During World War II in neutral Switzerland, a small group of Polish diplomats and Jewish activists carried out a coordinated, informal rescue operation. Their goal was to save European Jews from the Holocaust. Operating at the Polish Legation in Bern, this clandestine network—known as the Ładoś Group—produced and distributed large-scale passports from Latin American countries. In many cases, these documents meant the difference between life and death for their holders.
“By May 1943 at the latest, the Polish government-in-exile was aware that the Ładoś Group was forging and smuggling passports and certificates of citizenship of Central and South American states across Europe,” writes Dr. Paweł Sieradzki of the Institute for Research on the Polish Diaspora and Polish Pastoral Care at the Catholic University of Lublin (KUL).
What was the Ładoś Group?
The Ładoś Group refers to Polish diplomats who, together with Jewish activists, organized in Switzerland during World War II a system for issuing and distributing passports of Central and South American countries. Their aim was to rescue European Jews from the genocide carried out by Nazi Germany.
The group consisted of: Aleksander Ładoś (1891–1963), Polish envoy in Bern from 1940 to 1945; Konstanty Rokicki (1899–1958), Polish consul in Bern from 1939 to 1945; Stefan Ryniewicz (1903–1987), counsellor of the Polish Legation from 1938 to 1945 and deputy head of mission; Juliusz Kühl (1913–1985), attaché at the Polish Legation in Bern, delegated to liaise with Jewish organizations. Also included were Abraham Silberschein (1881–1951), a lawyer, Zionist activist, and pre-war member of the Polish parliament, and Chaim Eiss (1876–1943), a merchant and political activist born in Ustrzyki Dolne and based in Zurich.
Composition and character of the Ładoś Group
The six-member, informal group can be characterized in several ways. Five members were Polish citizens: Ładoś, Rokicki, Ryniewicz, Kühl, and Silberschein. Three were of Jewish origin: Kühl, Silberschein, and Eiss. Four were diplomats of the Polish Legation: Ładoś, Rokicki, Ryniewicz, and Kühl. One, Silberschein, was the founder and representative of the Relief Committee for the War-Stricken Jewish Population (RELICO), established in Geneva by the World Jewish Congress. One, Eiss, represented the Zionist political movement Agudat Israel.
The Polish Legation in Bern
The Polish Legation of the government-in-exile in Bern was one of only four Polish diplomatic missions operating in continental Western Europe, in addition to those in Portugal, Spain, and Sweden, in countries not occupied by Germany. Although the group formed around the Legation had no formal structure, all its members were fully aware of the operation and of each other’s roles.
The passport operation as a means of rescuing Jews was known to Stanisław Nahlik, the Legation’s cipher clerk, and to Stanisław Jurkiewicz, a delegate of the Polish Minister of Labour and Social Welfare, though neither had insight into its mechanisms. By May 1943 at the latest, the Polish government-in-exile knew that the Ładoś Group was forging and smuggling passports and citizenship certificates of Central and South American countries across Europe.
The beginnings of the Passport Operation
The idea of introducing forged Latin American passports into circulation emerged even before it became associated with the Holocaust. According to Juliusz Kühl, Paraguayan passports were first used in late 1939 or early 1940. They were provided for several dozen Jewish individuals located in territories occupied by the Soviet Union.
The Polish diplomatic mission in Bern contacted Rudolf Hügli, the honorary consul of Paraguay, who became involved in the sale of blank passport forms.
The expansion of the Ładoś Group’s activities
In 1941, after Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union and established Jewish ghettos, some Jews already carried passport documents produced in Bern. Possession of these documents exempted some individuals from compulsory residence in ghettos and from wearing armbands marked with the Star of David.
In 1942, following the Wannsee Conference and the launch of mass extermination of Jews in Europe, the Ładoś Group intensified its activities.
The creation of passports in Bern was based on close, secret cooperation between the Polish Legation and the RELICO organization. Abraham Silberschein supplied Consul Konstanty Rokicki with lists of individuals, including personal data and photographs, and Rokicki filled out Paraguayan passports using original forms. The documents were distributed by Silberschein and Chaim Eiss, with support from a courier network that also provided a significant portion of the operation’s funding.
Aleksander Ładoś and Stefan Ryniewicz were responsible for shielding the operation within Bern’s diplomatic circles and neutralizing threats from the Swiss police. Juliusz Kühl oversaw secure contacts with Jewish organizations and likely also handled the transport of passport forms.
The scale of the Passport Operation
Current findings indicate that the Ładoś Group prepared Paraguayan passports for approximately 2,100 individuals. The documents were issued to Jews from Poland, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Hungary, and Germany. Each passport costs between 500 and 2,000 Swiss francs.
At the beginning of 1944, Abraham Silberschein stated that the group’s activities had saved around 10,000 people from deportation to extermination camps. Some of these people were held in internment camps in Germany and France, including in Vittel.
Commemorating the Ładoś Group
Research conducted in 2021 identified 3,282 Jewish holders of South American passports. Of these, 868 survived the war, 973 were murdered, and the fate of 1,441 remains unknown.
In 2019, several members of the Ładoś Group were posthumously honored, and, by resolution of the Polish parliament, 2021 was designated the Year of the Ładoś Group.
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Title, lead, and subheadings by Heschel Center News
Dr. Paweł Sieradzki
Institute for Research on the Polish Diaspora and Polish Pastoral Care,
Catholic University of Lublin (KUL)