Righteous without a pot of gold

Maria Zawadzka, 16 November 2016
On August 5th, 2011 the 15-person group of Esperantists from Białystok returned from the 96th International Congress of Esperantists in Copenhagen. They were warmly received by the participants from 66 countries, who recalled the Congress in Białystok as one of the best in history.

During the open session of the Academy of Literature (Esperanto PEN-Club) that was held on July 26th, 2011 was presented the book “Moja gwiazda” (“My star”) by Felicja Raszkin-Nowak, published in 2011 by the Podlasie Library. This work was translated into Esperanto by Tomasz Chmielik. The 82-year-old author, who has been living in Copenhagen together with her family since 1971.

During the meeting was held a screening of the film “A pot of gold”, produced by the Białystok Television and devoted to the history of Felicja Nowak and the Szapiro family, especially the biggest Białystok Esperantist from the interwar period – Jakub Szapiro. The title of the film refers to the words Felicja Nowak once heard about her rescuers. She recalls: “Someone told me a really funny story… allegedly, I gave them a pot of gold as a reward”.

Felicja Raszkin-Nowakalso recalled the „good people” who rescued her life. After 2 years in the Białystok ghetto, she managed to escape. She was 19 years old at that time. Her mother stayed in the ghetto and soon she was transported probably to Majdanek, where she was killed.

These “good people” – who never wanted their names to be disclosed – had been hiding her until the end of the Second World War. The Yad Vashem Institute honored them with the title “Righteous Among the Nations”.