Pamięć o papierosiarzach z placu Trzech Krzyży w Warszawie

Mali żydowscy bohaterowie czasów drugiej wojny światowej, którzy przeżyli dzięki swojej odwadze, pomysłowości i solidarności

Zrealizowaliśmy pierwszą część projektu przybliżenia historii żydowskich papierosiarzy z placu Trzech Krzyży – młodych uciekinierów z getta warszawskiego, którzy zwyciężyli wroga – przeżyli!

Na placu Trzech Krzyży 4/6 w Warszawie, na zewnętrznej elewacji budynku Instytutu Głuchoniemych, 10 października 2021 roku, odsłonięta została tablica upamiętniająca dzielne dzieci! Już zawsze będzie ona przypominała historię papierosiarzy mieszkańcom Warszawy, a także turystom z Polski i ze świata.

Dziękujemy wszystkim, którzy wsparli nas i pomogli w realizacji pierwszego etapu projektu „Papierosiarze z placu Trzech Krzyży”.

Historia papierosiarzy to jedyny przykład tak dużej grupy dzieci, które po ucieczce z getta przeżyły dzięki swojej odwadze, pomysłowości i solidarności. 

Dlatego będziemy nadal upowszechniać pamięć o tych dzieciach.

Planujemy:

- wydanie audiobooka na podstawie książki Józefa Ziemiana (Zysmana) pod tytułem „Papierosiarze z placu Trzech Krzyży”,

- rozwijanie strony internetowej papierosiarze.pl i przetłumaczenie jej na języki angielski i hebrajski,

- rozpowszechnianie tej historii wśród młodzieży.

Chcielibyśmy zaprosić Państwa do wspólnego rozszerzania projektu upamiętnienia bohaterskich papierosiarzy i wsparcia go środkami finansowymi.

Darowizny spoza Polski można wpłacać też bezpośrednio na poniższe konta SWIFT/BIC: PKOPPLPW

PL10 1240 1066 1787 0010 0033 1240 USD

PL42 1240 6292 1978 0010 9714 8907 EURO

tytułem przelewu: "Tablica papierosiarze"

English below:

Commemoration of Cigarette Sellers of Three Crosses Square (plac Trzech Krzyży) in Warsaw.

The little Jewish heroes of World War II who defeated the enemy – they survived.

(Hebrew text below)

(טקסט בעברית למטה)

The history of Cigarette Sellers of Three Crosses Square is a little-known story of the occupied Warsaw: that of a small group of about 20 Jewish children aged six to sixteen - orphans and refugees from the Warsaw ghetto, who managed to escape from the Warsaw ghetto.

They made a miserable living there selling cigarettes and newspapers to the Germans, often to soldiers, SS and Gestapo officers. The children worked during the day at Three Crosses Square, located in the very center of the German district. Their courage and determination gave them a little money and an alibi - the German occupiers did not know that the Cigarette Sellers were Jews.

In October 1943, Józef Ziemian (real name Zysman), also a fugitive from the ghetto, contacted the Cigarette Sellers, and took care of them on behalf of the Jewish National Committee. Ziemian provided the children with false identity cards confirming their Polish nationality, gave them money and clothes. After the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising in 1944, the children remained in Warsaw and many of them took part in the fighting, and their heroism was described in insurgent newspapers. After the war, most of them left for Israel.

Józef Ziemian, who survived the war, described the history of the children in the book Cigarette Sellers of Three Crosses Square. Excerpts from this book were published in a Lodz newspaper Nowy Dzień in 1948-49. The full version of the book was published in Hebrew in Israel in 1963. The book Cigarette Sellers of Three Crosses Square is currently a school reading in Israel. The book has been translated into the following languages: Polish, English, Spanish, German and Romanian.

The story of Cigarette Sellers is the only example of such a large group of Jewish children who survived after escaping from the ghetto - thanks to their courage, creativity and solidarity.

A group of members of the Jewish Religious Community in Warsaw firmly believe that the fate of Cigarette Sellers needs to be remembered by people living in Warsaw and visiting Warsaw, and for this reason they initiated the project of placing a commemorative plaque on a wall of a historic building housing the Institute for Deaf Children founded by Jakub Falkowski in the XIX century. The plaque, in harmony with the architecture of Three Crosses Square, was designed by the professor of the Academy of Fine Arts, Mr. Antoni Grabowski (www.antonigrabowski.com). The text is in three languages: Polish, English and Hebrew.

The total cost amounts to 50.000 PLN. We intend to collect 35.000 PLN by zrzutka.pl.

The cost includes: carving and casting of the brass plaque made of siliziumtombak using the traditional lost-wax process, dimensions 60 cm x 76 cm, together with the installation and the launch of a multilingual website.

We are inviting you to help to commemorate the heroic Cigarette Sellers and support the project financialy.

Donations from outside Poland can be also made directly to the following accounts SWIFT/BIC: PKOPPLPW

PL10 1240 1066 1787 0010 0033 1240 USD

PL42 1240 6292 1978 0010 9714 8907 EURO

Payment description: "Tablica Papierosiarze"