Shortly after its establishment in December 1942, the Council for Aid to Jews (known by its code-name "Żegota") became one of the most active and dedicated organizations operating in the underground in occupied Poland. In spite of the grave dangers which its workers faced daily, and the frequent crises as a result of the discovery of the Council's clandestine apartments, the arrest of its leaders and workers, and the constant fear of the Gestapo, the Council was able to extend aid to Jewish survivors, and the cooperation between the Polish and Jewish members of the Council was very close. Thousands of Jews were saved from death as a result of the systematic and ramified work carried on by the Council until the liberation, and its cooperation with the Jewish National Committee and the Bund. The Poles in both camps-those in Poland as well as those in exile-are proud of the achievements of "Żegota", which constituted part of the underground in Poland, and Polish historiography has greatly overestimated its accomplishments. Prof. Madajczyk exaggerated the extent of the aid extended by Poles to Jews in order to prove that the rescue of Jews was a common phenomenon in occupied Poland. Thus he ignored the role played by certain elements of the Polish population in the deportation and liquidation of the Jews. He also exaggerated the amounts of money which "Żegota" allegedly received from the underground authorities thirty-seven million zlotys and an additional fifty thousand dollars. Another writer, Iranek-Osmecki, exaggerated to an even greater extent. "Underground Poland", he wrote, "in spite of its being engaged in a struggle with the conqueror, established a large-scale organization [the reference is to "Żegota"] with its own administration and executive apparatus, which provided the Jews with hiding places, communications by messengers and radio with the West, and also supplied them with arms and money". The same author __________________________________________________________________________ Shoah Resource Center, The International School for Holocaust Studies 34 / 2 also asserted that "hundreds of thousands of Poles proved their attitude to the Jews by sincere sacrifice", and concluded that "it would not be exaggerated to state that millions of Poles had to be involved in order to save several tens of thousands of Jews". Even eyewitnesses who were themselves members of "Żegota", such as Ferdynand Arczyński and Tadeuz Rek, overestimated the number of Jews saved by the organization. Another eyewitness, Witold Bieńkowski, a leader of the Catholic underground group, "Front for a Reborn Pland" (Front Odrodzenia Polski-F.O.P.), who was a member of the Provisional Committee of "Żegota" and the permanent representative of the Government's Delegate on the Council, also exaggerated the achievements of "Żegota". He declared that in his capacity as the person responsible for the execution of extortionists, he personally signed 117 death sentences, of which 89 were carried out, and that a total of 220 people were executed for...
