Exhibition- Righteous Among the Nations- Jan and Antonina Zabinski
Dr. Jan Zabinski was a Polish zoologist. In 1929, after having made remarkable scientific achievements, he was appointed the director of the Zoological Gardens in Warsaw. Zabinski lived with his wife, Antonina and their son Ryszard in a villa on the zoo grounds.
From the very early days of the Nazi occupation of Poland, the Zabinski family sheltered a Jewish family of five in their home. In view of the bombardment of the city, most of the zoo animals were evacuated, and the cages remained empty.
When the deportations from the ghetto to Treblinka extermination camp began in 1942, Zabinski decided to shelter Jews in the empty cages. As a member of the Polish Resistance Armia Krajowa (Home Army), he worked alongside the Jewish Resistance. Together they provided the Jewish refugees with forged identification documents and smuggled them from the zoo to the Aryan side of Warsaw.
As a member of the Polish underground, Zabinski was captured by the Germans during the Warsaw ghetto uprising in 1944 and was sent to a prison in Germany. Antonina continued his work, and saved additional Jewish refugees that hid in the ruins of Warsaw.
On September 21st, 1965, Yad Vashem recognized Jan and Antonina Zabinsky as Righteous Among the Nations. They were among the first Poles to receive this great and special honor.
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