A generationIn the attic of a hut in the woods near the village of Narewka, Poland, a young Iraqi Kurd curled up, shaking with cold and fear. Through the skylight, the blue lights of the police car flashed on the wall of his hiding place. Outside, dozens of border guards were looking for people like him in the snowstorm. Downstairs, the owner of the house sat in silence with his frightened wife and children.
The young Kurdish is one of thousands of asylum seekers Crossed the border with Belarus and entered Poland, Countless others were trapped on their way to Europe. The Polish family provided him with shelter. But if Polish police find him, he may be sent back to the border into the sub-zero forests of Belarus, and his protector may be charged for assisting illegal immigration.
As people fleeing conflict or starvation are trapped on the border between Poland and Belarus in the cold winter, Polish families have been secretly hiding hundreds of desperate people at home.
The fear of knocking on the door during the raid by the border police brought back the terrible echo of World War II, when thousands of Polish Jews were sheltered by their neighbors during the Nazi occupation.
“Let us clarify one thing, this is far from a massacre,” said a Polish woman who sheltered a Syrian family at home for five days. “At the same time… when you have six people hiding in your attic and forced to stay in the dark to avoid being deported, as a Polish, you can’t help but think of the similarities to the time.”
Since the beginning of October, the 38-year-old Jakub* from Narewka has been searching the forest near the border for people who need water, food, and a place to sleep safely. Jakub and his dog track the signs of the presence of people trying to cross the border: diapers, wet blankets, or makeshift huts made of tree branches.
During the war, his uncle who died a few years ago helped dozens of Jewish families in Warsaw avoid deportation. Now, 80 years later, Jakub has hidden and helped at least 200 people who risked being driven back to the Belarusian border. “I never compare what I did today with what my uncle did,” Jakub said. “I help these people because they need help. It’s that simple.”
The European Union accused Belarus of deliberately provoking a new refugee crisis by organizing the movement of people from the Middle East to Minsk. Promise them safe passage in the EU, In retaliation for the sanctions imposed by Brussels against its regime. In turn, Poland has been accused by human rights organizations of pushing thousands of people back to the border with violence. People like Jakub, seeing these desperate families huddled in the snow, offered a helping hand. It is usually a competition between local volunteers and the police, and the first thing to do is to find the border crossing.
In a small house a few miles from Sokouka, 14-year-old Bartek invented a device that could locate people who might be sent back to Belarus. “I opened an account to connect the immigrant’s phone,” he said. “I set up their accounts on Google and WhatsApp, and linked their phones to one of my accounts. This way I can see where they have logged in recently and send help.”
Bartek and his aunt Ewa helped a Syrian family whose oldest child was only 5 years old. They were pushed back to Belarus 17 times.
“What happened here is totally unacceptable,” said 40-year-old Ewa, whose grandmother smuggled pork fat and potatoes into the ghetto during World War II.
“My grandmother also hid Jewish children at home,” she said. “There is a bed on the flip on the floor. My great-grandmother is lying on the bed. I think I am continuing my grandmother’s work.”
Ewa purchased thermal imaging cameras to locate people at night. “When you go to the forest, if someone is behind you, you don’t know what is waiting for you,” she said. “When you go to the forest to pick mushrooms next year, you don’t know whether you will find mushrooms or carcasses. Some people say they found refugee carcasses torn apart by animals. In areas where immigrants camp, sometimes you will smell a strong smell of rotting.”
Since the start of the border standoff between the two countries, at least 19 people have died. Poland And Belarus. Most of them froze to death. Some of their bodies were buried in the Muslim cemetery in Bohoniki village near Sokouka, in the center of the forest that took their lives.
As the temperature approaches freezing point, Battke, Yakub, and Eva belong to a network of Poles who are working hard to prevent more deaths.
“We are doing normal things to help others,” Eva said, “but they make you a criminal.”
Due to the state of emergency implemented in Poland, all help for the people in the forest fell on the shoulders of local residents and activists. In recent weeks, more and more rescue workers and citizens have been stopped by the police, who searched at least three houses in search of immigrants.
“The situation seems to have escalated and officials have become more violent towards rescuers,” said Professor Witto de Krauss at the Warsaw University Center. migrant Legal research. “This is part of the intimidation, probably because of its chilling effect-it discourages assistance to immigrants. Providing humanitarian assistance is not a crime. But it is a law in books and it does not prevent the authorities from violating it.”
On December 14, a group of militants was intercepted by military personnel in the forest near the village of Zabrody. They were forced to lie face down on the ground to search. On December 15, the Polish Armed Police raided a humanitarian aid center in the Podlachia border area and confiscated mobile phones and laptops.
“They suspect that we are organizing illegal border crossings,” said Anna Albos from the NGO Minority Rights Organization. “But if anyone creates space for illegal border crossings, it is the Belarusian and Polish authorities, who force frozen and hungry people to cross the border with no choice.”
The Polish Ministry of Interior and Defense did not comment in an interview with The Guardian.
In the recent protests in Michałów and Hajnówka in support of immigrants, young activists encountered elderly people who sheltered fugitives during World War II. Yakubu said: “They said they hid the Jews during the war, and they have something in common with us.”
In 1939, Tatiana Honigwill, a young Polish Jew from Warsaw, was deported to the German concentration camp in Ravensbruck. After the liberation of Russia in 1945, Tatiana returned to Poland. She passed away a few years ago, and several granddaughters survived. One of them is the 43-year-old painter Maria Przyszychowska, who now lives near the border town of Hajnówka.
She and her 48-year-old husband, Kamil Syller, established an unofficial network of local residents and activists who put green lights on the windows to indicate that their home is a temporary safe space for refugees. At first, it was a symbolic gesture. Then, all of a sudden, the first group of people began to appear at their door.
The couple welcomed them into their home and provided them with basic necessities. “We are working hard to protect asylum seekers, and now our activities have become a form of resistance,” Camille said. “But we don’t want to be heroes. It becomes very frustrating.”
For weeks, Maria and Camille’s home has been under surveillance. Border guards patrolled the streets around their buildings. The green light also began to attract the guards, who hid in the forest waiting for people to come out and then pushed them back.
The prohibition of individuals from applying for asylum is a violation of human rights. Although some people expressed interest in applying for asylum, those who arrived in Poland were systematically and mass deported.
“Maybe one day, when this is over, we will be able to talk publicly about what the police did to immigrants and what we did to help them,” said Yakubu. “I don’t know when, but I believe that day will come. Until then, we will continue to work in the dark. Finally, we are what they call: secret guerrillas.”
(*In order to protect the identity of people, some names have been changed)
