March 23rd and 24th are outstanding days for Poles. On the 23rd, the Polish-Hungarian Friendship is celebrated and we celebrate it, but a day later tragedies are remembered, because this day is the National Day of Remembrance of the Poles Saving the Jews.
The history of Polish-Hungarian Friendship Day (Dzień Przyjaźni Polsko-Węgierskiej in Polish) dates back to March 24, 2006, when Polish President Lech Kaczyński and László Sólyom signed the Győr Declaration and handed over the first public monument of Polish-Hungarian friendship. . On March 12, 2007, the Hungarian Parliament and the Polish Sejm on March 16 declared March 23 as a holiday, the day of Polish-Hungarian friendship.
The Day of Poles Who Save the Jews is March 24 because the Nazis murdered the Ulma family, their parents and their seven children on this day in 1944. Their crime was to hide eight Jewish people. the Ulma family ( Józef and the nine-month pregnant Wiktoria and their children: Stanisława, Barbara, Władysław, Franciszek, Antoni, Maria and their unborn brother ) is immortalized in the museum created in 2016, which is dedicated to World War II. It commemorates the Poles who saved Jews during World War II in Markowa. There is a long list of Poles who, despite the threat, stood up to save the Jewish population and opposed the occupiers. By risking their lives, because there was a death penalty for helping the Jews .
The heroes who escaped their Jewish compatriots and the Lados group are being remembered this year with an online film screening by the Polish Institute and the Holocaust Memorial Center in Budapest. The documentary Paraguayan passports deals with the activities of the group led by the Polish ambassador in Bern, Aleksander Ładoś The illegal Polish-Jewish organization mass-produced fake documents to save Jews during World War II. during world war.
The group included diplomats of Polish and Jewish origin, including Konstanty Rokicki , consul of the Republic of Poland in Bern from 1939–1945, Aleksander Ładoś and his deputy, Stefan Ryniewicz , and subordinate diplomat Juliusz Kuehl
The 52-minute film is shown in Polish with Hungarian subtitles and is free of charge. Link to the screening starting at 8 p.m. on Wednesday: https://youtu.be/1FOdl4NpEhA
