A Jewish man in Poland has spoken out about assisting Ukrainian refugees and how he was compelled to help those in need by his own family's history and the treatment of Jews during the Second World War.
On the outbreak of war, which has seen millions of Ukrainians enter Poland for safety, 42-year-old Jan Gebert instantly offered his home to those that needed it.
Gebert is a descendent of those who survived the Nazi holocaust due to the kindness of others, whereas many others did not survive or were denied safety and security by their neighbours. Gebert says:
"My family survived the war because someone helped them. They were refugees. That's the reason why I'm here. Thanks to that time, I can help other people."
"It is not a big apartment. Everything which I own and have in my life is in this apartment. I don't know if it's faith or tradition. But I have to. If someone had helped those, my ancestors, my cousins, during the Holocaust, I will have much greater family next to me. That would be wonderful -- to have a great big family in Warsaw, a Jewish family which survived the war, that would be the most beautiful, beautiful thing."
Gebert's family is also assisting, including his elderly father who has also opened up his home for those needing a place to stay.
Poland's Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich spoke to CNN and said how it was not quite correct to compare the bravery of those sheltering Jews during the Second World War, for which they themselves could have faced death, but that helping refugees was the correct and moral thing to do. He said:
"We're doing nothing compared to what these truly righteous people did during the war. It's our time to do what we needed to have done for us 80 years ago ... If we still have, somewhere in our hearts, a sadness that more people didn't help, it needs then to push us to do more to help now, rather than becoming angry or turning inwards, it needs to motivate us to even do more."
Six million Jews were murdered in the holocaust including several million in Poland which was overrun by Nazi forces in 1939. Today fewer than 10,000 Jews remain in the country in which antisemitic rhetoric is even today unfortunately not uncommon.
[Based on reporting by: CNN]
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