Godlewski Marceli

Godlewski, Dr. Rev. Marceli The original territory of the Warsaw Ghetto included two Catholic churches: the Holy Virgin on Leszno Street and the All Saints on Grzybowski Square. The first one was under the jurisdiction of the priest Puder, who aided many Jews and even let them dig a tunnel to the Aryan side from under the church floor. The second church was in the care of Dr. Rev. Marceli Godlewski. He was then 74 and had been vocally anti-Semitic most of his life in his work as both a priest and a publicist. When he found himself working within the ghetto, however, as one of his Jewish beneficiaries testified, “He said he had been wrong all his life, not having known any Jews personally. Now that he had met us up close, he turned into a true friend.” The parish buildings close to the church had been repopulated by Jewish families, about 100 people altogether. Approximately half of them were converts to Catholicism who were not well received by the other ghetto prisoners. In the eyes of the regime, however, they were the same as Jews and were treated accordingly. Godlewski took them into his fold, and then extended the same care to their Jewish neighbors, who included the Zamenhofs, relations of Ludwik Zamenhof (the creator of Esperanto), the Zilbers, and many others. Godlewski used the space of the church to create, with the support of the Caritas charitable organization and the social department of the Judenrat (Jewish council), a soup kitchen that served soup and bread daily to the ghetto inmates, primarily the children. He also offered spiritual guidance and support indiscriminately, regardless of religious denomination, and was involved in creating the tunnel under the church on Leszno Street, which served for smuggling goods into and people out of the ghetto. Many prisoners believed and later testified that he had been instrumental in their survival. On July 14, 2009, Yad Vashem recognized Marceli Godlewski as Righteous Among the Nations.