60th Anniversary of Honoring Jan and Antonina Żabiński with the Title of Righteous Among the Nations

Redakcja / Editorial staff; English translation: Andrew Rajcher, 21 September 2025

He was a zoologist, a promoter of animal knowledge, and the long-time director of the Warsaw ZOO. She was a writer, animal keeper, and a close associate of her husband. During the German occupation, they worked together to help Jews at the ZOO. Fugitives from the Warsaw Ghetto found shelter there, including writer Rachela Auerbach, sculptor Magdalena Gross, and boxer Samuel Koenigswein and his family. Learn the story of Jan and Antonina Żabiński on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of honoring Jan and Antonina Żabiński with the title of Righteous Among the Nations by the Yad Vashem Institute in Jerusalem. The date of this prestigious distinction – September 21st – carries a special meaning today. On this day, we celebrate the International Day of Peace, established in 2001 by the United Nations. Read about the courageous actions of Jan and Antonina Żabiński during World War II on the Polish Righteous portal. Learn more about the fate of the Jews and Jewish women they helped at the Warsaw ZOO. Watch interviews with witnesses to history, discussions with experts, an educational film, and see archival photographs from our collections.

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“I totally don’t care if I’m dealing with a Dane, a Jew or an Englishman. Throughout my life, I’ve deepened this belief. I consider that this trait is a characteristic of every decent person. I therefore don’t consider our help [...] as alms, but as a duty to the most oppressed and humiliated, as were the Jews at that time – a duty dictated by human considerations”, wrote Jan Żabiński in a statement to the Yad Vashem Institute in Jerusalem.

Who were Jan and Antonina Żabiński?

He was born in Warsaw on 8th April 1897. In 1929, he assumed the role of director of the Zoological Garden. He as a respected agronomy engineer and held a doctorate. In the 1930s, together with his closest associate – his wife Antonina – he developed the Warsaw ZOO with great passion and commitment.

Ailing animals recovered inside the Żabiński house, which was located inside the ZOO. The animals included lynxes, a cockatoo, hamster, arctic hare, a piglet, badger and a muskrat. Jan and Antonina shared their knowledge and observations, contributing to radio and the press, as well as writing books.

In September 1939, the Warsaw ZOO did not escape the German bombing of Warsaw. Many animals died and, those that survived were killed or transported, by the Germans, deep into the Reich. Without animals, the ZOO ceased to operate. The Żabiński couple decided to get involved in underground activities – hiding weapons and ammunition in the ZOO’s empty cages and pavilions.

Thanks to working with the Horticulture Department of the Municipal Authority, Jan made contact with friends locked inside the ghetto. Utilising a pass which he had obtained and under the pretext of caring for the green areas, he entered the ghetto and helped Jews. He smuggled in food, provided them with false identity papers, led them into the “Aryan side” and searched for safe places for them to hide. 

Soon, the Żabiński couple, working together with the “Żegota” Council to Aid Jews, began hiding Jews inside the ZOO. People, who sought shelter after leaving the ghetto or who had to leave a hiding place on the “Aryan side”, came to them for help.

Those in hiding in the ZOO included Magdalena Gross, Maurycy Paweł Fraenkel, Rachela Auerbach, Regina and Samuel Kenigswein, Eugenia Sylkes, Marceli Lewi-Łebkowski and family, Marysia Aszer, Joanna Kramsztyk, Eleonora Tenenbaum, the Keller couple and their children, Irena Mayzel and Dr Anzelmówna.

Today, Jan and Antonina Żabiński are the most famous Poles in the world, having been awarded the title of Righteous Among the Nations (1965), awarded by the Yad Vashem Institute in Jerusalem.

Antonina died in Warsaw on March 19, 1971. Jan on July 26, 1974.

How did Jews hide during the Holocaust in the Warsaw Zoo? Learn about the story of Jan and Antonina Żabiński's help

On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of honoring Jan and Antonina Żabiński with the title of Righteous Among the Nations (September 21, 1965), we recall their extraordinary fate.

Read the story of the help on the Polish Righteous portal, watch interviews with participants, a conversation with experts, an educational film, and view archival photographs from our collections. You can learn more about the phenomenon of help provided to Jews in German-occupied Poland in selected historical studies, available below.