You are the people who are today the great pride of the Republic of Poland, whom we can readily call the heroes of that time. And what extraordinary heroes they all were: without a weapon in hand, without a rifle. Those who did not fight, who simply showed that the world can be a good place to live, that it should be different

— said President Andrzej Duda during Monday’s ceremony of awarding Order of Polonia Restituta (Order Odrodzenia Polski) to Poles who saved Jews during World War II.

During the ceremony in the Presidential Palace, President Andrzej Duda emphasized that „Poles, Those Righteous among the Nations, must be looked at in a special way”.

As Duda admitted,

„during the war people were despicable; they were so vicious that they are unworthy to call themselves Poles at all! They are the people who should never be part of our society nor of our nation. There were some people like this. But there were also majority of those who were simply afraid. They didn’t help, but they didn’t denounce either. They were simply afraid, because they were threatened with the death penalty for helping”.

Finally, there was the category of people to which you belong. The people who are today the great pride of the Republic of Poland, whom we can readily call the heroes of that time. And what extraordinary heroes they all were: without a weapon in hand, without a rifle. Those who did not fight, who simply showed that the world can be a good place to live, that it should be different

— said, addressing the decorated.

They did not accept the reality that surrounded them and demonstrated their attitude by helping their neighbors. They risked their own lives and the lives of their families. This is hard to imagine today. There were thousands of such families, not millions, thousands

— he added.

The President said that he was satisfied that the Republic of Poland remembers its heroes and added „that their memory and, above all, their testimony about what they have done is cherished not only on Israel soil, at the Yad Vashem Institute, but that it is also celebrated here”. He pointed out that Poland celebrates the National Day of Remembrance of Poles who saved Jews under German occupation.

They are heroes of the Second World War just as great, and perhaps even greater, than those who fought with weapons in their hands

— he stressed.

On the basis of Article 138 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland and the Act on Orders and Distinctions by the decisions of the President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda were awarded for their heroic attitude and extraordinary courage shown in saving Jews during World War II, for outstanding merits in defending dignity, humanity and human rights, and with the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta:

1. Magdalena CEGŁOWSKA and her family hid Minda Binsztok.

2. Anna GAWŁOWSKA, together with her family members Jan and Maria Kuś, helped to hide Erich Gottschalk and six other people wanted by the German authorities

3. Wanda HADRYSIAK from 1943 hid a Jewish girl Maria Polanowicz

4. Zofia HOŁUB, who looked after a girl Sabine Kagan

5. Danuta KUROWSKA hid seven Jews with her family on a farm in the village of Czarlona

6. Jan KUŚ, the family of the Kuś family, hid seven people wanted by the German authorities, including Erich Gottschalk.

7. Leontyna LEŚNIEWICZ, on her family farm, helped to hide a Jewish girl named Sara.

8. Pelagia MALECKA, together with her parents, members of the Home Army, hid Felicia Raszkin a.k.a. Raszkies on the farm

9. Janina ORCZYK, in a house in Warsaw, together with her family, hid nine people of Jewish nationality

10. Teresa PARCZEWSKA-SKULIMOWSKA, on a farm in Sławatycze Cologne, hid the Grynszpan family in a hiding place

11. Romuald PARCZEWSKI, on a farm in Cologne Sławatycze hid the Grynszpan family in a hiding place

12. Wanda PIASECKA in her Warsaw apartment, together with her parents, hid thirteen people of Jewish nationality

13. RUTKOWSKA Basilina, after the liquidation of the Kolomyia ghetto in 1942, hid Dora Shenzer.

14. Teresa SIEMBORSKA and her family hid Tuwia Lewiński.

They were posthumously decorated:

1. Priest Antoni CZARNECKI, as vicar in the All Saints church, hid Jews from the Warsaw ghetto.

2. Anna DAJTROWSKA, together with her husband Andrzej, daughters Leokadia and Maria, hid two families of Jewish origin on her farm, eight people in total

3. Andrzej DAJTROWSKI, together with his wife and daughters Leokadia and Maria, hid two families of Jewish origin on his farm, eight people in total

4. Jadwiga DUDZIEC, a soldier of the Union of Armed Struggle - Home Army, hid Jews in her apartment and supplied weapons to Jewish partisans

5. Piotr GOŃ, in his family home, hid Mordka Szlama, arrested by the Gestapo did not admit to hiding a Jewish child

6. Franciszek JAROSZ, together with his family members and Stanisława Liptak, gave shelter in his farm in Stańkowa to 17 people of Jewish descent

7. Jan JAROSZ, together with his family members and Stanisława Liptak, gave shelter, on his farm in Stańkowa, to 17 people of Jewish descent

8. Maria JAROSZ, together with her family members and Stanisława Liptak, gave shelter in his farm in Stańkowa to 17 people of Jewish descent.

9. Leokadia KAWALEC, née Dajtrowska. The Dajtrowski family hid two families of Jewish descent on their farm, eight people in total.

10. Anatoliusz KWARCIAK, together with his family members, saved fifteen refugees from the Dubno ghetto in Volhynia

11. Feliks KWARCIAK, together with his family members, saved fifteen refugees from the Dubno ghetto in Volhynia

12 Stanisław LIPTAK, the Jaroszów family gave shelter to seventeen people of Jewish descent on their farm in Stańkowa.

1. Bronisława PLIŚ, a Home Army soldier, saved the child Chana Weiss, who survived the pogrom.

2. Stanisław POKORSKI, a soldier of the Union of Armed Struggle - Home Army, hid Henryk Prajs, a non-commissioned officer of the 3rd Regiment of the Mazovian Cavalry in Suwałki on his family farm

3. Lucyna ROGOWSKA gave shelter to two siblings Ryfka and Anczel Szusterom

4. Leopold SOCHA, for over a year, helped Jews hiding in the sewers during the liquidation of the Lviv Ghetto

5. Jadwiga SOLECKA, hid Marlena Wagner

18 Stanisław SOLECKI, hid Marlena Wagner

19, Maria TOMASZCZYK, née Kuś. The Kuś family hid seven people searched for by the German authorities, including Erich Gottschalk.

1. Jan ULIASZ, hid Chana Wiess

21 Józefa ULIASZ, hid Chana Wiess

1. Maria WĘGIERSKA, née Dajtrowska. The Dajtrowski family hid two families of Jewish descent on their farm, eight in total.

2. Father Ludwik WRODARCZYK, in the parish of St. John the Baptist in Okopy, accepted Benedict Halicz as an organist and hid two brothers who fled during the liquidation of the ghetto in Rokitno.

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