Warsaw's All Saints Church Receives the Title "House of Life"

Mateusz Szczepaniak, 8 June 2017
On 7th June 2017, the Wallenberg Foundation, in memory of a place linked to the saving of Jews during the Holocaust, awarded the title of "House of Life” to All Saints Church in Warsaw. It is the first place in Poland to be honoured with this title. During World War II, the church, on Plac Grzybowski (Grzybowski Square), became a place of shelter for many Jews.

From today, the inscription in English reading "This building served as a shelter for innocent people" cannow be seen at the church in Warsaw's Plac Grzybowski. The plaque, funded by the Wallenberg Foundation, was affixed during a ceremony which took place on 7th June 2017, in the presence of the Undersecretary of the Office of the President of Poland, Wojciech Kolarski, Deputy Minister of Culture and National Heritage Jarosław Sellin and Senator Jan Żaryn.

"Today's ceremony symbolically honours a place which, during barbarity and terror, became an enclave of justice and humanity", said Minister Wojciech Kolarski.

Sameul Tenembaum, son of the Wallenberg Foundation's founder, said, "This was a house of life, it was a place of lifem it was a fortress of life. It was here that life had its headquarters, within the walls of this church. The darkness could not overcome it".

During World War II, All Saints Church found itself on the border of the Warsaw Ghetto. Its parish priest, Father Marceli Godlewski, as well as the assistant curate, Father Antoni Czarnecki, actively helped Jews. Among those whom they hid in the parish were Ludwik Hirszfeld, the famous doctor and immunologist, as well as the family of Ludwik Zamenhof, creator of the Esperanto language. For his actions, in 2009, Father Godlewski was posthumously honoured with the title of Righteous Among the Nations. His story is told in our virtual exhibition "The Right Address. Hiding Jews in Occupied Warsaw".

 Read the story of Father Marceli Godlewski

The title of "House of Life” has been awarded since 2014 by the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation, an international organisation which recognises places linked to the saving of Jews during the Holocaust. To date, it has awarded the title to nearly three hundred sites around the world, most notably to churches, monasteries and convents.