Warsaw, Poland – In addition to the regular seat-back magazines and catalogs, passengers flying from Israel to Warsaw this past Friday morning on LOT, Poland’s national airline, found themselves with some extra reading material: a hardcover copy of The Righteous, a book that tells the story of heroic Polish gentiles who risked their own lives to save Jews during the Holocaust.
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The books were distributed as a commemoration of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, 72 years to the day after of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau by the Red Army. It marks the first tribute by LOT to the mass genocide that took place during World War II.
“This morning’s flight from Tel Aviv to Warsaw will connect Israel and Poland in a special way,” said flight attendant Teresa Wodzinska, in a pre-flight announcement to passengers. “Today, all around the world, we commemorate the International Holocaust Memorial Day where we remember the victims of the Holocaust.”
Wodzinska ended her announcement with the word “Shalom.”
LOT announced the book distribution on Instagram with a post that featured a picture of the book and the words “Today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day – we remember.”
Knesset member Oren Hazan was one of the passengers on the Friday morning flight, reported Arutz Sheva. Hazan was flying to Poland to take part in a Holocaust commemoration held in Warsaw.
“This joint effort by Israel and Poland is very important,” said Hazan. “It is crucial that we remember and not forget what happened during the Holocaust.”
The books were donated by Poland’s Adam Mickiewicz Institute and From the Depths, an organization which works to preserve the memory of the Holocaust while using lessons of the past to teach tolerance and understanding to future generations.
Johnny Daniels, founder of From the Depths, expressed his gratitude to LOT for agreeing to take part in the project, stressing the importance of Holocaust education.
“We have a universal obligation to prevent a catastrophe of this kind from every happening again,” said Daniels. “This tragedy is unparalleled in the entire history of mankind and we are obligated to remember what happened on European soil during those days.”