In Galicia, chiefly in Lviv, assistance to Jews was
provided by the underground organization Żegota, which operated from December
1942 on behalf of the Polish government in exile. The main branches of this
organization functioned in Warsaw and Krakow, the Lviv branch was founded in
1943.
The initiators of the founding of Żegota were Polish public activists
Zofia Kossak-Szczucka, a writer, a member of the Catholic organization Front
for the Rebirth of Poland (Front Odrodzenia Polski, FOP), and Wanda
Krachelska-Filipowicz, concerned with the centrist Democratic Party of Poland (Stronnictwo
Demokratyczne, SD). In August 1942, after the start of a major liquidation
operation in the Warsaw ghetto, Zofia Kossak-Szczucka, on behalf of the FOP,
published her famous statement entitled "Protest!", which strongly
condemned the mass murder of Jews and the indifference of world leaders as to
their fate. Paradoxically, this text combines, on the one hand, calls for the rescue
of Jews and for the fight against Nazi terror and, on the other hand, the
labeling of Jews as "political, economic and ideological enemies of
Poland." Like some other Catholic figures in interwar Poland, Kossak-Szczucka
did not hide her anti-Semitic views, which, however, did not prevent her from
actively helping the persecuted Jews, her actions motivated by humanistic and
Christian values.
The official founding date of Żegota is December 4,
1942. The name of the organization comes from the name of an underground hero
from the poem Dziady by Adam Mickiewicz. The organization was
subordinated to the Government Delegation for Poland (Delegatura Rządu na
Kraj), a secret higher administrative body in occupied Poland.
Structurally, Żegota was divided into five departments, those for documentation
(production and supply of false documents), housing (search for safe places to
hide), medical care (organization of medical care), children (rescue of Jewish
children and finding shelters for them in families, orphanages, monasteries)
and propaganda (production and distribution of leaflets encouraging assistance
to Jews). In addition to providing direct assistance, Żegota also prepared informational
reports on the extermination of Jews for the underground press and
international organizations. Żegota's activities were secret, and all contacts
took place through a wide network of secret connections. It was funded from several sources: the Polish government in
exile, the Bund and other Jewish organizations, and private donors.
The Lviv branch of Żegota was headed by Władysława Choms (1885(?)-1966), a
well-known Polish public activist. Choms personally rescued dozens of Jews,
including children for whom she found refuge in Catholic orphanages. The
rescued called her an "angel from Lviv." During the interwar period
she lived in Drohobych, where she headed the Social Welfare Commission and was
a candidate for the city council. Choms maintained close contacts with Jewish
organizations and openly opposed anti-Semitic tendencies. She was a member of
the district council of the Polish Democratic Party. In 1938 she moved with her
family to Lviv, where she lived at ul. Nabielaka 14 (now vul. Kotliarevskoho).
However, during the Nazi occupation, she had to constantly change her name and
place of residence to avoid denunciation. Eventually, at the end of 1943,
Władysława Choms was forced to move to Warsaw, where she continued to help Jews
and later became an active participant in the Warsaw Uprising. In 1966 she was
awarded the title of Righteous Among the Nations.
An important center of Żegota's activity in Lviv was
the apartment of Józefa and Marian Wnuk, a couple of Lviv artists. Their
apartment was an underground meeting place for the organization (in need of a
quick escape, there was a direct exit to the attic and roof). Marian Wnuk
worked at the Academy of Arts in Lviv. During the war, the couple actively
helped their colleagues from the Lviv artistic community. In particular, with
their help, artists Jonasz Stern, Arthur Nacht, Henryk Streng and others
survived. In her memoirs, Józefa Wnuk writes as follows:
Each
of us had a role to play: at first, my task was to prepare documents, now for
Jewish friends, who could be arrested at any moment for personal inspection.
(...) Marian (Wnuk) searched for suitable apartments around Lviv and, together
with Staszek Teiseir, established contacts with various parishes, where Staszek
painted churches before the war, to place children in families who agreed to
it. The money for this was allocated by the Council; Ogrodziński, who was the
treasurer, brought it and hid it in a chest in our attic. Marian and Staszek
also visited their friends and their families in the ghetto.
(Wnuk J., Wspomnienia, Sopot 1996; typescript of
Józefa Wnuk’s memories).
Due to denunciations, the Wnuks also had to leave Lviv
and continue their activities in Warsaw. After the war, Marian and Józefa Wnuk
settled in Gdańsk, where they worked at the Academy of Arts. In addition to the
above-mentioned figures, members of the Lviv branch of Żegota included: Justyna
Wolf, Artur Kopacz, Marian and Adam Pokryszko, Tadeusz Miciak, Edward and Ina
Pawliuk, Karol Kuryliuk, Marian Krzyżanowski and others. Many of them belonged
to the underground Polish Socialist Party (PPS-WRN), the Democratic Party (SD),
the Peasant Party (SL), and were partisans of the Home Army. The example of the
Council for Aid to Jews Żegota illustrates the effectiveness of the rescue
network, which involved a large number of people. At the same time, the members
of Żegota had to face many obstacles in their activities, in particular,
constant denunciations.
