Żegota

File:Death penalty for Jews outside ghetto and for Poles helping Jews anyway 1941.jpg

File:The Mass Extermination of Jews in German Occupied.pdf, The Mass Extermination of Jews in German Occupied Poland, December 1942]]

File:Żegota do Rządu Rzeczypospolitej w Londynie 1943.JPG, requesting funds to aid Jews, January 1943]] File:Żegota ulotka Polacy.JPG Władysław Sikorski's leaflet appeal to help Jews, Warsaw, May 1943]]

The Council to Aid Jews, or Żegota, was the continuation of an earlier aid organization, the Provisional Committee to Aid Jews ({{Lang|pl|Tymczasowy Komitet Pomocy Żydom}}), that was founded on 27 September 1942 by Polish Catholic activists Zofia Kossak-Szczucka and Wanda Krahelska-Filipowicz ("Alinka"). The Provisional Committee cared for as many as 180 people, but due to political and financial reasons it was dissolved and replaced by Żegota on 4 December 1942. One of the co-founders of Żegota was Henryk Woliński of the Home Army ({{Lang|pl|Armia Krajowa}}) who helped integrate it with the Polish Underground State.{{cite book|author=Marek Ney-Krwawicz|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CKlEAQAAIAAJ|title=Armia Krajowa: szkic historyczny|publisher=Wydawn. Ars Print Production|year=1999|page=88|isbn = 9788387224172|quote=Kierujący referatem żydowskim Henryk Woliński był też współinicjatorem utworzenia w 1942 r. Rady Pomocy Żydom „Żegota}} Woliński is also credited with developing the idea for this organization.

Kossak-Szczucka initially wanted Żegota to become an example of a "pure Christian charity", arguing that Jews had their own international charity organizations.{{Clarify|reason="Initially" implies she changed her mind later. Did she?|date=July 2018}} Nevertheless, Żegota was run by both Jews and non-Jews from a wide range of political movements.{{Cite book|last=Bartrop|first=Paul R.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u4I2DwAAQBAJ&q=Poland+was+the+only+country+in+Nazi-occupied+Europe+where+such+an+organization%2C+run+jointly+by+Jews+and+non-Jews+from+a+wide+range+of+political+movements%2C+existed.&pg=PA737|title=The Holocaust: An Encyclopedia and Document Collection [4 volumes]|date=15 September 2017|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=9781440840845|editor-last1=Bartrop|editor-first1=Paul R.|pages=737–738|language=en|quote=Poland was the only country in Nazi-occupied Europe where such an organization, run jointly by Jews and non-Jews from a wide range of political movements, existed... Żegota was a truly unique phenomenon within the horror of the Holocaust|editor-last2=Dickerman|editor-first2=Michael}} Julian Grobelny, an activist in the prewar Polish Socialist Party, was elected as General Secretary, and Ferdynand Arczyński – a member of the Polish Democratic Party – as treasurer. Adolf Berman and Leon Feiner represented the Jewish National Committee (an umbrella group representing the Zionist parties) and the Marxist General Jewish Labour Bund. Both parties operated independently, channeling funds donated by Jewish organizations abroad to Żegota and other underground operations. Other members included the Polish Socialist Party, the Democratic Party ({{Lang|pl|Stronnictwo Demokratyczne}}) and the Catholic Front for the Rebirth of Poland ({{Lang|pl|Front Odrodzenia Polski}}) led by Kossak-Szczucka and Witold Bieńkowski, editors of its underground publications.{{cite book |title=White Eagle, Black Madonna: One Thousand Years of the Polish Catholic Tradition |publisher=Oxford University Press |author=Robert Alvis |isbn=978-0823271733 |year=2016 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5RcxDgAAQBAJ&q=Poland%20Lives&pg=PA212 |pages=212, 214}} The right-wing National Party ({{Lang|pl|Stronnictwo Narodowe}}) refused to take part in the organization.{{citation needed|date=May 2021}}

Żegota had specialized departments for issues such as clothing, children's welfare, medical care, housing and other relevant issues. It had around one hundred cells that provided food, medical care, money, and false identification documents to thousands of Polish Jews hiding in the "Aryan" side of the German occupation zone. Creation and distribution of false documents has been described as one of the organization's major tasks, and it is estimated to have produced up to a hundred sets of false identities for Jewish refugees. Another estimate credits Żegota with forging about 50,000 documents such as marriage certificates, baptismal records, death certificates and employment cards to help Jews pass off as Christians.{{Cite book|last=Kirk|first=Heather|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mk_vahdp13IC&q=%C5%BBEGOTA+50%2C000&pg=PA117|title=A Drop of Rain|date=2004|publisher=Dundurn|isbn=9781894917100|pages=117|language=en}} In forging documents, Żegota cooperated with the Home Army, which often provided facilities for forging German identification papers.Żydzi w Polsce: dzieje i kultura : leksykon Jerzy Tomaszewski, Andrzej Żbikowski Wydawnictwo Cyklady, 2001, page 552Encyclopedia of the Holocaust, volumes 3–4 Israel Gutman Macmillan Library Reference USA, page 1730

The organization headquarters was located in Warsaw at 24 {{ill|Żurawia Street|pl|Ulica Żurawia w Warszawie}}. Żegota was active chiefly in Warsaw,{{Citation needed|date=July 2020}} but it also provided money, food, and medicines for prisoners in several forced-labor camps, as well as to refugees in Kraków, Wilno (Vilnius), and Lwów (L'viv). Żegota's activities overlapped to a considerable extent with those of the other major organizations dedicated to helping Jews in Poland – namely the Jewish National Committee, which cared for some 5,600 Jews; and the Bund, which cared for an additional 1,500. Together, the three organizations were able to reach some 8,500 of the 28,000 Jews hiding in Warsaw, and perhaps another 1,000 hiding elsewhere in Poland. {{Citation needed|date=July 2018}}

Żegota's children's section in Warsaw, headed by a Polish social worker Irena Sendler, cared for 2,500 Jewish children. Many were placed with foster families, in public orphanages, church orphanages, and convents.

Żegota repeatedly asked the Polish Government-in-Exile and the Government Delegation for Poland to appeal to the Polish people to help the persecuted Jews. The Government in Exile gradually increased its funding for Żegota throughout the war.Zagłada Drugiej Rzeczypospolitej: 1945–1947 – page 129 Aleksander Gella – 1998https://sprawiedliwi.org.pl/pl/aktualnosci/75-lat-temu-powstala-krakowska-zegota "Żegota" in Kraków Established 75 Years Ago Mateusz Szczepaniak / English translation: Andrew Rajcher, 14 March 2018 POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews

Richard C. Lukas estimated that 60,000, or about half of the Jews who survived the Holocaust in occupied Poland (such estimates vary), were aided in some shape or form by Żegota. Czesław Łuczak estimates the number of aid recipients at about 30,000. Paul R. Bartrop estimated that Żegota helped to save about 4,000 Jews and provided assistance to about 25,000 in total.

Under the German occupation, hiding or assisting Jewish refugees was punishable by death.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KOSOnLXQv0wC&q=penalty+on+Poles+for+helping+jews&pg=PA27|title=Stranger in Our Midst: Images of the Jew in Polish Literature|last=Segel|first=Harold B.|date=1996|publisher=Cornell University Press|isbn=080148104X|language=en}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.ushmm.org/learn/timeline-of-events/1942-1945/german-poster-announces-death-penalty-for-aiding-jews|title=Death Penalty for Aiding Jews — United States Holocaust Memorial Museum|website=www.ushmm.org|language=en|access-date=1 June 2018}} However, it was no less dangerous due to the risk posed by fellow Poles, some of whom did not see kindly lending help for Jews. Irena Sendler is quoted as saying "during [the war] it was simpler to hide a tank under the carpet than shelter a Jewish child."{{cite press release | last1 = Michman | first1 = Dan | last2 = Dreifuss | first2 = Havi | last3 = Silberklang | first3 = David | date =5 July 2018 | title = תגובת ההיסטוריונים של יד ושם להצהרה המשותפת של ממשלות פולין וישראל בנוגע לתיקון מיום 26 בינואר 2018 לחוק "המכון לזיכרון לאומי" של פולין | trans-title = Reply by the historians of Yad Vashem to the joint statement by the governments of Poland and Israel on the 26 January 2018 amendment to the law of the "Institute of National Remembrance" of Poland | url = https://www.yadvashem.org/he/research/historians-reaction.html | language = he | location = Jerusalem | institution = Yad Vashem | access-date =19 July 2020 |quote = [Some] Polish resistance fighters, that were willing to fight bravely and faithfully against the German conqueror, contributed on their end to a certain aspect of Nazi policy in occupied Poland to its broad success: the murder of Jews. These trends are also expressed in the words of Righteous Among the Nations and member of the Żegota organization Irena Sendler, that during the Second World War it was simpler to hid a tank under the carpet than shelter a Jewish child."}}

According to Richard C. Lukas, "The number of Poles who perished at the hands of the Germans for aiding Jews" is difficult to establish, with estimates ranging from several thousand to as high as fifty thousand.Richard C. Lukas, [https://books.google.com/books?id=lz9obsxmuW4C&dq=%22postwar+statistics+of+the+Israeli+War+Crimes+Commission+indicate+that+only+seven+thousand+out+of+a+population+of+over+twenty+million+ethnic+Poles+collaborated+with+the+Nazis.%22&pg=PA13 Out of the Inferno: Poles Remember the Holocaust] University Press of Kentucky, 1989; 201 pp.; p. 13; also in Richard C. Lukas, The Forgotten Holocaust: The Poles under German Occupation, 1939–1944, University Press of Kentucky, 1986; 300 pp. Paul R. Bartrop estimated that about 20,000 Żegota operatives were killed by the Nazis, and thousands of others were arrested and imprisoned.

The Polish Government-in-Exile, based in London, faced immense difficulties funding its institutions in German-occupied Poland; this affected funding for Żegota as well. Part of the funds had to be sent in via highly inefficient airdrops (only some 17% of which succeeded) and some could only be delivered late in the war.Waldemar Grabowski, "Rada Pomocy Żydom »Żegota« w strukturach Polskiego Państwa Podziemnego" ("Żegota within the Structures of the Polish Underground State"), Biuletyn Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej (Bulletin of the Institute of National Remembrance), no. 11 (120), November 2010, IPN, pp 50–51.

Despite these difficulties, throughout the war, the Polish Government-in-Exile continually increased its funding for Żegota: the Polish Government's monthly support was increased from 30,000 zlotys to zl 338,000 in May 1944, and to zl 1,000,000 by war's end. The Polish Government's overall financial contribution to Żegota and Jewish organizations came to zl 37,400,000, US$1,000,000, and SFr 200,000 (see financial details below).Aleksander Gella, Zagłada Drugiej Rzeczypospolitej: 1945–1947 (The Demise of the Polish Second Republic: 1945–1947), 1998, p. 129.https://sprawiedliwi.org.pl/pl/aktualnosci/75-lat-temu-powstala-krakowska-zegota ("Żegota Was Established in Kraków 75 Years Ago").Stefan Korboński, Polacy, Żydzi i Holocaust (The Poles, the Jews, and the Holocaust), 1999, p. 58. According to Marcin Urynowicz, the percentage of the funds allocated by the Polish Government-in-Exile to help Jews, including through Żegota, was based on their percentage in Poland's prewar general population.Marcin Urynowicz, “Zorganizowana i indywidualna pomoc Polaków dla ludności żydowskiej eksterminowanej przez okupanta niemieckiego w okresie drugiej wojny światowej” ("Poles' Organized and Individual Help to the Jewish Population Being Exterminated by the Occupying Germans during World War II"), in Andrzej Żbikowski, ed., Polacy i Żydzi pod okupacją niemiecką 1939–1945 (Poles and Jews under the German Occupation, 1939–1945), Warsaw, IPN, 2006, p. 225–26.

Antony Polonsky writes that "Zegota's successes—it was able to forge false documents for some 50,000 persons—suggest that, had it been given a higher priority by the Delegatura and the government in London, it could have done much more." Polonsky quotes Władysław Bartoszewski as saying that the organization was considered a "stepchild" of the underground; and Emanuel Ringelblum, who wrote that "a Council for Aid to the Jews was formed, consisting of people of good will, but its activity was limited by lack of funds and lack of help from the government."{{Cite book| publisher = Routledge| isbn = 978-0-415-27509-5 | volume = 5|author=Antony Polonsky |editor=David Cesarani | title = Holocaust: Responses to the persecution and mass murder of the Jews| location = London; New York| series = Holocaust: critical concepts in historical studies| date = 2004 | page = 64}} A similar description is given by historian Martin Winstone, who writes that Żegota fought an uphill battle for funding and received more support from Jewish organizations than from the Polish Government-in-Exile. He also notes that the Polish right-wing parties completely refused to support it.{{Cite book| publisher = Tauris| isbn = 978-1-78076-477-1 | last = Winstone| first = Martin| title = The Dark Heart of Hitler's Europe: Nazi rule in Poland under the General Government| location = London| date = 2014 | pages = 181–182}} Shmuel Krakowski described the funding as "modest", and writes that the Polish government could have allocated more to funding the organization. He writes that "[the funding] was indeed very little considering not only the needs of the council and the immensity of the Jewish tragedy but also the resources at the Polish underground's disposal... they could have been much more generous in allocating resources needed to save human lives."{{Cite book| publisher = Rutgers University Press| isbn = 978-0-8135-3158-8| editor = Joshua D. Zimmerman |author= Shmuel Krakowski | title = Contested memories: Poles and Jews during the Holocaust and its aftermath| location = New Brunswick, NJ| date = 2003 | page = 99}}

Joseph Kermish describes the relationship between Żegota and the Government Delegation for Poland as strained, with frequent disagreements about funding and the extent of the humanitarian crisis Żegota was trying to address.{{Cite web |url=http://www.yadvashem.org/righteous/resources/zegota-in-occupied-poland.html |title=The Activities of the Council for Aid to Jews ("Żegota") In Occupied Poland |last=Kermish |first=Joseph |website=www.yadvashem.org |language=en |access-date=20 June 2018}}

It has been estimated that the cost of saving one Jewish life was around 6,000–15,000 Polish zloties.

{{Incomplete list|date=January 2025}}

In a letter from 26 February 1977 Adolf Berman mentions the following activists as especially meritorious:{{Cite web |title=The Żegota |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-379-egota |access-date=2022-09-09 |website=www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org}}

• {{ill|Tadeusz Bilewicz|pl}}
• Janina Buchholtz-Bukolska
• Maria Derwisz-Parnowska
• {{ill|Mieczysław Dobrowolski|pl}}
• Regina Fleszarowa
• {{ill|Henryka Gorzkowska|pl}}
• Maria Grzegorzewska
• Irena Kurowska
• Maria Laska
• Stanisław and Maria Ossowscy
• Zofia Rodziewicz
• Ewa Rybicka
• {{ill|Sylwia Rzeczycka|pl}}
• Irena Sawicka
• Stefania Sempołowska
• Irena Solska
• {{ill|Jan Wesołowski|pl|Jan Wesołowski (dyrektor teatralny)|lt=Jan Wesołowski}}
• Jan and Antonina Żabińscy

File:Commemorative plate dedicated to Żegota.JPG, Jerusalem, Israel]]

In 1963 Żegota was commemorated in Israel with the planting of a tree in the Avenue of the Righteous at Yad Vashem, with Władysław Bartoszewski present.{{cite book|author=Andrzej Krzysztof Kunert|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J9MWAQAAIAAJ|title="Żegota": The Council for Aid to Jews 1942–1945 : Selected Documents : Preceded by an Interview with Władysław Bartoszewski by Andrzej Friszke|publisher=Rada Ochrony Pamięci Walk i Męczeństwa|year=2002|page=155}} In 1995 a monument to the organization was unveiled in Warsaw.{{Cite web|title=17th Anniversary of the "Żegota" Monument Unveiling {{!}} Polscy Sprawiedliwi|url=https://sprawiedliwi.org.pl/en/news/17th-anniversary-zegota-monument-unveiling|access-date=2020-07-27|website=sprawiedliwi.org.pl}} Another monument was unveiled in 2009 in the Survivors' Park in Łódź.{{Cite web|title=W Łodzi uczczono pamięć Polaków ratujących Żydów|url=https://dzieje.pl/aktualnosci/w-lodzi-uczczono-pamiec-polakow-ratujacych-zydow|access-date=2020-07-27|website=dzieje.pl|language=pl}}{{Cite web|title=W Łodzi uczczono pamięć Polaków ratujących Żydów|url=http://www.gazetaprawna.pl/artykuly/1404671,w-lodzi-uczczono-pamiec-polakow-ratujacych-zydow.html|access-date=2020-07-27|website=www.gazetaprawna.pl|date=24 March 2019}} Żegota is also commemorated in plaques at places of its regional offices in Warsaw and Kraków. In 2009 a commemorative series of coins was issued by the National Bank of Poland.{{Cite web|title=Upamiętnienia "Żegoty" {{!}} Polscy Sprawiedliwi|url=https://sprawiedliwi.org.pl/pl/o-sprawiedliwych/rada-pomocy-zydom-zegota/upamietnienia-zegoty|access-date=2020-07-27|website=sprawiedliwi.org.pl}}

• List of Żegota members
• Rescue of Jews by Poles during the Holocaust
• Aleksander Ładoś
• History of the Jews in Poland
• Timeline of Jewish-Polish history
• Polish resistance movement in World War II
• Occupation of Poland (1939–45)

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Specific

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General

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• {{cite book |title="Żegota" Rada Pomocy Żydom 1942–1945 |publisher=Rada Ochrony Pamięci Walk i Męczeństwa |isbn=83-916666-0-3 |location=Warsaw |language=pl|editor=Andrzej Krzysztof Kunert, Andrzej Friszke }}
• {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4Iiw0KB31rgC&q=Zegota |title=Contested Memories: Poles and Jews During the Holocaust and Its Aftermath |publisher=Rutgers University Press |year=2003 |isbn=0-8135-3158-6 |pages=336 |editor=Joshua D. Zimmerman }}
• {{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/whenlightpierced00tecn |url-access=registration |quote=Zegota. |title=When Light Pierced the Darkness: Christian Rescue of Jews in Nazi-occupied Poland |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1986 |isbn=0-19-505194-7 |location=Oxford |author=MS Nechama Tec }}
• {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A4FlatJCro4C&q=Zegota |title=Poland's Holocaust |publisher=McFarland & Company |year=1997 |isbn=0-7864-0371-3|author=Tadeusz Piotrowski }}
• {{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/secretcityhidden00paul/page/2002 |title=Secret City: The Hidden Jews of Warsaw, 1940-1945 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=0-300-09546-5 |location=Yale |pages=[https://archive.org/details/secretcityhidden00paul/page/2002 2002] |author=Gunnar S. Paulsson |year=2002 |url-access=registration }}
• {{cite book |title=Zegota: The Rescue of Jews in Wartime Poland |publisher=Price-Patterson |year=1994 |location=Montreal |author=Irene Tomaszewski |author2=Tecia Werbowski }}
• {{cite book |title=Zegota: The Council to Aid Jews in Occupied Poland 1942–1945 |publisher=Price-Patterson |year=1994 |isbn=1-896881-15-7 |author=Irene Tomaszewski |author2=Tecia Werbowski }}

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• [http://www.warsawuprising.com/zegota.htm Excerpts from the book Żegota by Irena Tomaszewska & Tecia Werbowski]
• [http://www.holocaustforgotten.com/zegota.htm Zegota – book and documentary film]
• [http://www.yadvashem.org/righteous/resources/zegota-in-occupied-poland.html The Activities of the Council for Aid to Jews ("Żegota") In Occupied Poland]

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