Lipiński Eryk

Lipiński Eryk Eryk Lipiński, an editor of the satirical-political weekly Szpilki, and famous Polish caricaturist, was known already before the war as a person with humanitarian views and as a staunch opponent of antisemitism. True to his reputation, Lipinski began helping Jews already at the start of the German occupation. When the Jews of Warsaw were interned in the ghetto, he took to entering the ghetto in order to help Jews, only some of which he knew. Among the Jews whom Lipiński helped were the photographer Nosanowicz. After helping him escape from the ghetto, Lipinski helped him find work in a photography studio on the Aryan side of the city. When Dr. Stanisław Rubinrot, Lipiński's friend, escaped from the ghetto, Lipiński looked after him, and obtained Aryan documents for him and a place to live in the Warsaw suburbs. From 1940-1943, Lipiński's apartment served as a hiding place for Jerzy Wint, the former producer of a popular, satirical radio show. For various periods, the apartment served as a hiding place for the three members of the Spirlein family, Krystyna Rutkowska, and the graphic artist, Olga Bidner, who managed, with Lipiński's help, to reach Częstochowa, where she was liberated. Despite the danger, Lipiński obtained Aryan documents for Lida Birstein, Ignacy Grycendler and for the artist, Jakub Bickels and his wife, and arranged for the latter to stay with his brother-in-law. On one of his forays into the ghetto, Lipiński was arrested, and imprisoned for four months in the infamous Mokótow prison. Even after the war, Lipiński continued his contacts with the remnants of the Jewish community in Poland and in 1980, set up a committee to preserve Jewish cemeteries and heritage in Poland, of which he was chairman. On April 16, 1991, Yad Vashem recognized Eryk Lipiński as Righteous Among the Nations. File No. 4891