Edward Kopówka

Edward Kopówka (born 12 October 1963) is a Polish writer and historian, graduate of the Faculty of History at the Podlasie Academy in Siedlce, political and social activist known for his active participation in the democratic process beginning with the so-called Second circulation publishing of delegalized books under the Communist rule.

In 1985–88 he served as founder, editor-in-chief and production manager for the unofficial Grzegorz Przemyk Publishing named after the young Polish poet murdered by the Communist Milicja Obywatelska.

[4] Edward Kopówka is the co-author of two virtual encyclopedias of the lesser-known chapters of Poland's World War II history including Dam im imię na wieki (I will give them an everlasting name, 2011) written with Paweł Rytel-Andrianik, the result of over a dozen years of historical studies at the Treblinka Museum;[5] as well as Niemieckie miejsca zagłady w Polsce (The Nazi German Extermination Sites in Poland, 2007) photo-anthology of six extermination camps operating in occupied Poland in 1941-45 with rare photography, recent findings and scientific commentary.

[6] The book about Treblinka reveals, for the first time, the names of nearly 5,000 notable individuals including over 335 Polish Righteous among the Nations from the area and many hundreds of Polish rescuers of Jews living in villages surrounding the camp, risking their own lives to save them in stark contrast to some of the more controversial aspects of contemporary literature on the subject.

[7] In his preface Prof. Antony Polonsky from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum noted, that even though hundreds of rescuers living around Treblinka in the course of Operation Reinhard were bestowed the medals of the Righteous by Yad Vashem, many more were never recognized as such until the publication of this book.