Rek Tadeusz & Wanda

Rek, Tadeusz Rek, Wanda Before the war, the jurist Tadeusz Rek was a leading activist in the People’s Party (Stronnictwo Ludowe), and during the occupation was named the Party’s representative to Zegota, the Council for Aid to Jews. In this function, Rek displayed initiative and practical skill in helping Jews who had been interned in the Warsaw ghetto. As time passed, he expanded his assistance activities to fugitives on the Aryan side, for whom he arranged housing and regular economic support as his wife Wanda, his partner in these actions, provided advice and practical aid. As the uprising in the Warsaw ghetto drew near, Rek presented the “Delegatura” (Delegatura Rzadu na Kraj), the Delegate’s Office of the Polish government-in-exile operating in Poland, with a demand from the Jewish Fighting Organization (ZOB, Zydowska Organizacja Bojowa) for assistance in the form of weapons and equipment, and called for action against denunciations and extortion. Rek’s name has appeared in all publications concerning organized assistance to Jews in occupied Poland, and his photograph hangs in the “Jewish block” (Block 27) in Auschwitz. On October 22, 1981, Yad Vashem recognized Tadeusz Rek and his wife Wanda as Righteous Among the Nations.