“Forgotten Holocaust” Remembered at New York’s Pulaski Parade

New York, N.Y. .. “Forgotten Holocaust – Poles Under German Occupation 1939 – 1944” was a book written by Richard C. Lukas and published some twenty-five years ago. After it came to prominence, a more complete and accurate perspective of Holocaust history began to emerge.

Christians whose families endured the terror and brutality of those barbaric years slowly came to understand they were part of that history. The true magnitude of the crimes Hitler and his Nazis committed during the German occupation of Poland needed to be revealed and they felt a personal sense of obligation to include their experiences in this history. Shown marching in the Pulaski Parade are the “Children of Polish Christian Holocaust Survivors,” a recently formed unit of the Polish American Congress.

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Leading the Congress group is Patricia Kolodziejek (wearing sash) whose father was one of the first prisoners the Germans sent to Auschwitz. Wladyslaw (Walter) Kolodziejek arrived at the death camp in August, 1940, barely two months after the Germans began operations there. He was among the first inmates on whom the Germans conducted their inhumane medical experiments. Six million Polish citizens were killed in World War II and the Holocaust – three million Jews and three million Christians. Also marching with Ms. Kolodziejek and holding the banner are: (from left): Paul Kaminski, Dorothy Ogden, (Ms. Kolodziejek), Wanda Derengowski and Benedict Kosmider.