pages 212–16.

  19 Yad Vashem Righteous Among the Nations Archive, file 29.

  20 Etgar Lefkovits, ‘A Lifetime Friend Comes to Visit’, Jerusalem Post, 30 November 2000 (an article about Wladyslaw Bartoszewski, who was then Polish Foreign Minister).

  21 ‘Portrait of Irena Sendlerowa’, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Photo Archive, Worksheet 89130 (also 90079); Yad Vashem Righteous Among the Nations Archive, file 153.

  22 ‘Portrait of Julian Grobelny’, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Photo Archive, Worksheet 90063.

  23 ‘Portrait of Henryk Wolinski’, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Photo Archive, Worksheet 90065.

  24 Irene Tomaszewski and Tecia Werbowski, Zegota: The Council for Aid to Jews in Occupied Poland, 1942–45, page 62.

  25 ‘Postwar portrait of Stanislaw Dobrowolski’, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Photo Archive, Worksheet 90068.

  26 Adam Rysiewicz was an active member of the Council for Assistance to the Jews.

  27 Maurycy Gelber, letter to Yad Vashem, 18 June 1980, Yad Vashem Righteous Among the Nations Archive, file 1028.

  28 Krzysztof Dunin-Wasowicz became a distinguished Polish historian, and an expert on the war years. In 1960, when he was a professor at the Catholic University of Lublin, I had several talks with him during his sabbatical at St Antony’s College, Oxford.

  29 Tuvia Borzykowski, Between Tumbling Walls, diary entry for 19 May 1943, page 123.

  30 Lorraine Justman-Wisnicki, ‘The Righteous of Nations: “Zegota”—the Council for Aid to Jews’, manuscript, sent to the author 20 August 2001.

  31 Irene Tomaszewski and Tecia Webowski, Zegota: The Council for Aid to Jews in Occupied Poland, 1942–45.

  32 Yisrael Gutman, The Jews of Warsaw, 1939–1943, page 265.

  33 Allan Levine, ‘A boy’s gripping story of survival in wartime Warsaw,’ National Post (Toronto), 23 September 2000.

  34 Jerzy Lando, conversation with the author, 16 August 2001.

  35 Jerzy Lando, Saved By My Face: A True Story of Courage and Escape in War-Torn Poland, pages 126–28; see also Mordecai Paldiel, Saving the Jews, pages 100–3.

  36 Yad Vashem Righteous Among the Nations Archive, file 3698. Josef Sack’s daughter later became a well-known Israeli novelist, Yonat Sened.

  37 Zivia Lubetkin, In the Days of Destruction and Revolt, page 165.

  38 Yad Vashem Righteous Among the Nations Archive, file 3698.

  39 David Klin, For Your Freedom and Ours, page 77; Yad Vashem Righteous Among the Nations Archive, file 78.

  40 Simcha Rotem, letter to Yad Vashem, 20 May 1964, Yad Vashem Righteous Among the Nations Archive, file 78. Anna Wachalska and Maria Sawicka were among the first Poles to be honoured at Yad Vashem by the planting of a tree in the Avenue of the Righteous, on 27 April 1965. Yitzhak Zuckerman, one of the leaders of the Jewish Fighting Organization, was among those who submitted testimony on their behalf.

  41 Lucjan Dobroszycki, Survivors of the Holocaust in Poland, pages 29–30.

  42 ‘Jacob Gutgeld, a Jewish child…in hiding’, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Photo Archive, file 01067; Gay Block and Malka Drucker, Rescuers: Portraits of Moral Courage in the Holocaust; Mordecai Paldiel, The Path of the Righteous, pages 225–27.

  43 ‘The Seven from Promyka Street’, a reminiscence of Dr Stanislaw Switala, Biuletyn (Warsaw), nos 65–66, pages 207–8.

  44 Michael Zylberberg, A Warsaw Diary, 1939–1945, pages 87–88.

  45 Yad Vashem Righteous Among the Nations Archive, file 2398.

  46 Information provided by Jan Hoser, letter of 11 June 1997, based on the unpublished history of All Saints Church.

  47 Letter of 12 May 1984, Yad Vashem Righteous Among the Nations Archive, file 2466. After receiving affidavits from nineteen Jews who were saved as a result of the efforts of the Potrzebowski fami
ly, on 6 June 1984 Yad Vashem recognized Jan Potrzebowski, his wife Natalia, and their daughters Helena (Klepacka-Donalis) and Krystyna (Koslowska) as Righteous Among the Nations.

  48 Yitzhak Zuckerman (‘Antek’), A Surplus of Memory: Chronicle of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, edited by Barbara Harshav, page 389, note 16.

  49 Yad Vashem Righteous Among the Nations Archive, file 3136. In 1956 Helena Balicka-Kozlowska published her memoirs, Mur mial dwie strony (‘The wall has two sides’). I was shown it during my first visit to Warsaw three years later.

  50 ‘Presentation by Consul-General Ehud Lador’, 9 October 1980, Embassy of Israel press release.

  51 Yitzhak Zuckerman, A Surplus of Memory, page 421.

  52 Yitzhak Zuckerman, A Surplus of Memory, page 486.

  53 Bernard Goldstein, The Stars Bear Witness, page 213.

  54 Bernard Goldstein, The Stars Bear Witness, page 216.

  55 Bernard Goldstein, The Stars Bear Witness, page 217.

  56 Wladyslaw Bartoszewski and Zofia Lewin, Righteous Among Nations, page 176.

  57 Wladyslaw Bartoszewski and Zofia Lewin, Righteous Among Nations, page 180.

  58 Joseph Kermish and Shmuel Krakowski (editors), Emanuel Ringelblum: Polish–Jewish Relations during the Second World War, page xxx.

  59 Joseph Kermish and Shmuel Krakowski (editors), Emanuel Ringelblum: Polish–Jewish Relations during the Second World War, pages 247–49.

  60 Yad Vashem Righteous Among the Gentiles Archive, file 4990.

  61 Vladka Meed, On Both Sides of the Wall, page 205.

  62 Vladka Meed, On Both Sides of the Wall, page 290.

  63 Yad Vashem Righteous Among the Nations Archive, file 4210.

  64 Dr Jerzy Krupinski (né Szwarcwald) and Aniela Pauline Krupinska (née Gaslaw), letter of 27 April 1988, from Australia, to Mordecai Paldiel, Yad Vashem Righteous Among the Nations Archive, file 4596.

  1 Janina Fischler-Martinho, Have You Seen My Little Sister?, pages 224–25.

  2 Rachel Garfunkel, letter to the author, 14 November 2001.

  3 Testimonies of Shachne Hiller (Stanley Berger) and Anne Wolozin, September 1977–October 1981, Yaffa Eliach, Hasidic Tales of the Holocaust, pages 142–47. The story of Shachne Hiller was published as a news item, ‘Pope and Jewish Child’, by Joseph Finklestone, Jewish Chronicle, 28 May 1982.