Forgotten heroes of Holocaust honoured

By Mark Andrews | Shrewsbury | News | Published: Less than an hour ago

As a seasoned parliamentarian, Daniel Kawczynski is used to delivering speeches in the Commons. But his voice occasionally falters as he recounts the story of how his great uncle and his family met a gruesome end at the hands of Hitler's henchmen during the German occupation of Poland in the Second World War.

Jonny Daniels in one of the taxis

Jonny Daniels shows former Chelsea manager Avram Grant one of the taxis

Jonny Daniels of From The Depths with former Chelsea manager Avram Grant

Jonny Daniels addresses the parliamentary reception, with Daniel Kawczynski to his right

Jonny Daniels addresses the parliamentary reception, with Daniel Kawczynski to his right

Jonny Daniels in one of the taxis

Jonny Daniels shows former Chelsea manager Avram Grant one of the taxis

Jan Kawczynski had been shielding some Jewish friends on the family farm when one day he was accosted by a neighbour on his return home.

"He was coming back when when his neighbour stopped him and said 'don't go, don't go back, the Germans have surrounded your farm'," says the MP for Shrewsbury and Atcham. "He said 'I have to go back because my wife and daughter are there'."

Jonny Daniels addresses the parliamentary reception, with Daniel Kawczynski to his right

Addressing an event to commemorate the role of Polish Christians in protecting Jews during the Holocaust, also attended by former Chelsea football manager Avram Grant, Mr Kawczynski speaks emotively as he tries to comprehend what would have been going through his great uncle's mind when he was confronted by German troops.

"When he went back the Germans made him first of all take off his officers' boots, they made him dig a grave, and they made him watch as they shot his 12-year-old daughter, then they shot his wife, and then they shot him.

Evaluate

"His crime was helping and protecting Jewish friends and neighbours. And the reason that is so difficult for me to contemplate and evaluate is because I speak to you as the father of a 12-year-old daughter Alexis who I take every year to Poland, so she understands Poland and Polish culture.

"For those of you in this room who are fathers, you will recognise with me how important that relationship with our daughters, I think most of the fathers in this room would quite happily give up their lives to protect their daughters. The relationship of love that a father has with his daughter is indescribable.

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"It was a very counter-intuitive thing that Jan Kawczynski did, Poland was the only country in occupied Europe that had the death penalty for helping Jewish people, so many Poles knew that they were taking risks, not just with their own lives, but also potentially sacrificing their children in the process of helping their Jewish friends and neighbours."

Launch

The parliamentary reception was held to mark the launch of a new project by British Holocaust charity the From the Depths, which has sent two London taxis to Poland to provide a free chauffeur service to the surviving people who put their lives on the line for their Jewish friends and neighbours during the occupation. The scheme has been sponsored by the Jewish News paper and Chelsea FC.

Mr Kawczynski, who was told the story about his family by an aunt in 1983, says he never felt able to talk about the matter until he was invited to dinner by From The Depths founder Jonny Daniels.

Jonny Daniels of From The Depths with former Chelsea manager Avram Grant

But equally, he says that while his position as an MP has meant that he has been able to raise awareness of what his relatives did during the war, his story is far from unique. The politician, who was born in Warsaw but moved to Britain as a child, says that since he started taking Polish lessons he discovered that his teacher's family had also given refuge to Jews hiding from the Nazis.

"There are thousands of Polish friends who helped their Jewish friends and neighbours, but as yet nobody knows about them," he says.

Fortitude

"What Johnny has given me is the ability, the courage and the fortitude to start talking about these things with my daughter Alexis, because it is so important that we share with them the extraordinary sacrifices our ancestors made for them, and warn them of the potential consequences for their generation if good people don't stand up against evil."

Mr Daniels says it was during a visit to a small town in Poland, where he was shown a house whose owner had been murdered for sheltering Jews that made him realise he needed to do something. He says that as a young man, who has never experienced the kind of persecution suffered by previous generations, that he realised the importance of honouring those who selflessly gave their lives for others.

“It was then that I took it upon myself – and turned into the main mission of my foundation – that we as the third and fourth generation after the Holocaust, as millennials, as younger people, must stand and do something to honour and remember both the survivors, those murdered, but also the saviours.

“This is to honour the non-Jews who stood up to save our Jewish brothers and sisters. It was an epic task that was often led to people giving their lives to help Jews.”