Provisional Committee for Aid to Jews

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This article is part of the series: Polish Secret State History of Poland

The Provisional Committee for Aid to Jews (Polish: Tymczasowy Komitet Pomocy Żydom) was founded on September 27, 1942, by Zofia Kossak-Szczucka and Wanda Krahelska-Filipowicz. The founding body was made up of Polish democratic Catholic activists. It was the direct predecessor to Żegota, the underground Council for Aid to Jews (Rada Pomocy Żydom).

The Provisional Committee was helping out 180 persons already within a short period following its creation. It was financed in part by the Department of Social Services (Departament Opieki Społecznej) and the Department of Internal Affairs (Departament Spraw Wewnętrznych) of the Polish Government in Exile.

TKPŻ might have been the first formal institution in the modern history of Poland run in the atmosphere of mutual trust by Polish and Jewish organizations of a broad political and socio-economic spectrum. One of its vice-presidents was a member of Bund, Leon Feiner. Its secretary was Adolf Berman representing Zionist organizations.

One of the more well-known Polish members of TKPŻ was professor Władysław Bartoszewski, co-founder of Żegota, who later served as Poland's Minister of Foreign Affairs for most of 1995. Among other members were: Anna Maria Lasocka, wife of the President of the Polish Landowners Association, and social-democrat, Czesława Wojeńska.

The Provisional Committee was composed of the Polish underground organizations willing to recognize the authority of the Government in Exile. That is why it did not include the communist Polish Workers Party (PPR), which provided similar aid to Jews on its own. The successor to the Provisional Committee for Aid to Jews was Żegota, founded in December 1942.