The European Day of the Righteous was established on 6 March to commemorate all those who stood up against totalitarianisms and crimes against humanity, who fought for life and dignity of other people.
The term “righteous” is in this case understood in a broader meaning, not limited only to those who risked their lives helping Jews during the Holocaust. The day was established by the European Parliament in 2012.
The Garden of the Righteous in Warsaw
The Garden of the Righteous in Warsaw is a memorial site in Wola, Muranów. The initiators of the idea are the History Meeting House and the Italian foundation GARIWO. It is a place to honor those who, during the 20th and 21st centuries, in the face of totalitarianism and genocide, had the courage to defend human dignity. Each year, on the European Day of the Righteous (established by the European Parliament in 2012), the Garden Committee, announces the names of those to be honored with that title. The garden was designed by Barbara Kraus-Galińska’s landscape architecture studio.
The Garden was inaugurated on 5 June 2014 in a city that experienced the two totalitarian regimes of the 20th century, Nazism and Communism. The date was not chosen by chance: it was decided to open the Garden the day after the 25th anniversary of the first semi-free elections in Poland, June 4, 1989, which then led to the fall of communism.