An Invitation to the 2019 Righteous Gala

Redakcja / Editorial staff / English translation: Andrew Rajcher, 1 March 2019

The eve of the European Day of the Righteous will be when three more names will be honoured with that title by the Warsaw Garden of the Righteous Committee. The event will be marked by a Gala to be held at 6:00pm on 5th March at POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews. Free tickets can be downloaded from the Museum’s website. Let’s look at this year’s nominees.

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It was the Righteous who rescued European honour during the Shoah and who ensured that we did not lose our faith in humanity. [...] Today, we also consider as Righteous those who opposed the Armenian genocide, those who helped the victims of the wars in Rwanda and Cambodia and during the ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia. [...] They encourage us to cultivate the legacy of the Righteous and to vehemently oppose all forms of racism, as well as ethnic, social, political and religious discrimination.
– the World Committee of the Garden of the Righteous “Gariwo”, in a statement to the European Parliament.

6th March marks European Day of the Righteous, established in May 2012 by the European Parliament, at the instigation of the Committee of the Garden of the Righteous in Italy (GARIWO). “Righteous”, in this sense, is a broader term than that which is used by the Yad Vashem Institute in Jerusalem, when granting the title of Righteous Among the Nations.

The Righteous defended human dignity during wars and crimes during the 20th and 21st centuries - they opposed the Armenian genocide, they assisted victims of wars in Rwanda and Cambodia, as well as during the ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia. They also have defended freedom within totalitarian regimes.

In 2014, the History Meeting House initiated the creation of the first Garden of the RIghteous in Poland. Each year, since that time, in the Warsaw suburb of Wola, trees are planted and stones are unveiled in honour of Righteous elected by the Garden Committee.

2019 Nominations for the title of “Righteous”

The names of the new Righteous will be announced on 5th March. Profiles of this year’s nominees will be presented, during the Gala, by Maja Komorowska and Zbigniew Gluza, Chairman of the Warsaw Garden of the Righteous Committee. This year’s nomnees include:

Arsienij Borisowicz Roginski – Russian historian and political activist, Chairman of the “Memorial” Association, a researcher into Stalinist crimes.
Mbaje Diagne – Senegalese UN peacekeeper in Rwanda who, during the conflict and despite orders to the ocontrary, rescued dozens of Tustis, including the children of the murdered Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana.
Ewelina Lipko-Lipczyńska – Polish language teacher. During the war, together with her family, she saved around forty Jews, in honour of which, in 1966, she received the title of Righteous Among the Nations. In 1997, she was presented with Honorary Citizenship of the State of Israel. She openly protested against the antisemitic campaign in March 1968 and against the arrest of students – for which she was expelled from school and banned from receiving any further education in Poland.
Raoul Wallenberg – Swedish diplomat who, during the War, saved tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews from extermination.
Muhammed Wassem Maaz – a pediatrician from Aleppo in Syria who, as one of the few, remained in the city despite the ongoing war, to rescue sick and injured children. He died on 29th April 2016 during the bombing of Aleppo.
Harry Wu – a Chinese Catholic who was imprisoned for his faith in a Chinese laogai (reform through labour) concentraion camp. Following his release, he emigrated to the USA.

The MC for the Gala at POLIN Museum will be Jerzy Kisielewski, with a piano recital by Janusz Olejniczak. Free tickets can be downloaded from POLIN Museum’s website from 28th February.