From 5 July 2022, the visitors to the Museum and Memorial in Bełżec will be able to see the exhibition "Between Life and Death. Stories of Rescue During the Holocaust". The exhibition presents stories from twelve European countries of those who helped Jews persecuted during the Second World War and accounts from the survivors.

Giving the floor to both the rescuers and the rescued, the exhibition guides visitors through a story of acts of incredible courage and an extraordinary will to survive. It will be on display in Bełżec until 28 August 2022.

Between 1939 and 1945, the people of the countries occupied by Nazi Germany witnessed the deepening persecution of the Jewish community. Hiding or helping family members, neighbours or co-workers of Jewish origin was a crime punishable by battery, imprisonment and, in some countries, even death. There were those who looked on helplessly at the brutal reality, there were even cases of profiting from the tragic situation of the Jews. Many people, however, spared no effort to help those in need. They included representatives of all classes - factory workers and doctors, needlewomen and aristocrats, farmers and diplomats.

To honour their courage and sacrifice, the Yad Vashem Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Institute in Israel established the Righteous Among the Nations decoration in 1963. Most of the people awarded with this title, nearly 7,000, come from Poland.

Three residents of Bełżec are also among them: Julia Pępiak and Cecylia and Maciej Brogowski, who hid Jewish refugees in their homes until the end of the war.

"Between Life and Death" features stories of rescue and salvation from twelve European countries. Among other things, the exhibition presents the story of Elżbieta Ficowska, who as an infant was smuggled from the Warsaw Ghetto to the Aryan side in a wooden box hidden in a pile of bricks. Also presented is the dramatic fate of Jan and Aleksandra Gawrych and their children, from the Mazovian village of Wólka Czarnińska, who hid Jews in their forester's lodge and, as a result of a denunciation, were forced to pay the ultimate price. In addition to the poignant individual stories, the content of the exhibition brings closer the reality in which the inhabitants of the various occupied countries lived, and encourages reflection on the complexity of the relationships and emotional bonds between survivors and rescuers.

The exhibition "Between Life and Death" 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. The exhibition was inaugurated in January 2018 at the headquarters of the European Commission in Brussels on the occasion of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Since then, the exhibition has been presented in eight European countries and Japan. Its international tour included: Amsterdam, Bratislava, Vilnius, Budapest, Brno and Dresden. The presentation of the exhibition is co-financed by the European Union.

Photos: Przemysław Wawryca; Copyrights: Instytut Europejskiej Sieci Pamięć i Solidarność