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Righteous Among the Nations
[Hebrew, Chasidei Umot Ha-olam] - A medal and
honorary title established in 1953 by the Yad Vashem
Institute in
Jerusalem. It is awarded to individuals who saved Jews
during the
Holocaust.
In 1944-1950, the Central Committee of Jews in Poland
(CKZP) was
involved in honoring Poles who helped Jews during the Second
World War.
On the basis of testimony from someone who had been saved, a
letter of
gratitude is sent, and usually a small monetary award. If
that person
has financial difficulties, he or she is given long-term
monetary
assistance, and sometimes other help is offered. Attempts
are made to
find the person employment, for example, or intervention is
sought if
there are problems with the law, including in political
cases. By the
end of 1946, 166,500 z�otys were awarded in this way. In
1947,
activities were halted because of a lack of funds.
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In 1948, a Committee for Aid to Poles was
created as part of the Legal Section of the CKZP. It existed
until the
CKZP became the Towarzystwo Spoleczno-Kulturalne Zydow w
Polsce
(Polish-Jewish Social and Cultural Society) (1950). The idea
of honoring
the "righteous" then became the domain of the Jewish
Historical
Institute (Zydowski Instytut Historyczny, ZIH), which was
involved in
collecting witness testimonies. When the Knesset in Israel
passed
legislation establishing the Righteous Among the Nations
medal, ZIH
cooperated with Yad Vashem, providing it with the
documentation that had
been gathered.
Sections at Yad Vashem are involved in collecting
documentation and
survivor testimonies not only from Poland, but also from all
German-occupied areas of Europe. A commission, whose
chairman is a judge
of the Supreme Court of Israel, reviews the materials
gathered and
makes decisions about the awarding of medals and honorary
titles. Those
who receive the medals also are granted honorary Israeli
citizenship and
a diploma along with the medal, on which the name of the
recipient is
written together with a statement from the Talmud: "Whoever
saves one
life saves the entire world."
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During the ceremony at which the award is
granted, a tree is planted and a plaque with his or her name
on it is
installed in the Avenue of the Righteous on the Mount of
Remembrance in
Jerusalem.
When Poland broke relations with Israel in 1967,
awarding medals to
Poles was more difficult. Since 1990, the ceremony has taken
place twice
a year, and the number of recipients has been more than a
dozen each
time. By the end of 1997, of the 15,670 who had been awarded
the medal
from thirty different countries, 5,134 were Poles. In 1999,
legislation
passed by the Sejm also granted them veterans' privileges.
(A.C., G.Z./CM)
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