The US Congressional Gold Medals for foreign diplomats who rescued Jews from the Holocaust were awarded after a Congressional bill was signed by President Joe Biden. Among the 60 people honoured are five Poles, including diplomats associated with the so-called Ładoś Group.

The medals were awarded under the Forgotten Heroes of the Holocaust Act, which the US Congress passed in August 2024 and that was signed by President Joe Biden on 13 December.

The Act awards the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian award in the US, to 60 diplomats from 28 countries who were involved in saving Jews. Among them are five Poles: Aleksander Ładoś, Konstanty Rokicki, Stefan Ryniewicz, Juliusz Kuhl and Henryk Slawik.

The first four belonged to the so-called Ładoś Group which was a team of Polish diplomats serving in Bern, Switzerland who, in cooperation with Jewish organisations, issued false passports and citizenship certificates of Latin American countries for Jews who threatened to be killed in Holocaust organised by the Nazi German regime in Europe.

Henryk Sławik was a delegate of the Polish government-in-exile who also helped people escape from Poland to Hungary, including Jews, in collaboration with Hungarian official József Antall. 

“These diplomats used every means available to help Jews fleeing persecution. One of the most powerful tools the diplomats used was to issue passports and travel visas against the instructions of the diplomatic governments. This process made it possible to save hundreds of thousands of Jewish families in Europe,” the Congressional act said.

The decoration was an initiative of politicians from both parties, with Senators Bill Hagerty and Tim Kaine and Congressmen Ritchie Torres and Maria Salazar being the main initiators.

“The commemoration of dozens of diplomats rushing to the aid of Jews during World War II, among whom were also Poles from the Ładosia Group, is a late but fully deserved recognition of their commitment, sense of duty and willingness to save the persecuted and doomed to inevitable death,” – Prof Krzysztof Ruchniewicz, director of the Pilecki Institute, said in a statement.

The Ładoś Group’s heroic history was presented to the world after a historic investigation of Polish diplomats and historians, including the Polish ambassador to Switzerland, Jakub Kumoch. 

Source: PAP

Photo:@ThePileckiInst

Tomasz Modrzejewski