The Provisional Committee to Aid Jews ( pl, Tymczasowy Komitet Pomocy Żydom) was founded on September 27, 1942, by

Zofia Kossak-Szczucka Zofia Kossak-Szczucka ( (also Kossak-Szatkowska); 10 August 1889 – 9 April 1968) was a Polish writer and World War II resistance fighter. She co-founded two wartime Polish organizations: Front for the Rebirth of Poland and Żegota, set up ...

and

Wanda Krahelska-Filipowicz Wanda Krahelska-Filipowicz (15 December 1886–1968), code name “Alinka”” or “Alicja”, was a leading figure in Warsaw’s underground resistance movement throughout the years of German occupation during World War II in Poland, co-fou ...

. The founding body consisted of Polish democratic

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

activists associated with the Front Odrodzenia Polski, Polska Organizacja Demokratyczna (''Polish Democratic Organization''), Związek Syndykalistów Polskich (''Union of Polish Syndicalists'') and PPS-WRN. The codename for the organization was "Konrad Żegota Committee" and the same codename was retained for the direct successor, the underground Council to Aid Jews ( pl, Rada Pomocy Żydom).Andrzej Krasnowolski "Żegota" - konspiracyjna Rada Pomocy Żydom
The Provisional Committee was helping 180 persons already within a short period following its creation. It was financed partly by the Department of Social Services (''Departament Opieki Społecznej'') and the Department of Internal Affairs (''Departament Spraw Wewnętrznych'') of the Polish Government in Exile. The Provisional Committee may have been the first formal institution in modern Polish history to be operated in an atmosphere of mutual trust by Polish and Jewish organizations of a broad political and socioeconomic spectrum. One of its vice-presidents was a member of Bund, Leon Feiner. Its secretary was Adolf Berman, who represented

Zionist Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after '' Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...

organizations. One of the better-known Polish members of the Provisional Committee was professor

Władysław Bartoszewski Władysław Bartoszewski (; 19 February 1922 – 24 April 2015) was a Polish politician, social activist, journalist, writer and historian. A former Auschwitz concentration camp prisoner, he was a World War II resistance fighter as part of th ...

, who would later serve as Poland's Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1995 and again in 2000-2001. Other members included Anna Maria Lasocka, wife of the President of the Polish Landowners Association, and social democrat Czesława Wojeńska. The Provisional Committee comprised Polish underground organizations that recognized the authority of the

Government in Exile A government in exile (abbreviated as GiE) is a political group that claims to be a country or semi-sovereign state's legitimate government, but is unable to exercise legal power and instead resides in a foreign country. Governments in exile ...

. Hence it did not include the communist

Polish Workers' Party The Polish Workers' Party ( pl, Polska Partia Robotnicza, PPR) was a communist party in Poland from 1942 to 1948. It was founded as a reconstitution of the Communist Party of Poland (KPP) and merged with the Polish Socialist Party (PPS) in 194 ...

(PPR), which provided similar aid to Jews. The successor to the Provisional Committee to Aid Jews was Council to Aid Jews, founded in December 1942.

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See also