Mala Zimetbaum was a Jew born in Poland in 1918 whose family moved to Belgium before the war. She was captured and deported to Auschwitz in 1943, where she met Edek Galinski, a Polish non-Jew, born in 1923, also deported by the Nazis to Auschwitz. Together they helped many prisoners and organized small resistances. They escaped together in 1944 hoping to let the world know what crimes the Nazis were committing, but were recaptured, tortured, and executed.
On the 50the anniversary of their deaths, Points Critiques published a special issue featuring short testimony of surviving Jews who told their stories as they intersected with MZ and EG. The journal editors make a special point to feature a Polish non-Jew, saying how important it is to recognize the bravery and good work of those Polish non-Jews who fought together with Jews in resistance to the Nazi terror.
From journal Points Critiques, Revue Trimestrielle de l'Union Progressistes Juifs de Belgique [Trimester Revue of the Union of Progressive Jews in Belgium], No. 56, October/November 1994.
Deux lumières dans la nuit d'Auschwitz-Birkenau" [MZ and EG: Two lights in the night of A-B].
About Mala Zimetbaum
Tragic Jewish-Polish love story in shades of Auschwitz watchtowers
Mala - A Fragment of a Life - by Lorenz Sichelschmidt