Honours for Poland and Hungary’s Forgotten Heroes - Henryk Slawik and Jozsef Antall

red., 16 November 2016
Polish President Lech Kaczynski - in connection with the 70th anniversary of the arrival of Polish refugees in Hungary and on the occasion of ‘Hungarian Day’ in Katowice - awarded posthumous medals to two heroes of those times.


President Kaczynski wished to express Poland’s gratitude to the Hungarian generation of World War II, especially those who, in autumn 1939, opened the borders of their country and their homes and hearts to about 120 thousand Polish refugees who had fled from their homeland, which had been attacked by the Germans and the Soviets. They did so knowing that Hungary had entered into a political alliance with Germany. In those critical hours, the most important factors were courage and honor, solidarity in captivity and the sense of brotherhood which had developed on the basis of a thousand years of friendship between our nations: Poland and Hungary.

The ceremony of conferring honours by the Polish President was held during a gala concert “Poles for Hungarians” at the Music Academy in Katowice, attended by the President of the Republic of Hungary, Mr. Laszlo Solyom.

The following people received awards:

• Henryk Sławik

Posthumously awarded the Order of the White Eagle (the highest order in the Polish honor system) in recognition of his distinguished service to the Polish Republic and his unparalleled heroism and self-sacrifice in saving Polish refugees during World War II.

Henryk Sławik – known as the Polish “Wallenberg”, was a forgotten hero of three nations: Polish, Hungarian and Jewish. He was Silesian. During World War II, as a representative of the Polish Government in Exile, he took care of and saved almost 30 thousand Polish refugees, including 5 thousand Jews. He was arrested in 1944 and shot in Mathausen-Gusen concentration camp. His activities have been described in a book by Grzegorz Łubczyk.

• Jozsef Antall

Posthumously awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland for outstanding contributions in organizing support for Polish refugees during World War II.

Jozsef Antall senior – called “the Polish papa” by Polish refugees; a Hungarian lawyer and politician. After September 17th, 1939, he was a coordinator of the government's programme of care for war refugees. He worked closely with the Polish resistance movement and created a centre for Jewish youth from Poland in Vác. He was a co-organizer of Polish schools in Hungary. In 1944, he was arrested by the Gestapo for helping Jews, Poles, French, Serbs, Italians and Russians.