Żegota

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For other meanings of Żegota see: Zegota (disambiguation)
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Polish Secret State
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History of Poland

Żegota (pronounced [ʒε:gɔta], also spelled Zhegota, Zegota) was the codename for the Council to Aid the Jews (Rada Pomocy Żydom), an underground organisation in German-occupied Poland from 1942 to 1945. It operated under the umbrella of the Polish Government in Exile, more precisely under the Government Delegate's Office at Home (Delegatura Rządu na Kraj).

Żegota saved some 75 000 Polish Jews and produced some 60 000 false identities and documents in order to create a haven for Jews among the Polish gentiles on the "Aryan" side in German-occupied Poland.

The organisation Żegota was founded in December 1942 as a continuation of an earlier secret committee set up to help the Jews, the Provisional Committee for Aid to Jews (Tymczasowy Komitet Pomocy Żydom), founded in September 1942 by Zofia Kossak-Szczucka and Wanda Krahelska-Filipowicz. Another well-known member was Władysław Bartoszewski, who became Polish Foreign Minister in 1995. Made up of democratic Catholic activists, the Provisional Committee had 180 persons under its care within a short time. Żegota was a brainchild of Henryk Woliński.

The German occupying forces made concealing Jews a crime punishable by death for everyone living in a house where Jews were discovered. A difficult problem therefore was to find hiding places for persons who looked Jewish. Żegota was on a constant lookout for suitable accommodations. No exact count can be given of the magnitude of this form of aid by Żegota, but it appears to have been great.

Children were put in the care of foster families, into public orphanages, or similar institutions maintained by convents. The foster families were told that the children were relatives, distant or close, and they were paid by Żegota for the children's care. In Warsaw alone, Żegota's children department, headed by Irena Sendlerowa, cared for 2,500 Jewish children smuggled from the Warsaw Ghetto. Medical attention for the Jews in hiding was also made available. Żegota had ties with many ghettos and camps. It also made numerous efforts to induce the Polish Government in Exile and the Delegatura to appeal to the Polish population to help the persecuted Jews.

During the war, Żegota was the only underground organization that was run jointly by Jews and non-Jews from a wide range of political movements, and the only one that, despite the arrests of some of its members, was able to operate for a considerable length of time and to extend help to Jews in so many different ways.

Members of Żegota were memorialised in Israel in 1963 with a planting of a tree in the Avenue of the Righteous at Yad Vashem. Wladyslaw Bartoszewski was at the event.

[edit] Quotes

  • “Zegota is the story of extraordinary heroism amidst unique depravity – compelling in its human as well as historical dimensions. It is a particularly valuable addition to our understanding of the many facets of the Holocaust because Zegota as an organized effort was tantamount to ‘Schindler’s List’ multiplied a hundred-fold.” ― Zbigniew Brzezinski

[edit] External links

[edit] Bibliography

  • Gunnar S. Paulsson, Secret City: The Hidden Jews of Warsaw, 1940-1945, Yale University Press, 2002, ISBN 0300095465.
  • Tomaszewski, Irene & Werbowski, Tecia, Zegota: The Council to Aid Jews in Occupied Poland 1942-1945, Price-Patterson, 1994, ISBN 1896881157.
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