SAVING JEWS FOR MONEY - THE HELP INDUSTRY (Ratowanie Zydów za pieniadze - przemysl pomocy)

There is a consensus among Polish historians that helping the Jews under the occupation was a widespread phenomenon. Indeed, while some Poles helped the Jews on humanitarian grounds, many others considered it a very risky, but also a very profitable enterprise. In historical literature these people are referred to as 'paid helpers'. This text, based upon primary sources such as war-time court records, war-time diaries, early post-war Jewish narratives and the post-1945 'August' trials, seeks to shed light on the scale of the phenomenon of paid help, as well as on the quality of help offered under these circumstances. It also offers an analysis of the relationships between the Jews and their paid helpers.