Who is NOT a Holocaust Victim?

Who is and Who Isn't a Holocaust Victim?

Washington D.C. - July 2003
A new committee has been formed to decide "who is" and "who is not" a Holocaust victim. A committee of 14 members of the National Polish American-Jewish American Council will discuss this issue very soon. A letter written by the two co-chairs they said only Jews are Holocaust victims.

Please write to the National Polish American-Jewish American Council and tell them how you feel about this:

NPAJAC
1156 Fifteenth St. NW Suite 1201
Washington, DC 20005
E-mail: mail@npajac.org

The two co-chairs of NPAJAC are Martin Bresler and John Pikarski.

Some of the members that will serve on the committee are:

Leonard Baldyga
E-mail ljbjbb@aol.com
Tel: (703) 524-2479
Fax: (703) 841-1248
3622 N. Vacation Lane
Arlington, VA 22207

Anthony Bajdek
e-mail: abajdek@neu.edu
Tel: (617) 373-2695
Fax: (617) 373-2542
Northeastern University
104 Ell Hall
Boston, MA 02115

Charles Chotkowskie-mail:Chotkowski@hotmail.com P.O.Box 320079 Fairfield CT 06432 Thaddeus V. Gromada e-mail: tgromada@mindspring.com Tel: (843) 768-3276 Executive Director, Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences Fax: (843) 7688387 2722 OH Oak Walk Johns Island, SC 29455 Amb. John F. Kordek e-mail: jkordek@depaul.edu Tel: (312) 362-5652 (Member of US Holocaust Memorial Council ) Fax (312) 362-6822 DePaul University Assoc. Vice Pres. 1 E. Jackson Blvd. Chicago, IL 60604 Dr. Thaddeus C. Radzilowski Tel: ( 248) 683-0521 Fax (248) 683-0433 (Pres. St. Mary's College) 3535 Indian Trail Orchard Lake, MI 448324 Rev. John Pawlikowski, PhD e-mail: jtmp@ctu.edu (773) 753-5353 (Member USHolocaust Memorial Council) FAX: 773-324-4360 Catholic Theological Union 5401 S. Cornrll Chicago, IL 60615 Prof. Antony Polonsky E-mail polonsky@brandeis.edu Tel: (781) 736-2980 Brandeis University Fax: (781) 736-2070 Albert Abramson Prrof. of Holocaust Studies 415 South Street Waltham, MA 02254 David Harris e-mail: harrisd@ajc.org Tel: (212) 751-4000 Fax: (212) 838-2120 National Executive Director American Jewish Committee 165 E. 56th Street New York, N.Y. 10022 Marcin Zmudzki e-mail: marcin@zmudzki.net Tel: (202) 234-7045 1748Columbia Rd. NW #4 Fax: (202) 234-6916 Washington, DC 20009

Here is a sample of one letter already sent. You do not have to be directly involved to support the non-Jewish victims.

In February 1941, the Gestapo in Warsaw informed my great-grandmother that she could buy the ashes of my grandfather, who died in Auschwitz within a few weeks of arriving there. Wailing and screaming, she threw herself into the snow piled around the German headquarters, while my aunt quickly ran away with my baby cousin for fear of being executed on the spot. I sometimes think about my grandfather's ashes, scattered and mixed about on the killing fields of Auschwitz… can they be separated from those of the other victims, so we can give him a proper burial, and mark his grave with a cross?

My grandmother was still in Pawiak prison when my grandfather was killed in Auschwitz. Many years after the war, I asked her about those ashes that my great-grandmother had refused to buy from the Gestapo.

My grandmother said, "I wish she had bought them. So what if they weren't really my husband's? At least they were from that holy place where he died."

She would have honored them, no matter whose they were.

It is with great sadness that I learned about the resignation of Mrs. Bozenna Urbanowicz-Gilbride from NPAJAC. I have always admired and respected her work to preserve the memory of those who would otherwise be forgotten. We Polish-Americans have lost a hardworking, focused and trustworthy representative on the Council. Please persuade Mrs. Gilbride to return to NPAJAC to continue her priceless contribution and efforts on our behalf.

Sincerely,

Maryann Wojciechowski
Daughter of Holocaust survivors: Pawiak, Ravensbruck, Auschwitz, Gross Rosen
Granddaughter of Holocaust victim: Pawiak, Auschwitz
Granddaughter of Holocaust survivor: Pawiak, Ravensbruck Niece of Holocaust
victim: Gestapo/Aleje Szucha, mass graves/Palmiry
Niece of Holocaust survivor: Pawiak, Auschwitz, Flossenburg, Dachau

Real Stories of Survival by Non-Jewish Victims

Jan Karski - One man who tried to stop the Holocaust

Irek - Warsaw Ghetto Underground Fighter

Dutch Teenager - Three years hard labor for listening to a radio station.

Eva Pencak - Forced Laborer for the Third Reich

American Citizen in Poland
Faced the Germans Twice - First in the Polish Army and then in the American Army

Mittelbau Dora in Nordhausen French survivor describes his months of hell in concentration camp

Number 1067 - Diary Cold and Naked They Stood

Washington Post Artist and Non-Jewish Survivor of 5 Concentration Camps

Wiktor - The Art of Survival "Opening the envelope, Julian Siminski felt a chill."

Kidnaped and Deported - They kidnaped young men and women in the street, in the marketplace, and in front of churches on Sundays.

The Righteous Rescuers - Heroes and Heroines of the Holocaust

Irena Sendler - Notes in a jar
John Damski - in California
Henryk Slawi k - Doctor
Irena Gut-Opdyke - Nurse
Julian Bilecki - Teenager
Dr. Eugene Lazowski - M.D.
Tadeusz Borowski - Irek
Jan Karski - Polish Spy
Dr. Julius Zubli - Dutch M.D.
Zegota - Secret in Poland
Women & Children - of Valor
Over 700 Polish men, women and children - listed by name