Aleksander Ładoś (1891-1963) - Instytut Pileckiego

Medal 'Virtus et Fraternitas' / Recipients

Aleksander Ładoś (1891-1963)

Awarded in 2019.

He was the leader of the group which issued illegal Latin American passports to persecuted Jews. Ładoś gave the group diplomatic protection.

Polish diplomat, journalist, and politician. His diplomatic career began in 1919. In 1920—1921 he was a secretary in the Polish delegation during peace talks with the Soviet Union, then he was the Polish representative in Latvia (1923—1926), and later the Polish Consul General in Munich (1927—1931). In the 1930s he took mainly to political journalism. Following the start of the war, he was a minister without portfolio in Władysław Sikorski’s government-in-exile from 3 October to 7 December 1939.

From the left: Aleksander Ładoś and Ignacy Jan Paderewski / National Digital Archives
In 1940—1945 he was the Polish representative in Switzerland as the chargé d’affaires ad interim. He looked after Polish refugees as well as the interned soldiers of the 2nd Rifle Division. He was the leader of the group which issued illegal Latin American passports to persecuted Jews. Ładoś gave the group diplomatic protection. After the Swiss authorities discovered the passport campaign in 1943, he intervened with the Swiss Foreign Minister and helped to keep the operation quiet. He stayed in Switzerland after the war and moved to France in 1946. He returned to Poland in 1960 and died in Warsaw three years later.


THE ŁADOŚ GROUP


The Ładoś Group, also called the Bernese Group, comprised Polish diplomats, employees of the Polish embassy in Bern, and representatives of Jewish organizations cooperating with them. The group was led by the Polish embassy’s chargé d’affaires Aleksander Ładoś. In addition to him, three other Polish diplomats at the embassy were also members of the group: Stefan Ryniewicz, Konstanty Rokicki and Juliusz Kühl, as well as two activists from Jewish organizations in Switzerland: Abraham Silberschein and Chaim Eiss.

Eiss Archive collection / Pilecki Institute

During the Second World War, the group illegally issued Latin American (mainly Paraguayan) passports. The operation was initially intended for Jews in the ghettos of occupied Poland, but over time the passports were sent to other countries such as the Netherlands. Issuing these passports to Jews greatly increased their chances of survival — the documents meant their bearers might be sent for internment instead of extermination. It is estimated that the group issued passports for up to 10,000 people.


fot. National Digital Archives

See also

  • Konstanty Rokicki (1899—1958)

    awarded

    Konstanty Rokicki (1899—1958)

    Rokicki was responsible for one of the Ładoś Group’s most important tasks. In the years 1941—1944 he alone hand-wrote several thousand Paraguayan passports.

  • Skakalska, Zinaida Samczuk z d. Skakalska Musij Skakalski, Hanna Skakalska, Hanna Skakalska, Zinaida Samczuk z d. Skakalska

    awarded

    Skakalska, Zinaida Samczuk z d. Skakalska Musij Skakalski, Hanna Skakalska, Hanna Skakalska, Zinaida Samczuk z d. Skakalska

    „In 1939, the Russians came, so we expected to be deported to Siberia [...]. Amid all this misery, we received assistance from the Skakalskis – the family of Musiy Skakalski – who were Ukrainians".

  • Ferdinánd Leó Miklósi

    awarded

    Ferdinánd Leó Miklósi
    (1889–1968)

    As a 21-year-old in 1910, he was a member of the Hungarian delegation that participated in the unveiling of the Grunwald Monument in Kraków.