A MONUMENT TO POLES WHO SAVED JEWS TO BE IN GRZYBOWSKI SQUARE IN WARSAW

KJ, 16 November 2016
A decision has been taken to erect a monument in Warsaw to commemorate Poles who saved Jews during World War II. It will be erected in Grzybowski Square in 2015. The city has announced a competition for its design. The monument is to take the form of a wall containing the names of ten thousand rescuers.

The competition is being organised by the City Hall and the Council for the Protection of the Memory of Battle and Martyrdom. It will remain open until the end of February 2014. The exact location of the monument was decided by the Warsaw City Council two years ago – it will be placed next to the church arcade along Bagno street. The location is not coincidental. During the occupation, the parish priest at that time, Rev.Marceli Godlewski, helped many Jews from within the confines of All Saints Church which lay on the edge of the Warsaw ghetto.

The monument concept began in 2000 amongst representatives of the Committee for Remembering Poles Who Saved Jews, which was establlished fifteen years ago. The Committee’s first task was to collect and verify data about Poles saving Jews. The Committee sought the aid, in this task, of the Historical Commission under the chairmanship of Tomasz Strzembosz. The current chaairman is Prof. Jan Żaryn. Its second task was to establish the monument on which would appear the names of the rescuers. Since 2008, the Committee has been headed by Prof. Adam Strzembosz. To aid in the formation of the competition jury, the Committee called upon architect, Czesław Bielecki.

The exact number of Poles who helped Jews during the War is unknown. The idea of putting ten thousand names on the monument has raised some doubts. The Yad Vashem Institute has honoured just 6,500 Poles with the title of Righteous Among the Nations. Critics of the idea of memoriallising 10,000 names draw attention to the verification process of people not honoured by Yad Vashem, and whose names will appear on the monument. The Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) and and the Committee for Remembersing Poles Who Saved Jews are conducting their own research and are collecting the appropriate documents.