Never again! In memory of the Polish Righteous Among the Nations who, during the inhuman times of the Holocaust in 1939–1945, saving their neighbours—the Jews—sacrificed their own lives and those of their loved ones—these are the words on a commemorative plaque unveiled on 1 September 2015 in Bolesławiec, in the municipal gardens on Kubika Street. The plaque was ceremonially unveiled by Bolesławiec Mayor Piotr Roman and Mr Alfred Kwarciak, who was honoured with the Righteous Among the Nations medal and the title of honorary citizen of Israel.
Alfred Kwarciak is a resident of Bolesławiec. During the Holocaust, together with his parents and siblings, he helped 15 escapees from the ghetto in Dubno, Volhynia. On 22 February 1989, the Yad Vashem Institute awarded Piotr and Maria Kwarciak, as well as their three sons: Anatoliusz, Alfred and Feliks, the titles of Righteous Among the Nations.
The plaque-unveiling ceremony was preceded by Alfred Kwarciak’s deeply moving account, in which he recalled the story of the rescue of Jews from the city of Dubno and the fate of his family, who risked their lives during the Second World War by hiding Jewish fugitives in a camouflaged room beneath a cowshed.
Students, representatives of local governments, organisations and associations attended the ceremony. Among the guests of honour were Alfred Kwarciak’s family and Janina Urszula Piestrak-Babijczuk, whose mother was honoured with the title of Righteous Among the Nations.
Righteous Among the Nations is Israel’s highest civilian honour, awarded by the Yad Vashem Institute for the Remembrance of the Martyrs and Heroes of the Holocaust in Jerusalem. It is awarded to people of non-Jewish origin who, during the Second World War and the Holocaust, saved Jews from extermination, thereby risking their own lives and those of their families. Although in Poland hiding or helping Jews was punishable by death, Poles make up the largest group of Righteous Among the Nations.
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