Today marks the 76th anniversary of the liberation of the KL Auschwitz, one of the German concentration and extermination camps set up on territory during WW2. On this day we honor the memory of all the victims of the Holocaust, one of the darkest pages of human history.

On the occasion of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day to Honour Poles who Saved Jews during World War II, we would like to invite all foreigners who are interested in the history of Poland to watch the screening of “Passports to Paraguay” in English.

The film presents events concerning the participation of Polish diplomacy in rescuing Jews during World War II and forgotten Polish-Jewish cooperation against Nazi Germany. In 1942 – 1943, an informal group of Polish diplomats and activists of Jewish organizations worked together to obtain passports of South American countries for Jewish people imprisoned in ghettos by the Nazi German occupants of Poland and other European countries.

Thanks to these documents, many Jews avoided deportation to German death camps. The holders of such passports were sent to internment camps in Germany (Tittmoning, Liebenau, Bölsenberg) and to occupied France (Vittel) instead. Unfortunately, not many of the people saved thanks to the Polish diplomats survived the war and it is often the case that families of the survivors only now find out to whom their relatives owed their lives.

The secret group working at the Polish legation in Bern included: Aleksander Ładoś, Konstanty Rokicki, Stefan Jan Ryniewicz, Juliusz Kühl and on the part of Jewish organizations – Adolf H. Silberschein and Chaim Eiss.