The Ministry of Foreign Affairs introduced a stamp and a folder of Polish Post presenting the Ładoś Group, which during World War II organized a passport campaign that allowed European Jews to avoid death camps in German-occupied Europe.

At the ceremonial presentation in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the deputy head of the ministry, Szymon Szynkowski vel Sęk, emphasized that although the history of the Ładoś Group resembles a sensational film, it happened in reality and Polish diplomacy will promote it.

The Ładoś Group was made up of Polish diplomats in Switzerland and Jewish activists RELICO (the Committee to Aid Jewish Victims of War) established by the World Jewish Congress and the Agudat Israel organization (international political organization of Jewish orthodoxy).

Members of the group, also known as the “Bernese Group”, created in Switzerland in 1941-43 a system of illegal production of Latin American passports to save European Jews from the Holocaust. The name of the group stems from its informal leader – Aleksander Ładoś, a Polish diplomat, consular officer, journalist and politician.

Szymon Szynkowski vel Sęk informs that at least a thousand people were saved thanks to this initiative. “After discovering this story, as Polish diplomacy, we decided to spread awareness of it and search for further details. We are really proud of this very story, but we already know that similar groups of diplomats operated in Japan and Turkey. Currently, research is being conducted in order to comprehensively discover this systemic policy of the Polish government-in-exile.”

The history of the Ładoś Group was discovered just a few years ago. The process of research involved Jakub Kumoch, the Polish ambassador to Switzerland at that time, today the head of the presidential International Policy Office.

Jakub Kumoch emphasizes that Aleksander Ładoś was not a lone wolf as many would like to believe, but simply he represented a certain attitude of Polish diplomacy towards the Holocaust. He belonged to the group of great Jewish rescuers like Sławik, Romer, the recently discovered consul Rychlewicz from Istanbul and General Wieniawa-Długoszowski, about whom and his attempts to save Jews little was known.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński