The Underground movement in Poland began spontaneously and regionally as soon as the German occupation began. Polish officers and soldiers who had not been put in prisoner-of-war camps buried their uniforms and their arms, then met secretly in their neighbourhoods
 to plan resistance.
            Cells were composed of men and women from established political parties, from former army units or simply from their home districts. Within a few months, all of these small units, excluding the Commu-nists on the extreme left and the fascists on the extreme right, united under one command. The military arm was called the Home Army-the AK (Armia Krajowa)-one facet of what became in reality an under-ground state.
 Resistance was not new to Poles. For over a century and a half, their country had been partitioned and occupied by the Germans, the Russians and the Austrians. But Poles had never accepted foreign rule, resisting, regardless of the cost. They resisted again, but no one at first expected the perversions and savagery that would be directed against the entire population.
           Nor was it immediately apparent that this time Germany was deter-mined to carry out the unprecedented biological destruction of entire nations, most notably the Jews. Even in the context of daily terror, it was not long before the special brutality directed against the Jews was noted. Reports appeared both in the Polish Underground press and in communiques to the West.
           After the death sentence was decreed for anyone helping Jews, Poles were exhorted in clandestine publications to defy this "law", but initially, no general strategy to do so was developed.
           By the summer of 1942, about a million of the Jews in Poland were dead. They had died of disease, starvation and random massacres, but after the German entry into the Soviet zone, they were systematically killed in mass executions.
           For a long time, the leading members of the Jewish community and most of the Jewish population believed that their only hope lay in obey-ing German edicts until liberated by the Allies. It was hard to believe that the Germans planned the murder of an entire nation. The Germans kept their hopes alive with constant reassurances that those being de-ported were only being "resettled", and that once the required quota for resettlement was met, further deportations would stop.
           To reinforce their belief that they were only being resettled, Jews being transported were given extra rations of food and they were al-lowed to pack some belongings. The station at Treblinka was built complete with rest rooms and "Arrival" and "Departure" schedules. There were no departures. To further support this fiction, the Germans forced those who had been deported to write cards and letters describing their new and happy life in agrarian communities in the east.
          But by 1941, there was little doubt among the leaders of the Polish Underground and the younger members of the Jewish Underground that the Germans planned nothing less than the extermination of the Jewish people.
          That help to Jews had to be co-ordinated, organized and supported on a larger scale occurred seemingly at once and spontaneously to a number of Polish resisters. They realized that the support of personal friends, or unplanned and unsupported help of strangers, was far from enough. But more help would not be easy. By this time, the Polish population had been pauperized. Working for ridiculously low wages, limited to very small rations, and living in a police state, their ability to help was severely restricted.
          Relentless terror and anti-Semitic propaganda were also taking their toll. With an ideology that turned every civilized concept of morality upside down, the Germans not only threatened with death all those who defied them but also rewarded those who co-operated with them. The Gestapo had paid informers from all ethnic groups, including Volksdeutsche, Poles, Ukrainians, Lithuanians and Jews, on its payroll. Some were motivated by racist ideology, some by greed and still others by threats to themselves or their families.
          Organized crime, a kind of Mafia, also comprising elements from all ethnic groups, fed as it always does on the vulnerability of others. Then there were the marginal elements: the drunks, the punks and the moral and mental degenerates. All of them, collectively known as szmalcowniks-a derogatory term based on the Polish word szmalec meaning lard, were responsible for the deaths of many Jews and of their Polish protectors.
          The Jews had to be helped to escape from the ghettos and the cer-tain death that awaited them. But just being on the Aryan side was a crime punishable by death, and the szmalcowniks were poised to exploit  this situation for quick profits. Fighting this plague was one of Zegota's greatest challenges.
          The idea of unifying the diverse efforts to help Jews was primarily the result of the efforts of two women, Zofia Kossak and Wanda Krahelska-Filipowicz. Kossak was a well-known Catholic Writer, a member of the Catholic Front for Reborn Poland, and intensely involved on a personal level in assisting Jews. Krahelska-Filipowicz, who also personally sheltered Jews, was a Socialist activist of long standing and well connected to important members of the AK.
          While Kossak and Krahelska are generally credited with galvaniz-ing a united front in the struggle to help Jews, they and the people they drew together were already deeply involved in this work, either at party levels, in community associations, or as individuals. The aim now was to unite all these forces and link them with the considerable Under-ground resources of the AK, and, just as important, to get funds from the Government-in-Exile in London and other sources.
          Of vital importance also was to co-ordinate efforts with the Jewish Underground and thus establish a liaison with the Jewish community. This already existed at a party level, and contacts had already been made with the AK by the Jewish Fighting Organization (ZOB), a resist-ance group formed by the younger members of the Jewish Underground. Some of the Jewish leaders were already living on the Aryan side and the two most prominent, Dr Adolf Berman and Dr Leon Feiner, were invited to join in the first discussions of the Konrad Zegota Committee in Warsaw.
          Who was Konrad Zegota? There was no such person. In the con-spiratorial life of the Polish Underground, virtually everything had a code name-a cryptonym-and the Council for Aid to Jews was no ex-ception. Clearly, no conversations about anything to do with Jews could be risked, and "Zegota" was used not only in discussions, but on all documents, receipts, and memos. In time, "Zegota" came to signify all activities involving help to Jews.
          The first slate of officers of Zegota included Adolf Berman of the The Zionist Poale Zion party as secretary; Leon Feiner of the Bund as vice-president (and later president); Julian Grobelny of the Polish Socialist Party as president; Tadeusz Rek of the Peasant Party as his deputy; Ferdynand Arczynski of the Democratic Party as treasurer; and Wladyslaw Bartoszewski and Witold Bienkowski of the Catholic Front for Reborn Poland as liaison directors.
          Zegota immediately set out to identify the most serious problems in rescue activities, to set up an over-all plan of action, and to recruit the people to implement it. Since all of the members were already in the Underground and active in helping Jews, they brought to Zegota their conspiratorial experience as well as their many contacts and skills.
          The Council was divided into sections dealing with clearly identifi-able needs: Legalization, Housing, Financial, Child Welfare, Medi-cal, Clothing, Propaganda, and anti-szmalcownik activities. From its Warsaw base, the Zegota network expanded to include relief organiza-tions in Cracow, Lvov, Zamosc, Lublin and the countryside.
          The main links with the Polish Underground were through Aleksander Kaminski and Henryk Wolinski, both of the AK.. Kaminski was editor of the Biuletyn Informacyjny (BI), the most widely read Underground newspaper. The BI had correspondents in practically every part of Poland, some "foreign correspondents" in other occupied countries including Germany, and most important, a permanent corre-spondent in the Warsaw Ghetto.
          Wolinski was head of the Jewish Section of the Underground Bu-reau of Information and Propaganda. He was the principal AK contact for Arie Wilner, the Jewish liaison of ZOB, and later for the Jewish leaders in Zegota as well. Also noteworthy was Witold Bienkowski, a representative of the Delegatura (the Home Delegation of the Govern-ment-in-Exile). Bienkowski had argued passionately and convincingly that the AK was already equipped with the essentials of conspiratorial activities and should put its resources at the disposal of Zegota.

The Founders.

          Wanda Krahelska-Filipowicz, (1886-1968), was not new to Under-ground resistance activities. In 1906, when Poland was still partitioned among Russia, Germany and Austria, she took part in a bombing attack on the Russian Governor-General of Warsaw, Georgyi Skallon. The wife of a former ambassador to the United States, an editor of the art magazine Arkady, and a Socialist activist of long standing, she knew many people in the Underground, including members of the Delegatura and the AK.
          She used her influence to persuade both of them of the importance of setting up a central organization to help Jews, and to back it up with significant funding. Using the code name  "Alicja", she had been in the Underground from the start and had begun hiding Jews in her own home early during the occupation. Among them was the widow of the Jewish historian Szymon Aszkenazy.
          Zofia Kossak was, by comparison, a very conservative nationalist and a devout Roman Catholic. A well-known writer, she was a political opponent of most Jewish groups before the war and consequently was considered quite anti-Semitic. An ardent patriot, Kossak joined the re-sistance at the very beginning of the occupation and was soon on the Gestapo's most-wanted list.
          She changed her name almost as often as she changed addresses. In the Underground, she used the cryptonym "Weronika". Despite al-ready being a target of an intensive Gestapo manhunt, she exposed her-self to the added danger of helping Jews - influencing her children to do the same. Her motivation was moral, humanitarian and patriotic. She regarded the German crimes as an offence against man and God, and their policies an affront to the ideals she espoused for an independent Poland.
          In the summer of 1942, when the liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto began, Kossak published a leaflet entitled Protest, which was printed in 5,000 copies. In it, she exhorted Poles, specifically those who might have felt antipathy towards Jews before the war, to come to their assist-ance. After the war, she stated, Poles and Jews could resume their political and ideological battles. Now, the only issue that mattered was moral. "Whoever remains silent in the face of murder becomes an ac-complice of the murder", she wrote, "He who does not condemn, con-dones".
          She despised hypocrisy and demanded of others no more than what she herself was doing. Her scathing attacks on the indifference of the West were also directed against the silence of western Jewry. She stressed that coming to the aid of the most persecuted people in history is an intrinsic part of Polish resistance to Germany, and condemned Catholics who professed their love of God but hated their neighbours.
          The first chairman of Zegota was Julian Grobelny, a member of the Polish Socialist Party. Born in 1893, Grobelny had fought for Polish independence and social justice, participating in the Silesian Uprisings when Poland was still partitioned, and leading strikes and street demonstrations. After independence in 1918, he served on the Lodz city council and continued his social welfare activism. In the 1930s, he contracted tuberculosis and retired to the country, where he and his wife operated a small farm. During his convalescence, he tirelessly organ-ized help for agricultural workers who were unemployed in the winter. When war broke out, Grobelny immediately joined the resistance, re-suming his old code name from the days of the Silesian insurrections-"Trojan".
          Zegota's deputy chairman was Tadeusz Rek, born in 1906 into a peasant family. He became involved at an early age in politics as a member of the Peasant Party. He earned a law degree at the University of Warsaw and backed his social activism with his work as a writer and editor on many progressive journals. He was arrested in June 1940, sent to Pawiak Prison and then to Auschwitz. Released in November 1941, Rek, code named "Rozycki", returned immediately to his work in the Underground press. He was soon recruited by Zegota.
          The treasurer of Zegota was Ferdynand Arczynski, cryptonym "Marek", a member of the Democratic Party and former editor of the Polish Daily in Cracow. Born in 1900, Arczynski was also a veteran of the Silesian Uprisings. He was tireless in his activities for Zegota, serving as treasurer, head of the Legalization Section, liaison with branches of Zegota in Cracow, Lvov and Lublin, and an unofficial, but successful, recruiting officer.
          Representing the Catholic Front for Reborn Poland and heading the large and difficult Liaison Section were Ignacy Barski, ("Jozef") a lawyer, and the very young Wladyslaw Bartoszewski ("Ludwik"). Barski personally undertook dangerous delivery missions to outlying areas such as Lvov and Lublin while Bartoszewski -who at 21 had already endured 15 months in Auschwitz-directed the network of cou-riers. Most of the couriers were very young women, many of whom were caught, tortured, sent to concentration camps or killed in the course of their missions. None ever betrayed the organization.

The Jewish Representatives.

          The Jewish Underground had also organized relief and rescue ef-forts. Contact between Poles and Jews was maintained from the start of the occupation between people who had professional, political or social contacts before the war. The raising of the ghetto walls and then the sealing of the ghetto made the contacts more difficult. But they were never broken.
          A Jewish socialist party, called the Bund, and Polish socialist parties, had maintained their links; the Jewish communists kept contact with their counterparts on the Polish side; the other parties, ranging from the Zionist right and left and assorted centre and right parties established contact through their various professional pre-war associa-tions. Youth groups, notably the Scouts, were another very important link.
          In 1942, Dr Adolf Berman, code-named "Borowski", was a mem-ber of a left-wing Zionist party and a director of CENTOS, a Jewish charitable organization dedicated to the care of children in the ghetto. After the formation of the Jewish National Committee that united six Zionist parties, it was decided that Berman should get out of the ghetto and concentrate on establishing Polish contacts to help Jews escape from the ghetto, and then survive on the Aryan side.
          At the same time, Leon Feiner-code named "Mikolai"- a lawyer and a leading member of the largest Jewish political party, the Bund, left the ghetto with the same objectives as those of Berman. Through his long association with Polish socialists, Feiner made contact not only with the AK but with members of the Underground in the Delegatura, representing in Poland the Government-in-exile.  Feiner, who looked very much like a typical "Polish country squire" and armed with excel-lent forgeries bearing a Polish Catholic identity, was able to move around Warsaw with relative ease.
          Zegota and the two Jewish groups formed a natural alliance. Both played an extremely active and important role in Zegota and brought to the organization workers from the Jewish Underground.
          Zegota created "an organic bond between the Jewish and Polish action of relief for Jews" wrote Adolf Berman. In the most heavily policed, yet totally lawless, country in occupied Europe, Polish men and women risked torture and death to shield others; while Jewish men and women, themselves rescued, gave up their small measure of safety to go out again for those still trapped.
          In October 1942 the Delegatura's official newspaper, Rzeczpospolita Polska, published the following announcement:

We have been asked to make it publicly known that the initiatives of a number of social organizations from Catholic and Democratic quar-ters has led to the organization of the Civic Assistance Committee, which will provide relief to Jewish people suffering from the results of bestial German persecution. As far as means and opportunities allow, taking into account the living conditions in an occupied country, the Committee will try to bring relief to the victims of Nazi outrages.

          This was the only public notice of the birth of Zegota. This announce-ment, revealing nothing except the existence of such a committee, was published at considerable risk. Had this information fallen into Ger-man hands, the Gestapo would have arrested and tortured as many people as required to uncover and break the organization.
          The idea of Zegota came into being because of individual humani-tarian impulses, but its realization would not have been possible with-out an extensive network.. Personalities, and they were without excep-tion very strong personalities, were surrendered to principles. Indi-viduals submitted to the collective, reaching out to expand the network horizontally. What little hierarchy there was, existed only to demand obedience to the discipline of the conspiracy. Most of all, the people in Zegota were not just idealists but activists, and activists are, by nature, people who know people.
          As mentioned earlier, Wanda Krahelska-Filipowicz was well connected to both military and political leaders of the Underground; Aleksander Kaminski had his contacts in the ghetto because of his pre-war activities as leader of the Section of Minority Groups in the Polish Scouts Union; Hemyk Wolinski, a lawyer who headed the Jewish Section of the Delegatura, had scores of Jewish friends and colleagues from pre-war days and in the Polish Bar Association; and Zofia Kossak was to prove invaluable in locating homes for women and children because of her close ties to the Catholic clergy as well as to the upper classes, especially the landed gentry. Irena Sendlerowa, one of their first recruits, was an administrator in the Warsaw Welfare Depart-ment, who already had an established wide network among medical and social workers.
          The Bund, represented by Leon Feiner had long-standing contacts with Polish socialists, and Adolf Berman had extensive professional contacts -- he was a noted psychologist -- with Poles and with ghetto welfare workers in CENTOS. According to Berman, "The Jewish National Committee (a coalition of Zionist parties) had more than 100 cells involved in the relief and rescue of Jews, the majority of which were made up of Poles. Moreover... (in) the Bund.. the active work-ers were members of the Bund and Poles... first and foremost Polish Socialists.”
          As we look at the membership of Zegota we see the same pattern throughout-social and political activists with a wide circle of friends and colleagues. Even the youngest members, Bartoszewski, 21, and couriers Maria Tomaszewska and Wanda Muszynska, 18 and 17, respectively, had a network either as students or as members of the Scout Association. Add to these the Writers' Union, the Underground Journalists Association, the Democratic Doctors' Committee, and many others such as the railway, tramway and sanitation department work-ers' organizations that established contacts with Jewish friends either in the ghetto or in hiding, and Zegota had a good base for building an extensive network. Every one of these organizations was already ac-tively involved in aid to Jews.
          Zegota could not stop the murder campaign of the Nazi govern-ment. They could not intercept and help every Jew who escaped from the ghetto. They could not even guarantee the security of those Jews that did come under their wing. Nevertheless, they were able to rescue and succour thousands of people otherwise destined for death.
          Miriam Peleg, a Jewish courier now living in Israel, said in a filmed interview that Zegota not only helped materially, but also gave people hope. For the first time in years, those who came in contact with Zegota felt that at last they were not alone. This sentiment was perhaps expressed more dramatically by two escapees, Pawel Rogalski and his wife, who recalled that soon after they came out of the ghetto, they chanced upon a copy of Zofia Kossak's Protest. They can still recite from memory the words that gave them hope, and it was Zegota that provided them with the means to get them started with life on the Aryan side.
          Zegota's headquarters at 24 Zurawia Street was the home of a Polish Socialist, Eugenia Wasowska, who worked closely with the Bund. It also doubled as a temporary shelter. One of the refugees hidden at  24 Zurawia Street was Ignacy Samsonowicz, who later married Wasowska, one of many marriages between rescuer and rescued, and between colleagues in the resistance.
          24 Zurawia had "office hours" twice a week, when couriers could drop in to pick up or ask for documents or money, arrange for housing or medical help, get clothing, or arrange for food deliveries to Jews in hiding. They would also find out the date and time of meetings and transmit this information to the members. The office was administered by Janina Raabe and Zofia Rudnicka, a lawyer. Raabe, a friend of Zofia Kossak's, had studied book binding in Paris and was co-founder of the Democratic Party's Underground press.
          Raabe and Rudnicka looked after funds, meetings, and contacts for Jews with Poles. They prepared reports to be sent to London, and wrote a newsletter to Jews and those hiding them. There were frequent personnel changes as people were arrested, killed, or, warned of dan-ger, forced to lie low for a while. An incredibly large number of people from the AK, the Jewish Fighting Organization, and Zegota knew about Zurawia Street. Miraculously it was never raided, but there were some close calls.
          Tadeusz Rek once approached the house when he realized that he was being followed. Without missing a beat, he walked past number 24 and knocked on another door pretending that he was looking for a room to rent. When he emerged, the shadow was still with him. He turned down another street and met Leon Feiner on his way to the same meeting. Rek greeted him loudly and effusively, like a friend he hadn't seen for several years. Then, arm on his friend's shoulder, he guided him to a nearby cafe' for a stiff drink.
          Meetings were held frequently. Over the course of the years, Grobelny, Arczynski, Berman and Feiner never missed one, except when they were in jail. Rek attended all but a couple, and Bartoszewski and Bienkowski, who alternated attendance between them, never missed. This sense of responsibility and discipline is noted frequently in war memoirs. Even children in clandestine schools rarely missed classes, and complained whenever teaching was temporarily suspended for rea-sons of security.
          Since 24 Zurawia was on occasion under surveillance, other premises were available, including the homes of two seamstresses, an electrician, and various other members. Janina Bucholtz-Bukolska worked as a translator in a notary public's office during the war. In the midst of constant traffic, she allowed Basia Berman, Adolf Berman's wife, to keep and dispense her forged documents and money there to her "clients". Berman had what was, in effect, an office within an office.
          Perhaps the most unusual branch office was a fruit and vegetable kiosk operated by Ewa Brzuska, an old woman known to everybody as "Babcia" (Granny). Babcia hid Leon Feiner's papers and money under the sauerkraut and pickle barrels, and secreted underground books and pamphlets in various nooks and crannies. She always had sacks of potatoes or something ready to cover Jewish children who found them-selves running from the police. Two of those little smugglers now live in Canada.
          Julian Grobelny, Zegota's first chairman, was actively helping Jews before he joined Zegota. He headed an Underground cell composed mainly of Socialist friends of the Bund. His wife, Halina, worked with him accepting all the risks and responsibilities of their dangerous work.
          The Grobelny cell eventually had some 40 members, including Wlodzmierz Garlinski, director of a quarantine department on the Pub-lic Health Board. Nothing could be safer for Jews than to be under quarantine, and although this could only serve as a temporary respite, it gave Grobelny time to look for other quarters. The mother-daughter team of Drs Hanna and Zofia Kolodziejska, and some of their col-leagues, freely donated their medical skills, while Sister Makryna of the Mariawitow convent arranged housing.
          Grobelny's long involvement in labour unions also gave him an edge. He prevailed upon his contacts with railway workers to transport some of his charges out of the city. Since virtually every train was checked, this means of travel was particularly dangerous, requiring special precautions.
          When the Socialist party entered the discussions for the formation of Zegota, Grobelny was an invaluable asset, not only for his great organizational skills, but for his ability to enlist help. One of his re-cruits described him as a great humanist, but he was not a person who asked for help; rather, he delegated assignments. To help a Jew could cost you your life, he used to say, so for the same life, you might as well help several Jews.
          Zegota's policy was not to solicit help without revealing for whom it was intended and what the risks were. They agreed that it would be immoral to endanger another's life without consent. However, there  were a few instances when this was done-in the case of children and out of desperation.
          As chairman of Zegota, Grobelny brought the same qualities to the organization that he had used in his own cell. He expanded the net-work, organized the operations, and also played a personal role in many activities, especially those involving children.

Informing the West about German atrocities.

          The Jewish Underground was dependent entirely on the Poles for contact with the West. Were they served well?
Evaluating the Polish record, Israeli historian Walter Laqueur wrote that the Poles, "did what they could, usually at great risk and in diffi-cult conditions". He concluded that it was not the fault of the Poles that the Allies did not believe them, that the Polish Jews did not believe them, and that the Jews in the West were skeptical.
          It is hard to decide just where there was the most startling lack of interest, but the detachment of the American population is well illustrated by two American Jewish newspapers, The Synagogue and The Orthodox Union..  European Jews were mentioned just once be-tween December 1942 and March 1943.
          In July 1942, the Polish Director of Civil Resistance, Stefan Korbonski, began sending daily reports to London on the liquidation Aktions in the Warsaw Ghetto and the transports to Treblinka. The BBC suppressed the news for several months. Finally, after Korbonskl radioed inquir-ies about the silence, London replied, "Not all your telegrams are fit for publication."
          Many of these urgent reports and pleas for help were signed by the Jewish Underground, leading the Polish authorities to hope: "If the Polish reports from the homeland do not find credence with the Anglo-Saxon nations and are considered to be unreliable, they surely must believe the reports from the Jewish sources." Unfortunately, news from anywhere in Poland was not of great interest.
          On June 10, 1942, the Polish Prime Minister-in-exile, Wladyslaw Sikorski formally notified the Allied governments about the genocide, and by the end of 1942, the London Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a detailed report, revealing the full magnitude of the crime being committed against the Jewish people. This report along with several other documents was published by the Polish Government in a booklet entitled The Mass Extermination of Jews in German Occupied Poland.
          In May 1942, Leon Feiner sent a letter to the Government-in-Exile reporting on the mass exterminations and pleading for Allied interven-tion. In June 1942, the Polish Socialist Party sent an appeal to their counterparts in London. In August 1942, the Bund sent to their London representative, Szmul Zygelbojm, a long letter describing the German atrocities and listing the names of the Jewish communities destroyed. On January 13, 1943 a radiogram from the Jewish National Committee in Poland to the World Jewish Congress listed its demands and ended with these words, attributed to Arie Wilner of the ghetto fighting force. "Brothers! The remnants of the Jews in Poland live in the conviction that in the darkest hour of our history you have not given us assistance. Break this silence. This is our last appeal to you."
          The cables and couriers continued bringing word from the Jews in Poland to the outside world: Long letters, reports on the atrocities and on the work of Zegota, pleas for financial assistance, reports of the disbursement of funds, requests for ransom attempts by the West, and entry visas to safe countries. From Berman came the specific plea for the ransom of children. All messages were delivered. The only help received were funds delivered by Polish parachutists and distributed by Zegota.
          The best known of the Polish couriers who brought out detailed messages and pleas was Jan Karski. Before his momentous journey to England and the United States, Feiner and Berman had smuggled him into the ghetto, and also arranged for him to enter the Belzec death camp, posing as a Latvian guard, so that he could give an eye-witness report to the West. In 1942, he skied across the mountains to Hungary, then into France on a Hungarian passport. There the Polish Underground stepped in to take him across the Pyrenees to Spain. At that point, British Intelli-gence took over. Karskl faithfully reported on his meeting with Feiner and a Zionist leader.
          Karski personally informed Churchill and Roosevelt, British For-eign Secretary Anthony Eden and American Secretary of State Cordell Hull, Lord Selbourne and U.S. War Secretary Henry Stimson, Arch-bishop Spellman and Rabbi Stephen Wise, Justice Felix Frankfurter, R.G.Wells, Arthur Koestler, Dorothy Thompson and Walter Lippman, and many, many others.
          Karski's encounter with the Jewish leaders, and his eye-witness of the atrocities, had a profound effect on him, as did the indifference of the world's leaders. As Karski has often pointed out, it is the govern-ments and social and religious hierarchies that did not help. Individuals helped. Raul Wallenberg helped, but neutral Sweden continued selling steel to Germany-prolonging the war how long? The German offer to ransom Jews in Hungary was turned down, because the Allies would not trade with the enemy. Thousands of bombs fell on Europe, but none in defense of the Jews. British Air Vice-Marshall Sir Richard Harris said bombers could hit the industrial installations around Auschwitz, but the Allies perversely said they could not hit the rail lines leading to Auschwitz.
          The British Foreign Office was concerned about the "difficulty of disposing of any considerable number of Jews should they be released from enemy territory", while Benjamin Cohen, an advisor to Roosevelt said, "When you are in a dirty war, some will suffer more than others... things ought to have been different, but war is different, and we live in an imperfect world."
           Szmul Zygelbojm, whose wife and child perished in the ghetto, was the representative of the Bund to the Polish Government in London. He received Feiner's message with great emotion and was resolved to get help for his people. He killed himself when all his efforts proved fruit-less. His death, wrote Karski, was "one of the most frightening, the sharpest revelation of the extent to which the world has become cold and unfriendly, nations and individuals separated by immense gulfs of indif-ference, selfishness and convenience."
          Other communiques continued informing the West about the death camps; the transport of Jews from other parts of Europe; the names of camp commandants and particularly brutal underlings; reports about the use of humans for medical experimentation; the expanded use of gas chambers and crematoria and the numbers of victims; and reports about uprisings and other forms of Jewish resistance. Everything that was known in Poland was communicated to the West.
          Zegota appeals to the Allied governments was intensified during the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.  On May 3, l943, Zegota asked the people of Poland to follow the directive of the Government Delegate and come to the aid of Jews. On July 9, 1943, an appeal was sent to the government in London urging an international campaign for rescuing Jews. On August 4, 1943, there was an appeal to Poles for help, to-gether with another warning of the death penalty to traitors and black-mailers. In September 1943, still another appeal was issued to Poles to help Jews and to punish traitors by death.. Until the Warsaw Uprising in August of 1944, Zegota continued its work., ceased functioning during the Uprising, but it regrouped later, on a smaller scale in Milanow, a small town near War-saw. The first chairman, Grobelny, had been arrested. Under terrible conditions in prison, his health, already weakened by tuberculosis, dete-riorated. The organization managed to rescue him, but he had to retire to the country, unable to work any longer. In the last months of the occupation, Grobelny was replaced by Leon Feiner as chairman.
          The Polish rescuers, whether within Zegota or helping independ-ently, smuggled, forged, lied, endured torture and died, so that others might live. Concealing their true identities behind cryptonyms during the war, they sought no reward nor recognition when they could finally resume their true identities. Some faced new trials after the war when the Soviet Union clamped its iron rule over Poland. It is only now, after almost a half century, that Zegota, the most dangerous conspiracy in Europe, is attracting attention, and the Poles and Jews behind it are getting the recognition they deserve.