Zagórski Wacław & Zagórska Barbara (Reńska)

Zagórski, Wacław Reńska, Barbara During the occupation, Wacław Zagórski, a journalist, and his wife, Barbara Reńska, an actress in the Polish National Theater, were activists in the Polish Socialist Party (PPS) in Warsaw. The two were in close contact with members of the Bund both inside and outside the ghetto, and during the large-scale deportation in the summer of 1942, helped Jews escape from the ghetto, provided them with “Aryan” documents, and found them hiding places and jobs. In order to make more room in their small apartment for temporary refugees, they equipped a Jewish girl who was hiding with them with forged documents, and sent her to relatives of Zagórski’s. Among those who found temporary shelter with Zagórski and his wife were Anna Bajer Dratner and Irena Filozof, who escaped from the ghetto in 1942. After equipping Bajer with forged documents, Zagórski and Reńska found her a job as headmistress of a clandestine high school in a provincial town, where she stayed under an assumed identity until the end of the war, after which she immigrated to Israel. In the summer of 1944, Zagórski took part in the Warsaw Uprising, as commander of a battalion that also comprised Jews. He showed special sensitivity to the problems of the Jewish fighters, fought against discrimination toward Jews, and defended them. After the suppression of the Warsaw Uprising, he brought food to a group of Jews who were hiding in the ruins of Warsaw, thanks to which they survived until the liberation. On November 6, 1973, Yad Vashem recognized Wacław Zagórski and Barbara Reńska as Righteous Among the Nations.