Righteous Among the Nations: Difference between revisions

Righteous Among the Nations
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Righteous Among the Nations (Hebrew: חסידי אומות העולם, khassidey umot ha-olam "righteous (plural) of the world's nations") is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to save Jews from extermination by the Nazis.

The term originates with the concept of "righteous gentiles", a term used in rabbinical Judaism to refer to non-Jews, as ger toshav and ger zedek, who abide by the Seven Laws of Noah.

When Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority, was established in 1953 by the Knesset, one of its tasks was to commemorate the "Righteous among the Nations". The Righteous were defined as non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust. Since 1963, a commission headed by a justice of the Supreme Court of Israel is charged with the duty of awarding the honorary title "Righteous among the Nations". The commission is guided in its work by certain criteria and meticulously studies all documentation, including evidence by survivors and other eyewitnesses; evaluates the historical circumstances and the element of risk to the rescuer; and then decides if the case accords with the criteria.

To be recognized as "Righteous", a person has to fulfill several criteria:^[1]

• Only a Jewish party can put a nomination forward;
• Helping a family member or Jew convert to Christianity is not a criterion for recognition;
• Assistance has to be repeated and/or substantial; and
• Assistance has to be given without any financial gain expected in return (although covering normal expenses such as rent or food is acceptable).

A person who is recognized as "Righteous among the Nations" for having taken risks to help Jews during the Holocaust is awarded a medal in his/her name, a certificate of honor, and the privilege of having the name added to those on the Wall of Honor in the Garden of the Righteous at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. (The last is in lieu of a tree planting, which was discontinued for lack of space.) The awards are distributed to the rescuers or their next-of-kin during ceremonies in Israel, or in their countries of residence through the offices of Israel's diplomatic representatives. These ceremonies are attended by local government representatives and are given wide media coverage.

Yad Vashem Law authorizes Yad Vashem "to confer honorary citizenship upon the Righteous among the Nations, and if they have passed away, the commemorative citizenship of the State of Israel, in recognition of their actions". Anyone who has been recognized as Righteous among the Nations is entitled to apply to Yad Vashem for the certificate. If the Righteous among the Nations is no longer alive, their next of kin is entitled to request that commemorative citizenship be conferred on the Righteous among the Nations who has died. Recipients who choose to live in the state of Israel are entitled to a pension equal to the average national wage and free health care, as well as assistance with housing and nursing care. In total, 28,217 (as of 1 January 2022^[update])^[2] men and women from 45 countries have been recognized as Righteous among the Nations, amounting to more than 10,000 authenticated rescue stories. Yad Vashem's policy is to pursue the program for as long as petitions for this title are received and are supported by solid evidence that meets the criteria. ^[3]

These figures are not necessarily an indication of the actual number of Jews saved in each country, but reflect material on rescue operations made available to Yad Vashem.^[2] See List of Righteous among the Nations by country for names of individuals.

Country of origin	Awards	Notes
Poland	6,394	The largest contingent.[4] It includes a wide variety of individuals of different occupations and organisations activists, including Irena Sendler (Polish social worker who served in the Polish Underground and the Żegota resistance organization in Warsaw, saving 2,500 Jewish children); Jan Karski (who reported the situation of the Jews in occupied Poland); Tadeusz Pankiewicz (a Kraków pharmacist), Henryk Sławik (a social worker); Rudolf Weigl (a scientist); Stefan Korboński (a politician), Sister Bertranda (a Roman Catholic nun); Eryk Lipiński (a comedian); Franciszek and Magdalena Banasiewicz (a married couple of painters); Irena Adamowicz (a leader scout); Maria Kotarba (a Polish Resistance fighter); the Podgórski sisters (shop assistants); Józef and Wiktoria Ulma (a family of farmers murdered with their six children for helping Jews); Leopold "Poldek" Socha (a sewer inspector who hid a group of Jews in a remote corner of the Lviv sewers); and writer/activist Zofia Kossak-Szczucka (see Polish Righteous among the Nations for additional names).
Netherlands	5,269	Includes two persons originally from the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) residing in the Netherlands. Includes Corrie ten Boom; Frits Philips who ran Philips during the German occupation; Gertruida Wijsmuller-Meier, who helped save about 10,000 Jewish children from Germany and Austria; Jan Zwartendijk, who as a Dutch consular representative in Kaunas, Lithuania, issued exit visas used by between 6,000 and to 10,000 Jewish refugees; includes three organisations or collectives: the collective participants of the so-called "Amsterdam dock strike" (also known as the February strike, about 30-50,000 people who on 25/26 February 1941 launched the first strike against persecution of the Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe), the whole village of Nieuwlande (117 inhab.) and the resistance group, NV groep (for saving Jewish children).
France	3,654	In January 2007, French President Jacques Chirac and other dignitaries honored France's Righteous among the Nations in a ceremony at the Panthéon, Paris. The Legion of Honor was awarded to 160 French Righteous among the Nations for their efforts saving French Jews during World War II.[5]
Ukraine	2,441	Daniil Tymchina, hieromonk of the Univ Lavra (2008); Klymentiy Sheptytsky, the Archimandrite of the Studite monks of Greek-Catholic Monastery (1995); Stepan Omelianiuk (1982) [who?]
Belgium	1,635	Including Queen Elisabeth of the Belgians
Lithuania	844	See Lithuanian Righteous among the Nations, including Kazys Binkis and Ona Šimaitė
Hungary	806	Including Zoltán Lajos Bay (physicist); Béla Király ("Father of radar-astronomy"); Géza Ottlik (author); Endre Szervánszky (composer); Paulina and Ilona Kolonits (the latter a documentary film director); Father Raile Jakab, S. J.; Margit Slachta (social activist); Blessed Sára Salkaházi, S.S.S. (Roman Catholic nun)
Belarus	587	Including Mariya Yevdokimova[6]
Italy	563	Including Laura and Constantino Bulgari,[7] Lorenzo Perrone, Francesco Repetto, Giorgio Perlasca[8] and the Blessed Odoardo Focherini[9]
Slovakia	534	Including Pavel Peter Gojdič, Dr. Michal Majercik and his wife Anna [10]
Germany	525	Including Oskar Schindler, the businessman who saved more than 1,000 Jews by employing them in his factory; Captain Gustav Schröder who commanded the "Voyage of the Damned"; German Army officers Wilm Hosenfeld and Heinz Drossel; Major Karl Plagge (Wehrmacht); German Wehrmacht army lieutenant and lawyer Albert Battel; resistance fighter Hans von Dohnányi, and writer Armin Wegner
Greece	315	Including Archbishop Damaskinos of Athens and Princess Alice of Battenberg
Russia	186	Including Nikolay Yakovlevich Kiselyov
Latvia	135	Including Jānis Lipke
Serbia	131	Including Aleksandar Petrović, Vidosava Petrović Milenković, and the Very Rev Svetozar Milenković
Czech Republic	109	Victor Kugler
Croatia	109	Including Žarko Dolinar and Mate Ujević. For more names see: List of Croatian Righteous Among the Nations
Austria	92	Including Irene Harand, Florian Tschögl, and Kurt Reinhard
Moldova	79	Includes the Stoyanov family [11]
Albania	69	See Albanian Righteous among the Nations
Romania	60	Including Prince Constantin Karadja, credited by Yad Vashem with saving more than 51,000 Jews[12]
Norway	50	See Norwegian Righteous among the Nations; the Norwegian Underground is listed as one group
Switzerland	45	Including Carl Lutz, who helped save tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews [citation needed]
Bosnia and Herzegovina	42	Includes Roza Sober-Dragoje and Zekira Besrević, Mustafa and Zejneba Hardaga, Izet and Bachriya Hardaga, Ahmed Sadik [13][14]
Denmark	22	As per their request, members of the Danish Underground who participated in the rescue of the Danish Jews are listed as one group. The fishermen who transported Danish Jews to Sweden in 1943, however, were ineligible because they had been paid.[15]
Armenia	21	Includes Taschdjian (Tashchiyan) family [16][17]
Bulgaria	20	Dimitar Peshev; Metropolitan Stefan of Sofia and Metropolitan Kiril of Plovdiv of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church
United Kingdom	19	This list includes Major Frank Foley but excludes Sir Nicholas Winton (who is of Jewish parentage)
North Macedonia	10	Including Smiljan Franjo Čekada, Boris Altiparmak, and Stojan Siljanovski
Sweden	10	Including Raoul Wallenberg, Per Anger, and Valdemar Langlet
Slovenia	7	Including Zora Piculin [18]
Spain	6	Ángel Sanz Briz, es [José Ruiz Santaella and his wife, Carmen], and Eduardo Propper de Callejón
Estonia	3	Uku and Eha Masing and Polina Lentsman
United States	3	Varian Fry; Martha and Waitstill Sharp
Brazil	2	Luiz Martins de Souza Dantas and Aracy de Carvalho Guimarães Rosa
Republic of China	2	Pan Jun Shun and Feng-Shan Ho (provided approximately 2,000 visas to Jews in need during his tenure as ambassador of ROC to Vienna in 1938)
Portugal	2	Aristides de Sousa Mendes, issued 30,000 visas to people escaping the Nazis Carlos Sampaio Garrido, sheltered about 1,000 Jews in safe-houses in Budapest and gave them Portuguese documents to leave the country [citation needed]
Chile	1	Maria Edwards McClure[19]
El Salvador	1	José Castellanos Contreras (provided Salvadoran citizenship papers to approximately 13,000 Central European Jews)
Georgia	1	Sergei Metreveli
Ireland	1	Mary Elmes[20] (Not counted in totals below, as they are only up to 1 January 2013, and Yad Vashem accepted her in May 2013)
Japan	1	Chiune Sugihara (provided approximately 3,400 transit visas to Jews in need)
Luxembourg	1	Victor Bodson (former Justice Minister and Chairman of the Luxembourg House of Representatives; saved approximately 100 Jews)
Montenegro	1	Petar Zankovic
Cuba	1	Ámparo (Otero) Pappo
Ecuador	1	Manuel Antonio Muñoz Borrero
Egypt	1	Mohammed Helmy[21]
Turkey	1	Selâhattin Ülkümen
Vietnam	1	Paul Nguyễn Công Anh
Dominican Republic	1	Rafael Trujillo (The late dictator Rafael Trujillo and the Dominican Republic are not on the List of the Righteous among the Nations though Trujillo’s Dominican Republic at the Évian Conference in 1938 was the only country to offer to take in Jewish refugees (100,000). The Dominican Republic admitted over eight-hundred Jewish refugees before Germany curbed the exodus. Two years prior to the Évian Conference Trujillo ordered the killing of over 30,000 Dominicans, most of Haitian descent.[22]
Total	24,356	As of 01 January 2013[update][2]

The Righteous among the Nations are honored with a feast day on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church (USA) on 16 July. A Righteous from Italy, Odoardo Focherini, was beatified by the Catholic Church on 15 June 2013.^[23]

At least 130 "Righteous Gentiles" have settled in Israel. They were welcomed by Israeli authorities, and were granted citizenship. In the mid-1980s, they became entitled to special pensions. Some of them settled in British Mandatory Palestine before Israel's establishment shortly after World War II, or in the early years of the new state of Israel, while others came later. Those who came earlier often spoke fluent Hebrew and have now integrated into Israeli society.^[24]

• Conversion to Judaism
• List of people who helped Jews during the Holocaust
• List of Righteous among the Nations by country
• Seven Laws of Noah, a list of seven moral imperatives which, according to the Talmud, were given by God to Noah as a binding set of laws for all mankind
• Virtuous pagan
• Żegota, a council to aid the Jews in occupied Poland.
• William Cooper
• Edwin Holt Hughes
• Jan and Anna Puchalski
• Ivan Vranetić

• The Heart Has Reasons: Holocaust Rescuers and Their Stories of Courage, Mark Klempner, ISBN 0-8298-1699-2, The Pilgrim Press.
• Righteous Gentiles of the Holocaust: Genocide and Moral Obligation, David P. Gushee, ISBN 1-55778-821-9, Paragon House Publishers.
• The Lexicon of the Righteous Among the Nations, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem. (volumes: Poland, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Europe I, Europe II).
• To Save a Life: Stories of Holocaust Rescue, Land-Weber, Ellen, ISBN 0-252-02515-6, University of Illinois Press.
• The Seven Laws of Noah, Lichtenstein, Aaron, New York: The Rabbi Jacob Joseph School Press, 1981, ASIN B00071QH6S.
• The Image of the Non-Jew in Judaism, Novak, David, ISBN 0-88946-975-X, New York and Toronto: Edwin Mellen Press, 1983.
• The Path of the Righteous: Gentile Rescuers of Jews During the Holocaust, Paldiel, Mordecai, ISBN 0-88125-376-6, KTAV Publishing House, Inc.
• Among the Righteous: Lost Stories from the Holocaust's Long Reach into Arab Lands, Robert Satloff, Washington Institute for Near East Policy, (PublicAffairs, 2006) ISBN 1-58648-399-4.
• When Light Pierced the Darkness: Christian Rescue of Jews in Nazi-Occupied Poland, Tec, Nechama, ISBN 0-19-505194-7, Oxford University Press.
• Zegota: The Council to Aid Jews in Occupied Poland 1942-1945, Tomaszewski, Irene & Werbowski, Tecia, ISBN 1-896881-15-7, Price-Patterson.
• Tolerance in Judaism: The Medieval and Modern Sources, Zuesse, Evan M., In: The Encyclopaedia of Judaism, edited by Jacob Neusner, A. Avery-Peck, and W.S. Green, Second Edition, ISBN 90-04-14787-X, Leiden: Brill Publishers, 2005, Vol. IV: 2688-2713.
• When Courage Was Stronger Than Fear: Remarkable Stories of Christians Who Saved Jews from the Holocaust by Peter Hellman. 2nd edition, ISBN 1-56924-663-7, Marlowe & Companym, 1999.
• Rescue and Flight: American Relief Workers Who Defied the Nazis, Subak, Susan Elisabeth, University of Nebraska Press, 342 pp., 2010.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Righteous Among the Nations.

• The Righteous Among the Nations at Yad Vashem.
• Story of Dutch Righteous Gentile Rut Matthijsen
• Polish Righteous at the Museum of the History of Polish Jews.
• Heroes and Heroines of the Holocaust at the Holocaust Survivors' Network.
• Holocaust Rescuers Bibliography
• Saving Jews: Polish Righteous
• Photo gallery on righteous gentiles during the Holocaust at the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
• Rescuers at the Jewish Virtual Library.
• Holocaust Memorial Budapest, testimony from the family Jakobovics in 1947
• Articles about Righteous Among the Nations
• Witness: "Karoly Szabo played a determining role among Wallenberg's supporters"
• The Jewish Foundation for the Righteous
• Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi State
• Site commemorating Poles who gave their lives to save Jews
• Gardens of the Righteous Worldwide Committee
• Essay: "Paying the ultimate price" by Irena Steinfeldt, The Jerusalem Post, 14 April 2009
• Films, Videos, and DVDs about Righteous Among the Nations
• Website of educational project Inidfference Hurts, workshop scenarios based on stories of polish and german Righteous
• Database about french righteous and anonymous who help them, and resistances
• Holocaust Heroes Budapest Hungary Righteous Among The Nations

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