The twenty-fifth anniversary of the Polish Association of the Righteous Among the Nations on the first day of the “Warsaw of Singer” festival

This year, the Polish Association, gathering together the Polish rescuers honored by Yad Vashem, celebrates the twentieth-fifth anniversary of its activity. On this occasion, a series of events were organized during the festival.

The day started with the meeting with Alicja Schnepf, Jadwiga Gawrych and Józef Walaszczyk. In the interview, conducted by Justyna Sobolewska, the guests recalled the dramatic stories of rescue. All the Jews whom they had helped survived World War II. „»Whoever saves one life, saves the whole world«” - Jadwiga Gawrych cited the motto inscribed on the Yad Vashem medal. – “My Frania [the Rescued – editorial note] had three daughters: one of them has eight children, the second – another eight kids, and the third has married a Chasid and they have thirteen kids altogether!”

The next event was the screening of the documentary “The Righteous”. After the screening, the meeting with Janina Zgrzembska, daughter of Irena Sendler, took place. The meeting was organized within the cycle of interviews entitled “Tell Me Your Story”. The audience had the opportunity to listen to the story of the last years of Irena Sendler’s life, naming schools with her name etc. As her daughter emphasized, “this is the honor greater than all the monuments and the Nobel Peace Prize, which she did not receive, put together.”

Next, the commemorative plaque honoring the rescuers of Jews during World War II, embedded into the east wall of All Saints’ Church on Grzybowski Square, was decorated with flowers. The ceremony of placing flowers was very solemn and was conducted in the military escort.

The day ended with the opening of the exhibition “The Polish Righteous – Recalling Forgotten History”, which was organized in cooperation with the Museum of the History of Polish Jews, and with the presentation of awards for exceptional service on behalf of the association. In her speech, Anna Stupnicka-Bando, association president, briefly summarized twenty-five years of the association’s activity.

The following persons received the awards: Gołda Tencer, director of Shalom Foundation, Anna Drabik – chairperson of Association of “Children of the Holocaust”, Etel Szyc – a Jewish community activist, Ewa Rudnik from the Embassy of Israel, Jakub Jaskółowski from the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland, Zofia Kowalczyk – secretary of the Association of the Righteous, Jerzy Kropiwnicki – president of the city of Łódź, Łucja Koch – coordinator of the project “Polish Righteous – Recalling Forgotten Memory”, Krzysztof Włodarczyk – chairman of the Polish Association of the Righteous in Cracow, pastor Kazimierz Barczuk, and Ryszard Gajewski – a Warsaw confectioner, on whose behalf his wife accepted the award.

The celebrations ended with the performance of “Fiddler on the Roof” (“Skrzypek na dachu”).