The ceremony of planting trees and covering stones in memory of the Righteous

The Committee of the Garden of the Righteous has selected seven other people to be honored in 2020 and 2021: Hrant Dink, Julia Ilisińska, Karol Modzelewski, Stanisław Jewgrafowicz Pietrow, Antonina Wyrzykowska, Liu Xiaobo and Emanuel Ringelblum. The last of them was the initiator of the group Oneg Szabat and the creator of the underground archive of Warsaw Ghetto.

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The Righteous are those who stood up for human dignity in the times of wars and crimes in the 20th and 21st centuries. In their honor, March 6 was established as European Day the commemoration of the Righteous. This decision was taken by European Parliament in May 2012 on the initiative of the Committee of the World Garden of the Just (GARIWO) in Italy.

Only the deceased are honored with the title of the Righteous. The title is awarded for a specific deed. The selection of three persons among the applicants commemorated on Capital Garden of the Righteous is made by the Committee of the Garden of the Righteous in Warsaw, which includes outstanding personalities from the world of education and culture, as well as representatives of non-governmental organizations and public administration.

The first Polish Garden of the Righteous was established in 2014 on the initiative of History Meeting House, the Italian Gariwo Foundation, with the support of the Mayor of the Wola District and Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki, who was unanimously elected as the first Chairman of the Warsaw Committee of the Garden of the Righteous. So far, the following have been honored: Jan Karski, Marek Edelman, Tadeusz Mazowiecki, Anna Politkowska, Magdalena Grodzka -Gużkowska, Antonia Locatelli, Petro Hryhorenko, Nelson Mandela, Hasan Mazhar, Władysław Bartoszewski, Witold Pilecki, Father Jan Zieja, Natalia Gorbaniewska, Jan Jelinek, Roberto Kozak, Rafał Lemkin, Armin Wegner, Father Adalbert Wojciech Zink, Ewelina (Ewa) Lipko Lipczyńska, Arsienij Rogiński and Raoul Wallenberg.

The Warsaw Garden of the Righteous has a special symbolism. It was built on the site of the former ghetto, near Pawiak and St. Augustine, the only building to survive the post-war conflagration. It is the only place in Poland that unites the memory of different events and experiences – it commemorates the righteous of many cultures, religions and nationalities. [https://sprawiedliwi.dsh.waw.pl/32-7-edycja-upamietnien-w-warszawskim-ogrodzie-sprawiedliwych,zwyd]