The Aleksander Ładoś Group: The Role of the Polish Foreign Service in Rescuing Jews During World War II

https://doi.org/10.63189/GQEM6284

As usual in times of war, fear, and affliction, the individual human being had ceased to exist; only one thing counted: a valid passport.^[1]

The group comprised four Polish diplomats – Aleksander Ładoś, Stefan Ryniewicz, Konstanty Rokicki, and Dr. Juliusz Kühl – and two members of Jewish organizations, Abraham Silberschein and Chaim Eiss. As it was led by Aleksander Ładoś, the Polish chargé d'affaires in the Swiss Confederation, the group became known as the Ładoś Group. This group was a joint Polish-Jewish effort, reflecting both the ethnic backgrounds of its members and the division of tasks: Polish diplomats were in charge of the production of documents, while the Jewish members identified individuals in need and arranged document delivery, often through intermediaries. The terms "Bern Group" or "Ładoś Group" narrow the activities of Polish diplomacy during World War II to the efforts of the Polish diplomatic mission led by Ładoś in Bern. Importantly, the diplomats acted in alignment with the directives of the Polish Foreign Ministry, in full cooperation with the broader objectives of the Polish diplomatic service during the war.

Those involved in rescuing Jews were unaware of the exact details of the operation; they only knew that, with unspecified "support" from the Polish Embassy in Bern, passports from neutral countries could be secured. Beyond the six core members of Ładoś's group, Stanisław Nahlik^[2] and Stanisław Jurkiewicz were also actively involved in this effort. Additionally, representatives on the Jewish side had partial awareness of the process: Issac Sternbuch, Chaim Eiss's successor after his death in 1943, as well as Abraham Silberschein's associates – Alfred Schwarzbaum, Nathan Schwalb, and Nathan Eck – who helped gather data on persons who needed rescuing. Historical knowledge about the group's full extent of activity remains incomplete, as counterparts in Belgium, the Netherlands, and France are still unidentified.^[3] A third, anonymous circle consisted of individuals who provided the financial resources and ensured the distribution and concealment of the documents. These were courageous members of the Jewish community and resistance movements from countries under Nazi occupation, as well as Polish diplomats, many of whom paid the ultimate price for their bravery. The fourth and final circle comprised the Jews who were rescued.

The Ładoś Group developed a system for issuing false passports, providing Jews with a vital lifeline and hope for rescue. They utilized legitimate diplomatic channels to obtain the necessary documents. Initially, Paraguayan passports were sold to individuals, but by late 1942–1943, they were being produced in larger quantities. As the operation expanded after 1943, Rudolf Hügli, Paraguay's honorary consul, agreed to sell the passports at a reduced flat rate. Funds sourced from the Polish government-in-exile in London and payments from those purchasing the documents were then used to bribe diplomats in the issuing countries. The actions of the Ładoś Group members themselves remain ethically clear, as none of them profited from the production or trade of South American passports. However, there is no doubt that the practice of intermediaries placing Jews on waiting lists for passports – at exorbitant fees, far exceeding the cost of the blank documents – was morally troubling.

The process of producing these passports involved purchasing blanks from a vendor – a diplomat from a South American country. The market price for a passport was around 500 Swiss francs, a considerable sum at the time.^[4] The vendor dictated the issuance dates of these passports, carefully considering potential actions by the Swiss police. The blanks often included not only the bearer's information but also details of family members. Consul Konstanty Rokicki, skilled in document forgery since he had falsified his own birth certificate to join the Polish Legions during World War I, handled most of the forgery work. Completed passports were distributed to Jewish organizations that requested them from the Ładoś Group.

A strict ban on removing these passports from Switzerland was enforced to prevent a large influx of holders and protect the operation from exposure. Instead, passport holders received notarized copies, authenticated by Rudolf Hügli, Paraguay's honorary consul and a Swiss notary. These authenticated copies were intended for travel not outside German-occupied territories but to internment camps for foreigners (Internierungslager). Thus, the documents used were not forgeries but authenticated public records. The issuing state was not at risk either, as the passports used were not fraudulent.

Aleksander Ładoś did not inform the Polish government-in-exile in London about the procedures used by the group he led – this decision reflected his loyalty to the Polish state, as he would personally assume full responsibility if the operation were compromised. The Polish government only became aware of these activities through Jewish contacts in April 1943, during the outbreak of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. At that point, the government requested the suspension of the operation due to the detection of these activities and the revocation of exequatur for consuls involved in selling passport blanks.^[5] In response, Ładoś requested that the Paraguayan government confirm the validity of passports whose certified copies were held by persons in internment camps. The Polish Foreign Minister intervened in December 1943, before Ładoś received a letter dated May 19, 1943, which did not reach him until early 1944. Upon receiving the Foreign Ministry’s letter, Ładoś reiterated his request for intervention with the governments of the passport-issuing countries.^[6]

Once the German authorities became aware of the Ładoś Group's activities, the Polish Foreign Ministry launched a comprehensive effort to secure recognition of these passports as authentic by South American countries. In a circular dated December 21, 1943, Foreign Minister Tadeusz Romer ordered "immediate and energetic steps [...] so that all such passports, issued solely for humanitarian purposes to save people from certain death and imposing no obligations on the countries concerned after the war, are recognized for the duration of the war as valid."^[7] Subsequent instructions from the Foreign Ministry were directed to Ambassador Jan Ciechanowski, urging him to "support the cause at the State Department and prompt the issuance of instructions to American deputies in Latin America." A similar directive was issued to Ambassador Kazimierz Papée, instructing him to "request the Secretariat of State to issue instructions to the nuncios in Latin America to intervene on humanitarian grounds with the governments concerned."^[8]

In a memo dated June 19, 1944, the Ministry summarized its efforts:

The Ministry spares no effort to bring about an effective action that could protect Jews supplied with Latin American courtesy passports from deportation to Poland and extermination. This action is hampered by the possession of only incomplete data as to the number of people affected and the number of passports of each American republic. Already in March of this year, the Ministry asked Jewish organizations in Switzerland to provide as complete data as possible, which, however, has not yet arrived.^[9]

The delays on the part of Paraguayan authorities and German officials unfortunately resulted in the deaths of some passport holders.

The group collaborated with at least two Jewish organizations: the World Jewish Congress and Agudat Israel. Initially, these documents served to rescue Polish citizens of Jewish nationality; later, Jews from German-occupied Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Slovakia, and Italy were also saved, as well as Jews from Germany and Austria who had been stripped of their citizenship. In some cases, Jews from other countries were also included. The purpose of obtaining a citizenship certificate was to give Jews a chance to survive the war and the Holocaust as "foreigners" interned in camps, where they might later be eligible for exchange of prisoners or allowed to leave occupied territories. This measure aimed to protect them from deportation to extermination camps.^[10]

Paraguayan documents accounted for nearly half of the forgeries produced personally by Consul Rokicki and, according to one testimony, by Stefan Ryniewicz. These Paraguayan passports were exclusively produced by the Ładoś Group. Peruvian passports were prepared by that country's consul, while Haitian passports were arranged through Ładoś's personal contacts with a Haitian MP. According to Abraham Silberschein, by early 1944, approximately 10,000 people held passports obtained through the Ładoś Group.^[11] According to the estimates of Jakub Kumoch and co-authors of the extremely valuable publication Ładoś List,

Adding together all the documents on the assumption that there were 1,006 Paraguayan passports and 733 Honduran ones gives a minimum number of documents issued by the Ładoś group as between 3,800 and 5,200. If it is assumed that each of these documents included 2.2 people (the average multiplier for the Paraguayan and Honduran passports), then one can estimate the minimum number of people accounted for therein at 8,300 and the maximum at 11,400. This would go a long way to confirming the estimates that Abraham Silberschein presented in January 1944, which noted 10,000 individuals.^[12]

Through Polish diplomatic channels, a dispatch signed by Yitzhak Sternbuch detailing the ongoing liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto and the murder of approximately 100,000 of its inhabitants was sent to the United States on September 3, 1942.^[13] Meanwhile, the Polish mission in Bern facilitated communications between Jewish organizations in the U.S. regarding efforts to raise funds to ransom Jews. On November 23, 1944, Polish Ambassador to Washington Jan Ciechanowski, through Sylwin Strakacz, forwarded to the Union of Orthodox Rabbis in New York another dispatch from Sternbuch, sent via the Polish Embassy in Bern – the initiator of discussions with Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler.^[14]

Similar efforts aimed at saving Jews were undertaken by the Polish consul in Istanbul, Wojciech Rychlewicz. His work involved issuing false documents that certified individuals as Roman Catholic, enabling them to travel to Palestine or South American countries.^[15]

Another example of the Polish government's efforts to save Jews during World War II is the work of Henryk Sławik, a delegate of the Minister of Labor of the Polish Government in London. Sławik helped rescue Jewish children by working alongside Dr. József Antall and, notably, Primate Cardinal Jusztinián Serédi, to establish an orphanage in Vác near Budapest, officially called the Polish Officers' Orphans' Home. It is estimated that Sławik saved the lives of nearly 30,000 Polish refugees, including around 5,000 Jews. After the German occupation of Hungary in July 1944, he was arrested, taking full responsibility during the investigation and refusing to reveal his connection with Antall. He was executed on August 23 in the German concentration camp Gusen I – Mauthausen.^[16]

The Ładoś Group defied the oppressive German totalitarianism, demonstrating the heroism and unwavering integrity of Polish diplomats while bridging divides and overcoming animosity between Poles and Jews. The rescue of thousands from the Holocaust would not have been possible without this close cooperation between Poles and Jews.

The Sejm of the Republic of Poland designated 2021 as the Year of the Ładoś Group,^[17] honoring Ładoś and his group members with a well-deserved place of recognition in Poland.^[18] However, to this day, Ładoś has not been awarded the title "Righteous Among the Nations" by the Yad Vashem Institute.

^[1] Remarque, 2014, p. 4.

^[2] Stanisław Edward Nahlik returned to communist Poland after World War II, taking a position as a professor at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow and later heading the Department of Law of Nations. He played a significant role as one of the drafters of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties and served as a representative of the Polish People's Republic at the United Nations Codification Conferences in Vienna. Renowned for his expertise in public international law, he was also a key advocate for the revindication of Polish cultural property seized by Germany. However, his career is marred by his role as a communist informer and collaborator with the totalitarian security service of communist Poland. Cf. Franaszek, 2012, pp. 79–83.

^[3] Kumoch, 2021, pp. 22–23.

^[4] Czajka, Dworski and Świderski, 2023, p. 36.

^[5] Letter from the Deputy Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Bern deputation regarding efforts to obtain South American passports to aid in the rescue of Jews, May 19, 1943. In Długołęcki, 2021, pp. 653–654.

^[6] Letter from Aleksander Ładoś describing the challenges in the operation of issuing South American passports to Polish Jews, January 4, 1944; AAN, Berne Embassy, sign. 404.

^[7] Circular from the Foreign Minister regarding the use of South American passports, December 21, 1943. In Długołęcki, 2021, pp. 790–791.

^[8] Circular from the Foreign Minister regarding the deportation of South American passport holders, April 11, 1944. In ibid., pp. 864–865.

^[9] Memo from the Foreign Ministry on obtaining South American passports for Jewish individuals, June 19, 1944. In ibid., pp. 917–920.

^[10] Kumoch, 2021, p. 16.

^[11] Ibid., p. 41.

^[12] Ibid., pp. 44–45.

^[13] Rosenthal, 1979, p. 55.

^[14] Drywa, 2020, pp. 227–236.

^[15] Beck, 2020.

^[16] Cf. Łubczyk, 2019.

^[17] Resolution of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland on establishing 2021 as the Year of the Ładoś Group, January 21, 2021 (Monitor Polski of 2021, item 110).

^[18] Despite his significant efforts, Aleksander Ładoś was not honored during his lifetime. Following World War II, Ładoś remained in exile and only returned to Poland in 1960; he passed away in 1963. The actions of the Ładoś Group remained largely unknown to both the Polish and international public until the early 21^st century.

References

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