Ferdynand Arczyński: A Polish Resistance Member Who Helped Thousands of Jewish People in the Second World War.
Today I want to find out a little bit about Ferdynand Arczyński. He was a remarkable Polish journalist and resistance member who helped thousands of Jewish people.
Ferdynand was born on the 8th of December 1900 in Kraków, Poland. He took part in the Silesian Uprisings, between 1919 and 1921 and later became involved in politics and worked as a newspaper editor.
Following the German invasion of Poland in 1939, Ferdynand joined the underground resistance. Using the secret names “Marek” and “Lukowski”, he became one of the founding members of Żegota, the Council for Aid to Jews.
Żegota was created to help Jewish people escape persecution and survive in hiding. Ferdynand served as the organisation’s treasurer and also led its document-forging department.
He helped to produce false identity papers, work permits and Catholic birth and marriage certificates. These documents allowed Jewish men, women and children to hide outside the ghettos under new identities.
Ferdynand also arranged safe accommodation, medical care and financial assistance. He acted as a link between Żegota groups in cities including Kraków, Lwów and Lublin, while encouraging others to join the rescue effort.
After the war, Ferdynand worked as a journalist and served as a member of the Polish parliament between 1947 and 1952.
On the 18th of May 1965, Yad Vashem recognised Ferdynand Arczyński as Righteous Among the Nations for risking his life to help Jewish people during the Holocaust.
He sadly died in Warsaw in 1979.
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