The most interesting stories, the most beautiful photographs - 2024 on the "Polish Righteous" portal

Mateusz Szczepaniak, 23 January 2025
What did the underground hideout in Żółkiew look like, where Klara Schwarz and seventeen other people hid for two years during the war? How did Krystyna Modrzewska try to save her lover from the Warsaw ghetto? Who did Izabella Radziwiłłowa hide in the palace in Nieborów? Did you know that a secret office of the "Żegota" Council for Aid to Jews was located near the Krakow Market Square? We remind you of the new additions in 2024 to the "Polish Righteous". Read the most interesting stories, view the most beautiful photographs, watch selected oral history interviews from the POLIN Museum collection. Check out what awaits us in the new year.

On the morning of 1st January 1944, Klara Schwarz (after the war, Clara Kramer), who survived the Holocaust in Żółkiew with the help of Walenty and Julia Beck and their daughter Aleksandra, recorded in her diary:

"The new year began well for us. Mr. Beck sent us a letter with New Year's wishes early in the morning. Then, he came down to us with good news (an offensive on the entire front) [...]. We all wished him a Happy New Year. But what are our wishes compared to what Mr. Beck deserves? There is no way to describe or put into words what we wish for this man."

This is the latest story of aid, published on the Polish Righteous portal in December 2024.

"Top Ten" new items on the Polish Righteous portal

Spośród nowych publikacji w portalu Polscy Sprawiedliwi wybraliśmy 10 najciekawszych treści mijającego roku. Poznaj historie pomocy udzielanej Żydom podczas Zagłady w okupowanej Polsce, przeczytaj opracowania tematyczne o stosunkach polsko-żydowskich podczas II wojny światowej:

From amongst the new items published on the Polish Righetou portal, we have selected ten of the most interesting stories from the past year. Discover the stories of help provided to Jews during the Holocaust in occupied Poland, and read thematic studies on Polish-Jewish relations during World War II. These include:

  1. "These were people you rarely meet" - the story of the Beck family →
  2. "The look in their eyes has remained in my memory" - the story of Izabella Radziwiłł →
  3. "Together with dad, we prepared a hiding place" - the story of the Jarosz family →
  4. "Thanks to him, we both remained alive” - the story of Barbara Reńska and Wacława Zagórski →
  5. "I did it for people, for children” - the story of Maria Ostrowska-Ruszczyńska →
  6. "We extended help totally selflessly” - the story of the Dobrodziej family and Helena Bunin →
  7. Those Like Me - the story of Krystyna Modrzewska (from: Jews Aiding Other Jews) →
  8. The Kraków branch of the "Żegota Council to Aid Jews (a thematic study) →
  9. The Experience of Jews in Hiding Jews in Polish Literature (a thematic study) →
  10. The Experience of Hiding Jews in Literature Created by Hanna Krall (a thematic study) →

"Top Ten" most read items on the Polish Righteous portal

On the Polish Righteous portal, we are share over 1,000 stories of aid provided during the Holocaust, which are read by over 200,000 users annually. Reflecting on the past year, we have gathered information about the most popular content from amongst our readers during the last twelve months.

Check out the ranking of the most frequently viewed items on our portal and find something that might  interest you also.

  1. The story of aid extended to Jews by the Ulma family →
  2. "A person is important” the story of aid extended to Jews by Irena Sendler →
  3. The attitude of Poles towards Jews during the Holocaust (a thematic study) →
  4. "I am glad that, one day, I will grow up on a hill near Jerusalem” - the story of writer Igor Abramow-Newerly →
  5. "Someone rang the front door bell, It was a bad sign” - the story of Jarosław and Anna Iwaszkiewicz →
  6. How Roman Polański hid during the Holocaust - the story of Jan and Stefania Buchała →
  7. The house under the wacky star - the story of Jan and Antonina Żabiński →
  8. "The Yids are burning!” - Poles regarding the Warsaw ghetto uprising (a thematic study) →
  9. The story of Jan Karski (including the latest research) →
  10. Jews hiding on the "Aryan side" (a thematic section) →

Our most popular items on Facebook - 75,000 views

The most beautiful photographs from the POLIN Museum collection

The photograph shows them making faces and casting their shadows on a wall. They are Andrzej Morbitzer and Stanisław Wincenty Dobrowolski posing for a picture next to a wardrobe in the office of a trading company at ul. Jagiellońska 11 in Kraków where, between 1943 and 1945, the secret headquarters of the Kraków branch of the "Żegota" Council for Aid to Jews was located. It was directed by Dobrowolski. We have selected this unusual and memorable scene as the main image for our New Year’s summary.

This is one of more than 10,000 photographs featured on the Polish Righetous website, and one of 200 new images published in 2024. Among them are archival photographs donated to the POLIN Museum by descendants of Jews, who survived the Holocaust, and Poles honoured with the title of "Righteous Among the Nations". The new additions also include contemporary portraits of witnesses to history and photographs taken during field documentation work, including in Kraków where, in 2023–2024, we photographed locations connected to the activities of the Kraków branch of "Żegota."

We present forty selected photographs in the photo gallery at the top of the page (⤻).

This year, for the first time, we celebrated World Photography Day, 

This year, for the first time, we celebrated World Photography Day, which became an opportunity to showcase ten exceptional photographs from the POLIN Museum's digital collection. Photographs were also an important element of the celebrations of historical anniversaries, for which we dedicated special texts:

The latest oral history interviews

The POLIN Museum collection contains over 1,000 oral histories. Our interviewees are mainly Polish Jews, their descendants, as well as Poles who were witnesses to the fate of Jews. We systematically add these interviews to the POLIN Museum Oral History Collection on YouTube. Some of them, touching on Holocaust experiences are also available of the Polish Righteous portal.

This year, we published more interviews - with survivors of the Holocaust and individuals who provided help to Jews in occupied Poland. View ten selected oral history interviews and learn about the biographical accounts of Poles and Jews regarding World War II:

What's new in 2025? Predictions by the Polish Righteous editorial team

In the new year, we will continue to enrich the Polscy Sprawiedliwi portal with new stories of aid, archival and contemporary photographs, as well as oral history interviews from the POLIN Museum collection. 

W ramach dwóch cykli wydawniczych (#NoweHistorieSprawiedliwych i #RatowaliCałyŚwiat) opublikujemy 12 nowych historii pomocy (publikacja raz w miesiącu)​ oraz 24 uzupełnione historie pomocy (publikacja 2 razy w miesiącu)​. Będzie to m.in. historia Andrzeja Śliwiaka z Kołomyi, który od listopada 1942 r. udzielał pomocy Marcelemu i Poli Najderom oraz innym osobom. Pola pisała w kryjówce dziennik oraz wykonała szachy, które dziś znajdują się w zbiorach Muzeum POLIN. 

As part of two publishing cycles (#NewStoriesofRighteous and #TheySavedTheWorld), we will publish twelve new stories of aid (one per month) and twenty-four updated stories of aid (twice a month). One of these will be the story of Andrzej Śliwiak from Kołomyia who, from November 1942, provided help to Marcel and Pola Najder, as well as to others. Pola kept a diary in hiding and made a chess set, which is now part of the POLIN Museum collection. 

We will also expend the thematic section Jews helping other Jews on the "Aryan side"​, through which we document and reveal unknown stories of Jewish self-help during the Holocaust.

We will also publish new thematic studies relating to the topics of two upcoming temporary exhibitions planned at the POLIN Museum: "1945. Not the End, Not the Beginning" (7th March - 15th September 2025) and "The Power of Words" (from November 2025). Among these new releases, there will be an article on how Jews came out of hiding after the German occupation ended. The article will explore the circumstances under which the decision was made to leave a hiding place, how recovery took place and how survivors rebuilt their lives after the war.

"My poor father could barely even stand. We all looked liked skeletons. However, found enough strength to carry dad on his shoulders. "When we arrived at the Leszczyński's house, they were overjoyed that we had survived the war", wrote Miriam Grodzicka (Kuperhand)**, recalling her emergence from hiding after several months of living in extremely difficult conditions..

In 2025, we will also commemorate important historical anniversaries and days of remembrance, including the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau (27th January), the 85th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe (8th May) and the 85th anniversary of the closure of the Warsaw Ghetto (16th November).

As every year, we will also release new content on the European Day of Remembrance for the Righteous 6th March), the National Day of Remembrance for Poles Saving Jews Under German Occupation (24th March) and the anniversary of the establishment of the "Żegota" Council for Aid to Jews" (4th December).

 

Citations used in this article: 

*Clara Kramer, Tyleśmy już przeszli. Dziennik pisany w bunkrze (Żółkiew 1942–1944), red. naukowa i wprowadzenie: A. Wylegała, Stowarzyszenie Centrum Badań nad Zagładą Żydów, Warsaw 2017.

**Archiwum Żydowskiego Instytutu Historycznego w Warszawie, Dział Dokumentacji Odznaczeń Yad Vashem; Dokumenty Bolesława i Anny Leszczyńskich, ref. 349/24/2361.

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