Poles
Polish people are the sixth largest national group in the European Union. Estimates vary depending on source, though available data suggest a total number of around 60 million people worldwide (with roughly 21 million living outside of Poland, many of whom are not of Polish ethnicity, but Polish nationals). There are almost 38 million Poles in Poland alone. There are also Polish minorities in the surrounding countries including (Germany), and indigenous minorities in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, northern and eastern Lithuania, western Ukraine, and western Belarus. There are some smaller indigenous minorities in nearby countries such as Moldova. There is also a Polish minority in Russia which includes indigenous Poles as well as those forcibly deported during and after World War II; the total number of Poles in what was the former Soviet Union is estimated at up to 3 million.
Rescue of Jews by Catholics during the Holocaust
Poland had the largest Jewish population in Europe before World War II. There were 3,500,000 Jews living in the Second Republic, about 10% of the general population. Between the German invasion of Poland in 1939, and the end of World War II, over 90% of Polish Jewry perished. Nevertheless, more Jews were rescued by Catholic Poles, than in any other nation. According to Davies, the number of Jews saved by Poles is conservatively estimated at 100,000–150,000. The number of sheltered Jews according to Lukas was "as high as 450,000" at one time. Professor Tomasz Strzembosz put the total number of Catholic Poles saving Jews at 1 million. Among the 108 Martyrs of World War II beatified in 1999 by Pope John Paul II, prominent place belongs to religious people murdered by Nazi Germany for saving Jews. Several hundred Christian Poles were summarily shot in open pits for sheltering Jews in the vicinity of the Słonim Ghetto along with their priest, Adam Sztark "". Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary were arrested and executed the following day for hiding Jewish children in their convent. Marta Kazimiera Wołowska "", the superior of the convent, and Ewa Bogumiła Noiszewska "", a doctor, were beatified by Pope John Paul II together with priest Adam Sztark. They were killed at the same time. In 2001, Sztark became the first Jesuit ever awarded the title of Righteous Among the Nations by the state of Israel. He used to deliver food to the ghetto, purchased with cash donations from his parishioners. He also issued false certificates, personally sheltered Jewish refugees, and called upon all his congregation to help to save the ghetto residents.