THE HOLOCAUST AND THE UNITED NATIONS OUTREACH PROGRAMME

56
The Holocaust and the United Nations Outreach Programme
German authorities began tighter scrutiny of rations, the Yoors
group joined French partisans in raiding ration distribution
posts. They also brought the partisans news heard on BBC
radio broadcasts. 13
Another way of resisting the Nazis was through efforts to save the
lives of children by hiding them. Alfreda Markowska, a Polish Romani
woman, was born in 1926 in a caravan in Stanisławow, Poland. 14
As the President of Poland recounted in 2006:
In 1941, her family was murdered and she was taken captive...
After her escape from prison, she and her husband resided first
in the Lublin ghetto, and later in Łódź and Bełżec. She escaped
from each of these places, saving Jewish and Romani children.
Upon receiving the news of yet another pogrom, she would visit
execution sites in search for surviving children. She then transported
the survivors to her “base” and procured false papers
for them. Some of them she gave back to their … guardians,
others she placed in the care of [Romani] families or brought
up herself. 15
Mrs. Markowska saved nearly 50 Jewish and Romani children over the
course of the war. On 17 October 2006, the President of the Republic
of Poland awarded Alfreda Markowska a Commander’s Cross with Star
of the Order of Polonia Restituta for heroism and exceptional courage,
and for outstanding merit in saving human life. 16 Her life has been
marked by her courage to care and by her resistance under seemingly
insurmountable odds. Alfreda Markowska is one of our true heroes
— she showed true heroism by saving her own life in the face of the
murder of her family and then going on to save the lives of others.
When we start to look for examples of rescuers in the footnotes of history,
and in the hundreds of oral and video testimonies of Sinti and
Roma survivors, there are other stories of compassion and heroic acts.
Take for example those Sinti and Roma who were part of the resistance
movement such as Amilcare Debar, who worked with the Italian
communist resistance group Garibaldi Brigade in reconnaissance
activities — scouting and delivering messages, procuring weapons