Ferdynand Marek Arczyński (December 8, 1900 in

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

– 1979 in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

cryptonym A code name, codename, call sign, or cryptonym is a code word or name used, sometimes clandestinely, to refer to another name, word, project, or person. Code names are often used for military purposes, or in espionage. They may also be used in ...

"Marek" or "Lukowski", was one of the founding members of an underground organization

Żegota Żegota (, full codename: the "Konrad Żegota Committee"Yad Vashem Shoa Resource CenterZegota/ref>) was the Polish Council to Aid Jews with the Government Delegation for Poland (), an underground Polish resistance organization, and part of th ...

(Council for Aid to Jews) in

German-occupied Poland German-occupied Poland can refer to: * General Government * Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany * Occupation of Poland (1939–1945) * Prussian Partition The Prussian Partition (), or Prussian Poland, is the former territories of the Polish� ...

, from 1942 to 1945. Żegota's express purpose was to help the country's Jews survive

the Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

; find places of safety for them, and provide relief payments to thousands of families.David Cesarani, Sarah Kavanaugh
Holocaust
Published by Routledge. Page 64. Poland was the only country in occupied Europe with such an organization during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

.Andrzej Sławiński,
Those who helped Polish Jews during WWII
''. Translated from Polish by Antoni Bohdanowicz. Article on the pages of the London Branch of the Polish Home Army Ex-Servicemen Association. Last accessed on March 14, 2008.

Life

Born in 1900, Arczyński participated in the

Silesian Uprisings The Silesian Uprisings (; ; ) were a series of three uprisings from August 1919 to July 1921 in Upper Silesia, which was part of the Weimar Republic at the time. Ethnic Polish and Polish-Silesian insurrectionists, seeking to have the area tran ...

(1919–21) during the formation of the sovereign

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 7 October 1918 and 6 October 1939. The state was established in the final stage of World War I ...

. He was a member of the Polish Democratic Party and an editor of the Polish Daily ('' Dziennik Polski, pl'') in

. Following the Nazi-Soviet

invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Second Polish Republic, Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak R ...

, Arczyński worked tirelessly for Żegota, serving not only as treasurer but also as head of its "legalization" department, which produced forged documents distributed to Jews in the care of Żegota. He also acted as a liaison with branches of Żegota in Kraków,

Lwów Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

and

Lublin Lublin is List of cities and towns in Poland, the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the centre of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin i ...

. He was an unofficial, but successful recruiting officer.

Saving Jews

As Żegota treasurer and head of the Legalization Bureau, Ferdynand Arczyński produced daily hundreds of false IDs, work cards,

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

birth and marriage certificates which were given out free of charge to some 4,000 Jews hiding on the "Aryan" side of the ghettos. He arranged for places to live, medical help, and monthly cash disbursements. He helped with providing aid to Jews in

concentration camp A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploitati ...

s. Arczyński, "Marek", was also a founding member of Kraków and Lwów branches of Żegota. After the war, Marek Ferdynand Arczyński served as Member of Parliament (

Sejm The Sejm (), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (), is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of the Third Polish Republic since the Polish People' ...

) from 1947 until 1952, in the Department of Communication, and worked as a journalist.

Recognition

In 1965, Ferdynand Arczynski visited Israel, where on May 18, 1965, Yad Vashem recognized him as

Righteous Among the Nations Righteous Among the Nations ( ) is a title used by Yad Vashem to describe people who, for various reasons, made an effort to assist victims, mostly Jews, who were being persecuted and exterminated by Nazi Germany, Fascist Romania, Fascist Italy, ...

References

* Stanislaw Wronski, Maria Zwolakowa,: "Polacy Zydzi, 1939-1945". Warszawa,

Książka i Wiedza ''Książka i Wiedza'' ("Book and Knowledge") is a Polish publishing house founded in 1948, soon after World War II. As of the mid-2010s it has published over 13,000 titles. In communist Poland it was the leading state publisher of books about pol ...

Publishers, 1971. (illustrated, 462 pages) including copies of many original documents. *

Irene Tomaszewski Irene Tomaszewski (also Irena Tomaszewska, born May 1940) is a Canadian writer, editor and translator of Polish descent living in Montreal, Canada. Early life Irene Tomaszewski (''Tomaszewska'', in proper Polish usage, since she is female) was bor ...

and Tecia Werbowski,
Zegota: The Council for Aid to Jews in Occupied Poland 1942-1945
''. Price-Patterson Ltd. Montreal, Canada. Reprinted with authors' permission at Project In Posterum, Preserving the Past for the Future. * Teresa Prekerowa, ''Konspiracyjna Rada Pomocy Żydom w Warszawie, 1942-1945'',

Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy The State Publishing Institute PIW () is a Polish publishing house founded in Warsaw by the Polish state after World War II, in 1946. ''PIW'' specializes in literature, history, philosophy, and the social sciences. One of its more popular liter ...

, Warsaw, 1982.

External links

Ferdynand Arczyński
– his activity to save Jews' lives during the

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

, at

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem (; ) is Israel's official memorial institution to the victims of Holocaust, the Holocaust known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (). It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; echoing the stories of the ...

website {{DEFAULTSORT:Arczynski, Ferdynand 1900 births 1979 deaths Journalists from Kraków Politicians from the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria Alliance of Democrats (Poland) politicians Members of the State National Council Members of the Polish Sejm 1947–1952 Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Grunwald, 3rd class Polish Righteous Among the Nations Żegota members Politicians from Kraków Recipients of the Medal of the 10th Anniversary of the People's Republic of Poland

Life

Saving Jews

Recognition

See also

References

External links