A Monument to Henryk Sławik and Jozsef Antall to be Erected in Katowice
Having his origins in the Śląsk region, Henryk Sławik was very much a part of the region’s history – a participant in the Śląsk uprising, a Katowice Councilman. From September 1939, he lived in Hungary. He was one of the approx 100,000 wartime refugees from Poland. With the support of József Antalla, a representative of the Hungarian government, Sławik established the Hungarian Civic Committee for the Care of Polish Refugees and became its President. In 1940, he was appointed President of the Polish Council of Émigrés. As Chairman, he organised the transport of Poles to the Polish Army in the West and helped Polish Jews who had managed to get to Hungary. Sławik issued them with false documents which were then legitimised by Jozsef Antalla. It is estimated that, together, they managed to save around 5,000 Jews.
Following the occupation of Hungary by the Germans in 1944, Sławik was arrested. Even though he was subjected to torture, he did not betray Antalla. He perished in the Mauthausen concentration camp.
After the War, Sławik’s deeds seemed doomed to be forgotten. It was only in 1990, following the testimony of one of those whom he had saved, did the Yad Vashem Institute in Jerusalem honour Henryk Sławik with the title of “Righteous Among the Nations”. In 2010, President Lech Kaczyński posthumously awarded hime the Order of the White Eagle. Jozsef Antall was also awarded with the highest honour awarded to a foreigner – the Cross of the Order of Polish Renewal.
The unveiling of the monument is planned for the 23rd March 2015, the day on which a Polish-Hungarian Conference is planned for Katowice. This annual event is organised alternately in a Polish or Hungarian city on the Day of Polish-Hungarian Friendship which falls on 23rd March.
