A Jewish girl who hid in the Warsaw zoo during WWII returned in emotional pilgrimage 70 years later

The Vintage News

During the 1930s the Warsaw Zoo was one of Europe’s largest, managing to house and nourish numerous animals. However, this accomplishment was succeeded by another purpose when World War II commenced. The zoo’s sheltering of Jewish families is the subject of the recent film The Zookeeper’s Wife. It is a story that attests to both the courage and the suffering in Warsaw during the war.

The bombing of Poland destroyed large parts of the zoo and many of the animals were either killed or taken to Germany. The director of the zoo was Dr. Jan Zabinski, a respected zoologist and intellectual at the time. The war brought him numerous problems and challenges, and he was acutely aware of the suffering of the Jews. 

When the Warsaw ghetto was established, he was able to give a helping hand to some of the persecuted. Jan was appointed a superintendent of the city’s public parks by the German administration in Warsaw, and so was allowed to enter as an employee of the Warsaw municipality.

The situation in the ghetto soon became worse, so Jan and his wife, Antonina, decided to use their position in the zoo to offer shelter to the people in need.

Many of the Jewish war survivors described his home and the zoo as “Noah’s ark,” adding that: “Dr. Zabinski, with exceptional modesty and without any self-interest, occupied himself with the fates of his prewar Jewish suppliers… different acquaintances as well as strangers. He helped them get over to Aryan side, provided them with indispensable personal documents, looked for accommodations, and when necessary hid them at his villa or on the zoo’s grounds.”

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