Subscribe to Print Edition | Thu., April 30, 2009 Iyyar 6, 5769 | | Israel Time: 22:59 (EST+7)
Haaretz israel news English
web haaretz.com
Haaretz Toolbar
Diplomacy
Defense Jewish World Opinion National
Print Edition
Car Rental
Books Haaretz Magazine Business Real Estate Focus U.S.A. Travel Week's End Anglo File TLV 100
Polish President Lech Kaczynski honoring a Pole who saved Jews during the Holocaust in Warsaw in October. (AP)
Last update - 00:00 06/12/2007
Polish film recounts heroism of Poles who helped Jews in WWII
By The Associated Press
Tags: Poland, anti-Semitism 

A new documentary film that recounts the heroic efforts and violent deaths of Poles who helped Jews during the Holocaust premiered Wednesday, amid efforts by Poland to alter a lingering reputation for anti-Semitism.

A Life for a Life, a 33-minute film funded by Poland's Culture Ministry, uses testimony from survivors, grandchildren and neighbors of men and women who were killed by the Nazis for aiding Polish Jews during Germany's World War II occupation of Poland.

"There's a lack of knowledge that there were Poles who gave their lives to save Jews," said Maciej Pawlicki, a journalist and TV producer who came up with the idea for the film. "And there's a dramatic lack of knowledge that results in very negative stereotypes, especially in the West."
Advertisement
The documentary's release coincides with the 65th anniversary of a Polish wartime council set up to help Jews, and the Nazi execution of 33 Poles in the village of Ciepielow for aiding Jews. It also comes amid a broad push by Polish authorities to alter a perception of anti-Semitism that they say unfairly still hangs over the country.

"My grandfather, Jan Kowalski, was the sole member of his family who survived," said Agnieszka Kowalska, 30, who in the film recounts how Nazi SS troops murdered seven members of her family for helping Jews, burning them alive in their neighbor's wooden home. "I'm proud and in a way happy that somebody values that dedication because my relatives paid the highest price."

Unlike in Western Europe where punishment was relatively light, Poles caught aiding Jews were most often immediately shot, along with their entire families.

"There are no immediate plans to show the film abroad," Pawlicki said, although he says it would help correct negative perceptions held by many non-Poles.

Jan Zaryn, a historian from the state Institute of National Remembrance and chief historical consultant on the documentary, argues that the film should be shown in the West and the United States and Israel to present this largely unknown fragment of Polish history during World War II.

Earlier this year, Polish President Lech Kaczynski led a grand ceremony at Poland's National Opera House to honor Poles who saved Jews from the Holocaust. Most of those honored had already received the Righteous Among the Nations award from Israel for saving Jews .

More than 6,000 Poles have received the title from Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial, the most of any nation.

Poland's Foreign Ministry has also made efforts in the past year to promote knowledge of Irena Sendler, a Polish woman who helped save 2,500 Jewish children during the war, as well as Jan Karski, a Polish wartime resistance fighter who struggled to get news about the Nazi extermination camps to the Allies.

Related articles:
  • Holocaust hero Bielski accused, denies swindling 93-year-old neighbor in Florida
  • Guarding Europe's border
  • Polish right-wing party accused of running anti-Semitic campaign ad
  • Poland honors 53 who risked lives to save Jews in World War II


    More Jewish World news and features
    • Bookmark to del.icio.us  
     
    Swine killed over flu
    Egypt orders pigs killed in anticipation of pandemic.
    Obama greets Israel
    U.S. President salutes Israel's 61st independence day.
      1.   Yes, the one Pole should be honored! 01:40  |  Honor Him Already! 06/12/07
      2.   Political versus racial anti-Semitism 01:49  |  Joseph 06/12/07
      3.   No moral vacuum 01:53  |  Sherlock Holmes 06/12/07
      4.   don`t condemn all Poles 04:13  |  Ky 06/12/07
      5.   Yes there were righteous Non-Jews 05:14  |  Common sense 06/12/07
      6.   Those angels must be honored 05:26  |  Judith 06/12/07
      7.   #2 Zofia Kossak was her name ... 08:57  |  American 06/12/07
      8.   #6 Judith, there were also Jewish thugs ... 09:05  |  American 06/12/07
      9.   Poland was not Denmark 09:06  |  Radka 06/12/07
      10.   # 5 placement of extermination camps 09:16  |  Sherlock Holmes 06/12/07
      11.   #5 let`s face demographic facts 10:08  |  Tz 06/12/07
      12.   Sherlock holmes,the Polish Pope"-nobody knows what he was doing 10:26  |  Absolute Sweden 06/12/07
      13.   common sense 5 10:42  |  realism 06/12/07
      14.   Honouring Poles who saved Jews 11:15  |  Marcel 06/12/07
      15.   Poland 11:22  |  Serge 06/12/07
      16.   #16 Serge, let`s face facts again 13:15  |  Tz 06/12/07
      17.   to Sherlock Holmes 14:52  |  Justine 06/12/07
      18.   Jewish and Live in Krakow 19:25  |  Michael 06/12/07
      19.   #17 is in fact for "common sense" 02:39  |  Justine 07/12/07
      20.   Absolute sweden 12 05:35  |  realism 10/12/07
      21.   Re 5 03:20  |  Greg 08/01/08
      22.   Joker at nb 1 03:54  |  Greg 08/01/08
      23.   Greg, the bitter irony is that those who helped 18:09  |  dada 21/02/08
      24.   Youre An Idiot 19:20  |  Paul 01/06/08
      25.   Polish Rescuers and Resistance -WWII 22:51  |  Eugene M. Kravis 30/04/09
     Haaretz Hot Topics
    Durban II conference
    Air strike in Sudan
    Israel 2009 election results: Voter breakdown
    Israel vs. Hamas
    Iran: Nuclear and regional ambitions
    More Headlines
    21:46 U.S. defense chief: Military strike won't halt Iran nuke program
    19:21 Two more suspected swine flu cases as Health Ministry raises alert
    19:41 'Galilee Freedom Fighters': Israeli Arab terror suspects are our operatives
    19:40 Police grill Lieberman for fourth time in graft probe
    20:31 Saudi Arabia: U.S. lied, Saudi king did not speak with Peres
    21:51 American Jewish professor probed after comparing Israel to Nazis
    22:16 Two Israelis among Time's 100 most influential people
    21:43 WATCH: Daily news round-up from Israel
    22:48 Blacks, Jews celebrate Israel's 61st at Harlem party
    19:19 Palestinian hijacker of Achille Lauro cruise released from jail
    20:02 UN: Gaza still awaiting aid pledged for reconstruction
    18:34 Exposed: Director of Nazis' anti-Jewish propaganda
    21:08 Lawyer: 9-year-old Saudi girl divorces 50-year-old husband
    Previous Editions
    Special Offers
    Advertisement
    Spring Specials-Dan Hotels
    Jerusalem from 179$. Tel-Aviv from 223$. Herzliya from 336$
    The Meier on Rothschild Tower
    Masterpiece Residence in the Heart of Tel Aviv
    Dead Sea Skin Care
    Quality cosmetics from the Dead Sea. Coupon code HAARETZ for 12% off!
    Camp Kimama Israel 2009
    The best place for your children this summer
    Eldan Rent a Car
    Israel's leading car rental company offers you a 20% discount on online reservations
    Jewish Singles Personal Ads
    Find the love of your life on JDate.com
    Junkyard
    Junk a car - get free towing nationwide and a tax-deductible receipt
    Home | TV | Print Edition | Diplomacy | Opinion | Arts & Leisure | Sports | Jewish World | | Israel 2009 election results
    Site rules | Makom: Engaging on Israel | Search engine marketing
    Haaretz.com, the online edition of Haaretz Newspaper in Israel, offers real-time breaking news, opinions and analysis from Israel and the Middle East. Haaretz.com provides extensive and in-depth coverage of Israel, the Jewish World and the Middle East, including defense, diplomacy, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the peace process, Israeli politics, Jerusalem affairs, international relations, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Israeli business world and Jewish life in Israel and the Diaspora.
    © Copyright  Haaretz. All rights reserved