| Righteous Among the Nations |
|---|
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| By country |
This is a partial list of some of the most prominent Righteous Among the Nations per country of origin, recognized by Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority in Jerusalem. These people risked their lives or their liberty and position to help Jews during The Holocaust; some suffered death as a result. As of 1 January 2021 [update] , Yad Vashem has recognized 27,921 Righteous Among the Nations from 51 countries. [1]
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 as of January 1, 2019.
| Country of origin | Awards | Notes |
|---|---|---|
 Poland | 7,177 | The largest contingent. [2] It includes a wide variety of both individuals of different occupations and organized activists, including Irena Sendler (Polish social worker who served in Polish Underground and Żegota resistance organization in Warsaw, saving 2,500 Jewish children); Jan Karski (who reported on the situation of Jews in occupied Poland); Tadeusz Pankiewicz (Kraków pharmacist), Henryk Sławik (social worker); Rudolf Weigl (scientist); Stefan Korboński (politician), Sister Bertranda (Catholic nun); Eryk Lipiński (artist); Franciszek and Magdalena Banasiewicz (painter and his wife); Irena Adamowicz (scout leader); Maria Kotarba (Polish Resistance fighter); the Podgórski sisters (store clerks); Józef and Wiktoria Ulma (family of farmers murdered together with their six children for helping Jews); Leopold "Poldek" Socha (sewer inspector, hid a group of Jews in remote corner of Lviv sewers); writer and activist Zofia Kossak-Szczucka; and Karolina Juszczykowska (kitchen worker for Organization Todt, hid Jews in her home for which she was executed). [3] See Polish Righteous Among the Nations for additional names. Poland was among the occupied countries where helping Jews or even not reporting them to German authorities could be punished with death. This law also applied to Belarusians, Ukrainians and Serbs. [4] |
 Netherlands | 5,910 | On a population of 9 million in 1940 the figure represents the largest per capita number: 1 in 1,700 Dutch was awarded (Poland: 1 in 3,700; population of 24,300,000 ethnic Poles in 1939). [5] Includes two persons originally from the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) and one person from Suriname (William Arnold Egger). 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 just before the outbreak of the war (Kindertransport); she also managed the last transport to the UK on May 12, 1940, on the last ship leaving the Netherlands; 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 the people who hid and helped Anne Frank and her family, like Miep Gies. Also includes the Salvation Army major Alida Bosshardt and the founder of VPRO Radio, theologian Nicolette Bruining. [6] Remarkable is the relatively large number of Protestant ministers and their wives that participated and were awarded. Also includes the German lawyer Hans Georg Calmeyer, [7] who was recognized for his activities in the Netherlands during the war. Also includes Hendrika Gerritsen, a member of the Dutch Resistance who hid Siegfried Goldsteen and Judith Fransman at her home in 1943 and transported forged papers for people in hiding on behalf of the Amsterdam Resistance, [8] [9] and Caecilia Loots, a teacher and antifascist resistance member, known for saving Jewish children during the war. [10] Marion van Binsbergen helped save approximately 150 Dutch Jews, most of them children, throughout the German occupation of the Netherlands. [11] [12] Tina Strobos, rescued over 100 Jews by hiding them in her house and providing them with forged paperwork to escape the country. [13] Also includes famous author and television personality Godfried Bomans and Frisian writer and poet Tiny Mulder (fy). Henk Zanoli returned his medal in 2014 after some of his family members were killed in an IDF airstrike in Gaza. Also uniquely includes three organisations or collectives: the collective participants of the so-called "Amsterdam dock strike" (better known as the February strike, about 30,000 to 50,000 people who on 25 and 26 February 1941 took part in the first strike against persecution of the Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe); the whole village of Nieuwlande (117 inhabitants) that set up a quota-system under then alderman and later resistance fighter Johannes Post; and the resistance group Naamloze Vennootschap for saving Jewish children. In Denmark, France, and Norway, as well, a group of people was recognized as a single entity. |
 France | 4,150 | In January 2007, French President Jacques Chirac and other dignitaries honored France's Righteous in a ceremony at the Panthéon, Paris. The Legion of Honour was awarded to 160 French Righteous for their efforts saving French Jews during World War II. [14] Also includes Johan Hendrik Weidner, head of the Dutch-Paris organisation, which saved over 800 Jews and over 100 allied airmen. |
 Ukraine | 2,673 | Including Daniil Tymchina, [15] hieromonk of the Univ Lavra (2008); Klymentiy Sheptytsky, the Archimandrite of the Studite monks of Greek-Catholic Monastery (1995); Stepan Omelianiuk (1982) [16] |
 Belgium | 1,774 | Including Queen Elisabeth of the Belgians. Also includes Jeanne Daman, who helped rescue two thousand Jewish children from the Nazis by taking them to shelters. [17] [18] [19] |
 Lithuania | 918 | See Lithuanian Righteous Among the Nations, including Kazys Binkis and Ona Šimaitė. Based on a population of approximately 2 million ethnic Lithuanians in 1939 the figure represents the second largest per capita number: 1 in 2,183 Lithuanians were awarded (after the Netherlands, with 1 in 1,700). |
 Hungary | 876 | Including Zoltán Lajos Bay (physicist: "father of radar-astronomy"); Béla Király (commander, 56 freedom fighter); 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); Tibor Baranski (religious student, saved about 3,000 Jews); [20] Blessed Sára Salkaházi, S.S.S. (Roman Catholic nun), Karig Sára [21] |
 Italy | 744 | Including Laura and Costantino Bulgari, [22] Giovanni Palatucci, Lorenzo Perrone, Calogero Marrone, Angelo Rotta, Andrea Cassulo, Francesco Repetto, Giorgio Perlasca, [23] Gino Bartali and Odoardo Focherini [24] |
 Belarus | 676 | Including Vanda Skuratovich and Mariya Yevdokimova [25] and Dennis and Eva Vorobey |
 Germany | 641 | See List of German Righteous Among the Nations. 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"; Wehrmacht officers Wilm Hosenfeld, Heinz Drossel, Karl Plagge, and Albert Battel; resistance fighter Hans von Dohnányi, and writer Armin T. Wegner. |
 Slovakia | 621 | Including Pavel Peter Gojdič, Dr. Michal Majercik and his wife Anna [26] |
 Greece | 362 | Including Archbishop Damaskinos of Athens and Princess Alice of Battenberg |
 Russia | 215 | Including Nikolay Kiselyov |
 Serbia | 139 | Including three members of the Milenković family |
 Latvia | 138 | Including Jānis Lipke |
 Croatia | 130 | See List of Croatian Righteous Among the Nations. |
 Czech Republic | 119 | Including Alena Hájková, [27] Victor Kugler, Premysl Pitter and Antonín Kalina. |
 Austria | 113 | See List of Austrian Righteous Among the Nations. Including Anton Schmid, one of three Wehrmacht soldiers executed for helping Jews. |
 Moldova | 79 | Including the Stoyanov family [28] |
 Albania | 75 | Including Isuf and Niqi Panariti, parents of former Albanian Minister of Agriculture Edmond Panariti |
 Romania | 69 | Including Queen Helen of Romania, Traian Popovici (known for saving 20,000 Jews of Bukovina from deportation) and Prince Constantin Karadja, credited by Yad Vashem with saving more than 51,000 Jews [29] also Elisabeta Strul |
 Norway | 67 | See List of Norwegian Righteous Among the Nations. The Norwegian Underground is listed as one group. |
 Switzerland | 49 | Including Carl Lutz, who helped save tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews [30] |
 Bosnia and Herzegovina | 49 | Including Nurija Pozderac and his wife Devleta, Roza Sober-Dragoje and Zekira Besrević, Mustafa and Zejneba Hardaga, Izet and Bahrija Hardaga, Ahmed Sadik, Derviš Korkut [31] [32] |
 Armenia | 24 | Including Taschdjian (Tashchiyan) family [33] [34] |
 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. [35] |
 United Kingdom | 22 | Including Major Frank Foley and Jane Haining. It excludes Sir Nicholas Winton, who was of Jewish parentage. |
 Bulgaria | 20 | Including Dimitar Peshev; Metropolitan Stefan of Sofia and Metropolitan Kiril of Plovdiv of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church |
 Slovenia | 15 | Including Zora Piculin [36] |
 North Macedonia | 10 | Including Smiljan Franjo Čekada, Boris Altiparmak [37] and Stojan Siljanovski [38] |
 Sweden | 10 | Raoul Wallenberg, Per Anger, Ivan Danielsson, [39] Lars Berg, [40] Valdemar Langlet, Nina Langlet, Elow Kihlgren, Erik Perwe, Elisabeth Hesselblad and Erik Myrgren |
 Spain | 9 | Ángel Sanz Briz (1966), José Ruiz Santaella and his wife, Carmen (1988), Eduardo Propper de Callejón (2007), Concepción Faya Blásquez y Martín Aguirre y Otegui (2011), Sebastián de Romero Radigales (2014) and Joseph Jose & Victoria Maria (Dolores) Martínez (2016) |
 United States | 5 | Varian Fry, Martha and Waitstill Sharp, Lois Gunden, [41] [42] and Master Sergeant Roddie Edmonds [43] |
 Estonia | 3 | Uku and Eha Masing and Polina Lentsman |
 Peru | 3 | José Maria Barreto, [44] Isabel Weill, [45] and Jose Gambetta [46] |
 Portugal | 3 | Including Aristides de Sousa Mendes, who issued 30,000 visas to people escaping the Nazis in France, and Carlos Sampaio Garrido who sheltered Jews in safe-houses in Budapest and gave them Portuguese documents to leave the country. [47] |
 Brazil | 2 | Luis Martins de Souza Dantas and Aracy de Carvalho Guimarães Rosa |
 Chile | 2 | Maria Edwards McClure [48] and Samuel del Campo [49] |
 Indonesia | 2 | Tolé Madna and Mima Saïna [50] |
 Republic of China | 2 | Pan Jun Shun (hid a Ukrainian Jewish girl during the war) and Feng-Shan Ho (provided more than 3,000 visas to Jews in need during his tenure as ambassador of ROC to Vienna in 1938) |
 Cuba | 1 | Ámparo Otero Pappo |
 Ecuador | 1 | Manuel Antonio Muñoz Borrero |
 Egypt | 1 | Mohammed Helmy [51] |
 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 [52] (saved at least 200 Jewish children by smuggling them in the boot of her car). There is also a review underway on the case of Mgr. Hugh O'Flaherty, [53] a Catholic priest and Vatican official who rescued thousands of Jews (and some PoWs) in Rome over the course of the war, subject of the TV film The Scarlet and the Black as well as the book and radio play The Scarlet Pimpernel of the Vatican. [54] |
 Japan | 1 | Chiune Sugihara, who 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, who saved approximately 100 Jews |
 Montenegro | 1 | Petar Zanković |
 Turkey | 1 | Selâhattin Ülkümen |
 Vietnam | 1 | Paul Nguyễn Công Anh |
| Total | 27,921 | As of January 1, 2021 |
Yad Vashem is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; echoing the stories of the survivors; honoring Jews who fought against their Nazi oppressors and gentiles who selflessly aided Jews in need; and researching the phenomenon of the Holocaust in particular and genocide in general, with the aim of avoiding such events in the future. Yad Vashem's vision, as stated on its website, is: "To lead the documentation, research, education and commemoration of the Holocaust, and to convey the chronicles of this singular Jewish and human event to every person in Israel, to the Jewish people, and to every significant and relevant audience worldwide."
During World War II, some individuals and groups helped Jews and others escape the Holocaust conducted by Nazi Germany.
Righteous Among the Nations is an honourific used by the State of Israel to describe all of the non-Jews who, for purely altruistic reasons, risked their lives in order to save Jews from being exterminated by Nazi Germany during the Holocaust. The term originates from the concept of ger toshav, a legal term used to refer to non-Jewish observers of the Seven Laws of Noah.
Yvonne Feyerick Nèvejean was one of the leaders of an organisation that helped hide Jewish children in Nazi-occupied Belgium during World War II. She was instrumental in hiding about 4000 children, many with Catholic families and institutions. After the war she was honoured inside and outside Belgium. In 1965, she was designated as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Remembrance Authority in Jerusalem, and in 1996 a stamp was issued in Belgium bearing her image.
Hans Georg Calmeyer was a German lawyer from Osnabrück who saved thousands of Jews from certain death during the German occupation of the Netherlands from 1941 until 1945. On 4 March 1992, Yad Vashem recognised Hans Calmeyer as Righteous Among the Nations.
Father Rufino Niccacci, O.F.M. (1911–1976) was an Italian Roman Catholic priest, born in Deruta, who shielded persecuted Jews during the Holocaust.
Don Raimondo Viale was an Italian Catholic priest, whose name is entered among the Righteous Among the Nations at Yad Vashem for his work on behalf of the Jews during the Holocaust.
Maria Lanc was an Austrian humanitarian.
The Garden of the Righteous Among the Nations is part of the much larger Yad Vashem complex located on the Mount of Remembrance in Jerusalem. Along with some two dozen different structures within the Yad Vashem memorial – which is the second most-visited destination in the country after the Western Wall – the Garden of the Righteous is meant to honor those non-Jews who during the Holocaust risked their lives to save Jews from extermination by the Nazis.
Jeanne Daman (1918-1986) is one of the Righteous Among the Nations.
Caecilia Antonia Maria "Cilia" Loots was a Dutch teacher and antifascist resistance member, known for saving Jewish children during World War II. She is recognized as Righteous Among the Nations.
Roderick W. Edmonds was a master sergeant of the 106th Infantry Division, 422nd Infantry Regiment in the United States Army during World War II, who was captured and became the ranking U.S. non-commissioned officer at the Stalag IX-A prisoner-of-war camp in Germany, where—at the risk of his life—he saved an estimated 200–300 Jews from being singled out from the camp for Nazi persecution and possible death.
Samuel del Campo was a Chilean diplomat who was recognized as a Righteous Among the Nations for saving 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust by issuing them Chilean passports between 1941 and 1943. He and María Edwards are the only Chileans honored as such.
Manuel Muñoz Borrero was an Ecuadorian diplomat who issued approximately 100 Ecuadorian passports to save Jews during the Holocaust. He is the only Ecuadorian to be recognized by Yad Vashem as a Righteous among the Nations.
The Hardaga family was a traditional Muslim family that lived in the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo. The house where they lived was inhabited by Mustafa and his wife Zejneba, Mustafa’s brother Izet and his wife Bahrija.
Elisabeta Strul was a Romanian woman who saved Jews during the Holocaust and was recognized as a Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem for her actions during World War II. She married Marcus Strul, a Jew who worked with her in the textile factory where she worked. They immigrated to Israel and started a family.
A Cork woman who risked her life to save Jewish children from Nazi gas chambers has become the first Irish person to be honoured as "Righteous Among the Nations" by Yad Vashem, Israel's official memorial to Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Among those saved by Mary Elmes, who died in 2002, was Ronald Friend, now professor emeritus of psychology at Stony Brook, New York. At the time he was a two-year-old child whose father would not survive but whose five-year-old brother Michael was also rescued by Ms Elmes.
