Żegota was the Polish resistance group that helped Jews during the Holocaust. Solidarity was an anti-communist movement, in which Morawiecki’s father was active during Poland’s time behind the Iron Curtain.
Yesterday’s statement was significant because it referred to Jewish Poles as brethren. Poland was home to 3.3 million Jews prior to the Holocaust, more than any other country in Europe. One in ten Poles were Jewish but an estimated three million were wiped out by the Nazis, according to Yad Vashem.
Mr Morawiecki, 49, who was sworn in by the Polish president on Monday, replaced Beata Szydło who tendered her resignation last week. He was previously the finance minister in the government of the right-wing ruling Law and Justice Party.
Earlier this year he spoke of his family’s Jewish connection at a ceremony at Warsaw Zoo, honouring former zoo director Jan Żabiński and his wife Antonina, as well as others who rescued many hundreds of Jews.
