Until the end of January next year, the National Museum in Szczecin is hosting the exhibition “Between Life and Death. Stories of assistance during the Holocaust”. The presentation in Szczecin is co-financed by the European Union.

The exhibition is a joint initiative of the European Network Remembrance and Solidarity, the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews and the Silent Heroes Memorial Center in Berlin. It was first shown in January 2018 at the premises of the European Commission in Brussels on the occasion of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Since then, the exhibition has toured eight European countries and Japan. Its international tour included: Amsterdam, Bratislava, Vilnius, Budapest, Brno and Dresden, as well as Wrocław, Markowa and Belzec.

The exhibition presents the stories of people who helped Jews persecuted during the Second World War and the accounts of survivors coming from twelve European countries. Giving voice to both the rescuers and the rescued, the exhibition guides visitors through a story of great courage and extraordinary will to survive.

Between 1939 and 1945, people in countries occupied by Nazi Germany witnessed the intensifying persecution of the Jewish community. Hiding or helping people of Jewish origin was a crime punishable by beatings, imprisonment and even death. There were some who helplessly looked on at the brutal reality, there were even cases of profiting from the tragic situation of the Jews. Many, however, spared no effort to provide help to people in need.

To pay tribute to their courage and sacrifice, the Yad Vashem Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Institute in Israel established the Righteous Among the Nations award in 1963. The largest number – nearly 7,000 – of people awarded come from Poland.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński