|
To view Real Media files you'll need Real Media's Free player.
Zegota: Council for Aid to Jews in Occupied Poland (1942-1945)
The London-based Polish Government-in-Exile was the first Allied government during
World War II to bring to the attention of the free world, Hitler's intention to annihilate
the Jews of Poland. Its representatives, Jan Karski, bearing eye witness accounts of
Nazi perpetrated atrocities urged the leaders of the United States and Great Britain to
respond to the crises by aiding the Jews of Poland. Frustrated by the Allied
governments' refusal of active intervention, the exiled Polish leaders set in motion their
own effort to save Jewish lives by financing and encouraging the cooperative action
between the Polish Underground and their civilian counterparts who together had
formed the clandestine Council for Aid to Jews. This was the only
government-sponsored social welfare agency established to rescue Jews in
German-occupied Europe. This organization, given the code name "Zegota," provided
hiding places and false identity documents for Jewish men, women and children who
were able to escape from Nazi control and ultimately their efforts saved thousands of
lives.
Using archival photographs and film footage, together with interviews first recorded for
the 1992 film, Zegota - A Time to Remember, this film narrated by Eli Wallach, tells
the story of the desperate plight of the Jews of Poland and the conditions of terror
under which the Zegota rescuers tried to help. Zegota participants, Jewish survivors
and Polish and Jewish historians recall and reflect on the unparalleled crime of genocide
committed by Nazi occupation forces, and of the extraordinary courage of people who
risked -- and some of whom sacrificed -- their lives trying to save some Jewish
fugitives.
At Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust Memorial Museum, more than 40 per cent of the
"Righteous Gentiles" recognized for their rescue of Jews are Poles. It is the highest
percentage of all national groups who assisted Jews.
To view Real Media files you'll need Real Media's Free player.
|