A certain American brewery in Texas has launched a beer with a different label than any other. The image on the can includes a simple portrait of an elderly man and the name: Jerzy. A fine Polish lager. Additionally, the label says the beer is brewed in the memory of Jerzy Rawicki, a Polish Jew who survived the Holocaust. It is a tribute from Jerzy Rawicki’s granddaughters who run a small craft brewery in Dallas.
The label also has a QR code which leads to the film Behind the Wall on YouTube in which mister Jerzy tells his story while walking the streets of modern-day Warsaw.
Label from the beer can: Jerzy. A fine Polish lager (picture taken by the author)
Jerzy Rawicki’s fate
He was just a teenager during the war (he was born in 1927) and he ended up in the Warsaw ghetto along with some family members. He often illegally left the ghetto walls to get food and other necessities. He also gave information to the Polish underground resistance.
For many years, he did not return to his wartime past, trying to erase the tragic memories. But the memory of Janusz kept coming back. Through the Red Cross, he managed to find out he had been murdered by the Nazis.
When the Ghetto Uprising broke out, he joined one of the combat groups, and after the uprising fell, he decided to try and find his sister who had been hiding outside the ghetto before.
Not wanting to put her in danger, he slept in different, random places. He met a group of teenagers his age on the Vistula river beach. He decided to tell the truth about his origins to one of them, Janusz Rybakiewicz. His new friend decided to help him. He sheltered him in his basement.
A few months later, Rawicki left to the Daromin village in the Kielce province. There, he joined the Peasant Battalions. He lost touch with Janusz.
After the war, he found his sister who was the only other member of the family to have survived. The other sisters and the rest of the family did not survive the Holocaust. Jerzy decided to leave to Wrocław, where he graduated from high school and university. In the meantime, he also worked in a brewery.
In 1948, he emigrated to the United States.
Facing the tragedy from the past
For many years, he did not return to his wartime past, trying to erase the tragic memories. But the memory of Janusz kept coming back. Through the Red Cross, he managed to find out he had been murdered by the Nazis.
It was then when Jerzy decided to tell his story. He did so, among others, through the 2007 book Sins and Sorrow. That same year, the Yad Vashem Institute awarded him the title of Righteous Among the Nations.
Jerzy Rawicki took part in various public meetings in the U.S. and Poland. He attended the 70th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. He passed away in 2022.
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One may feel inclined to ask the question whether a beer can label is the appropriate place to honour such tragic events and to teach history? While Jerzy never had the opportunity to taste the beer himself, his story continues to reach the hands of those who otherwise might have never found out about it.
