Witnesses: Life in Occupied Kraków

In 1939 the German army invaded Kraków and the lives of the 60,000 Jewish residents changed forever. Among those who became members of ‘Źegota’, the Polish underground organization were Miriam Peleg-Mariańska and Mordecai Peleg. Witnesses is their unique story because this husband-and-wife team were themselves Jewish. On 6 September 1939 the German army invaded Kraków and the lives of the 60,000 Jewish residents changed forever. Among those who became members of ‘Źegota’, the Polish underground organization which provided aid to Jews, were Miriam Peleg-Mariańska and Mordecai Peleg, a young couple of striking Aryan looks and impeccable spoken Polish. Witnesses is their story, a story unique in the fact that this husband-and-wife team were themselves Jewish. The German occupation of Poland still plagues Polish-Jewish relations and the authors’ testimony allows us to draw as true a conclusion as possible about the interaction between Poles and Jews. The testimony of Miriam Peleg- Mariańska and Mordecai Peleg stands as an enduring tribute to courage in the face of evil and has continued relevance in a world where antisemitism is once more rearing its head.