There is one step that could go a long way toward defusing the tensions between Israel and Poland over complicity in the Holocaust and anti-Semitism: recognizing the Bernese Group's three non-Jewish Polish diplomats as Righteous Among the Nations by Israel's Holocaust memorial museum Yad Vashem.
Had Yad Vashem bestowed those diplomats with this honor for their role in saving Jews during the Holocaust, it would have also been interpreted as Israel's acceptance of the narrative that the Polish government in exile during World War II was not indifferent to the plight of the Jews under Nazi occupation.
The Bernese Group refers to a group comprising several Polish diplomats and others who worked in Bern, Switzerland during the war. The members went out of their way to save hundreds of Jews by issuing them south-American passports to escape Europe.
The Bernese Group continued issuing those passports despite this being illegal and despite being monitored by the Swiss authorities. Three of them were non-Jewish Polish diplomats while the other three members were Jews.
The members were: Aleksander Ładoś, who was the head of the Polish government-in-exile's diplomatic legation in Bern during the war; his deputy, Stefan Ryniewicz, the Polish Deputy Consul Konstanty Rokicki; the Jewish attaché Juliusz Kühl; prominent Jewish figure Rabbi Chaim Yisroel Eiss, and Zionist activist Abraham Silberschein, who was a Polish member of parliament before the war.
Under the Yad Vashem guidelines, only non-Jews who saved Jews can be recognized as Righteous Among the Nations.
Despite their actions, the group's members have been largely unsung heroes, their distinguished actions all but unknown to anyone who was not affected. But thanks to a new and comprehensive study undertaken by the two Polish journalists Michał Potocki and Zbigniew Parafianowicz, in collaboration with the current Polish Ambassador to Switzerland Jakub Kumoch and the Polish Consul in Zurich Markus Blechner, their actions have now become well known to the general public.
Blechner approached Yad Vashem about 18 months ago on the matter, and in recent days the museum announced that Rokicki, who was the Polish deputy consul in Bern during the war, was the only one who would be recognized with the title Righteous Among the Nations whereas the mission head Ładoś and his deputy Ryniewicz would only get letters of commendations. All three are deceased.
The decision sparked outrage and frustration among the family members of the two other late Polish diplomats, and among survivors, who have even decided to send a letter to Yad Vashem in protest. Kumoch tweeted after the decision his own disapproval: "I am not sure what's the matter with recognizing Ładoś and his deputy, as Blechner asked for them to be included. Rokicki's actions during the war were carried out after receiving orders from his bosses, so I am sure the process of recognizing will progress."
Rokicki, who was an anti-communist who refused to return to Soviet-dominated Poland after the war and died in Switzerland in dire financial situation, had no children. One of his only remaining family members is Małgorzata Sadkowska, 50, whose great grandfather was Rokicki's brother. She began tracing her family roots and only then discovered how special Rokicki was. "I didn't know he was such a hero," she told Israel Hayom in Warsaw. "I only read about it in the paper, in the investigative report that was published in 2017 by the two journalists. I suddenly recognized him in the picture."
She said she had only come to know about Yad Vashem's recognition of Rokicki because of the Facebook group formed by Bernese Group survivors and later Blechner himself told her about it. "Obviously it is a great honor, but it is surprising that only he got this honor. The one who should have gotten it first and foremost is Ładoś, who was the head of the mission and orchestrated the effort to save Jews. This was not a one-man operation and we will fight to make sure that the other two diplomats are recognized as well. We must make it clear that such a gesture would be of great importance for their families and I hope this happens. Hope is always the last thing to die."
Yad Vashem issued the following statement in the wake of the decision: "The historical records that have reached us show that Rokicki was the dominant figure in saving Jews through the Polish diplomatic mission in Switzerland by means of issuing passports of a third country. That said, this by no means erases the contribution of Ładoś and Ryniewicz."
