Ceremony at the Warsaw ZOO

Mateusz Szczepaniak, 16 November 2016
Warsaw Zoo, where Antonina and Jan Żabiński once hid Jews, was the venue, on Thursday 7th April 2016, for awards in their name to be presented for the first time by the "From the Depths" Foundation. The award honours Poles who saved Jews during the Holocaust and who have not, as yet, been honoured with the title of Righteous Among the Nations.

The awards are the brainchild of Jonny Daniels, founder of the "From the Depths" Foundation. Jonny is principally well-known for his efforts who saving Jewish graves through his "Matzeva Project". 

The first recipients of the Żabiński Award are the Skoczylas family, Ryszard Żabiński and Natalia Borkiewicz.

The Skoczylas family hid Jews in the basement of their home. Following a search by German gendarmes, they were taken to a barn and shot. Last year, the preserved hiding place was placed onto the heritage register - (Click HERE for more about this on our website. A relative of the murdered family, Marcin Skoczylas, accepted the award on their behalf.

Ryszard Żabiński was the son of Jan and Antonina, and aided his parents in hiding Jews within the Zoo. His award was accepted by his sister Teresa Zawadzka (nee Żabińska). An award was also presented to Natalia Borkiewicz, who rescued a child who had been thrown from the window of a train heading to Auschwitz. Her daughter, Anna Żerebiec, was also present at the ceremony.

Andrzej Dera, Under-Secretary from the Office of the Polish President, read a letter President Andrzej Duda. Others to address the audience were Senate Deputy Speaker Adam Bielan and a representative of the British government, Sir Eric Pickles.

Others to take part included Senate Deputy Speaker Maria Koc, Deputy Defence Minister Wojciech Fałkowski, Foreign Affairs Minister Jan Dziedziczak, Advisor to the Prime Minister on International Dialogue Anna Maria Anders, Deputy Mayors of Warsaw Michał Olszewski and Włodzimierz Paszyński, and the Israeli Ambassador Anna Azari. Numerous Righteous AMong the Nations also attended the event.

The story of how Jan and Antonina Żabiński rescued Jews in the Warsaw Zoo is presented in our virtual exhibition The House Under the Wacky Star.

Some source material for this article has been obtained from the Polish Press Agency (07/04/2016).