Instytut Pamięci Narodowej Persecution for providing help to Jews in occupied Polish territories during World War II, vol. 1 - Publikacje w językach obcych -

Persecution for providing help to Jews in occupied Polish territories during World War II, vol. 1, edited by Aleksandra Namysło, Martyna Grądzka, Warsaw 2022, 464 pp., ISBN: 978-83-8229-458-3

This publication presents the preliminary results of work carried out within the ‘Index of Poles murdered or persecuted for helping Jews during World War II’ programme. The main and, at the same time, the overriding aim of the activities undertaken as part of the ‘Index’ project is to establish the names of Polish citizens of various ethnic origin not covered by the Nuremberg legislation, living in the territory of the Republic of Poland within the borders of 31 August 1939, who experienced persecution for helping Jews during World War II.

The present publication contains 333 short descriptions of the persecution of 654 individuals who helped Jewish people in occupied Polish territories. The term of persecution is meant as activities of the military and civil authorities of the Third Reich, including, in particular, courts and prosecutor’s offices, police and security services with co-operation of the Nazi party and its affiliated and collaborative organisations, against people who violated the rules of contact with Jewish population as stipulated by the occupier’s law.

The authors have tried, first of all, to reconstruct the circumstances and causes of persecution, taking into account factors such as motivation and type of help.

Rich source material of multiple provenance formed the basis for compiling the list of people persecuted. The collected material consists of documents produced during World War II, such as documents of the German administration, courts and the terror apparatus, German press, Jewish testimonies written during the war, press and materials produced by the Polish and Jewish underground resistance. Valuable for the project turned out trial files of persons suspected of collaboration with the German occupiers, materials collected since 1945 by the Główna Komisja Badania Zbrodni Niemieckich w Polsce (GKBZNwP; Chief Commission for the Study of German Crimes in Poland) and its continuators.

This volume is the first in the series “Persecution for helping Jews during World War II”.

Centralny Projekt Badawczy IPN „Dzieje Żydów w Polsce i relacje polsko-żydowskie w latach 1914–1989”

Centralny Projekt Badawczy IPN „Losy Polski i jej obywateli w latach II wojny światowejö