Righteous among the Nations

This article discusses the title in relation to the Holocaust. See Virtuous pagan for the theological concept and righteous gentile for the concept in historical Judaism.

Righteous among the Nations (Hebrew: חסידי אומות העולם‎, khassidey umot ha-olam "righteous (plural) of the world's nations"), also translated as Righteous Gentiles^{[citation needed]} 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.

Bestowing

Righteous Medal

Righteous Diploma

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 has been 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:

• only a Jewish party can put a nomination forward;
• helping a family member or Jewish convert to Christianity does not count;
• the assistance has to be repeated and/or substantial; and
• the assistance has to be given without any financial gain expected in return (although covering normal expenses such as rent or food are 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.

The Yad Vashem Law also 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.

As of 1 January 2011, 23,788 men and women from 45 countries have been recognized as Righteous among the Nations, representing over 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.

Righteous Among the Nations by country and ethnic origin as of January 1, 2011

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. See List of Righteous among the Nations by country for names of individuals.

Country of origin	Awards	Notes
Poland	6,266	Including Irena Sendler - Polish social worker who served in the Polish Underground and the Żegota resistance organization in German-occupied Warsaw during World War II. She saved 2,500 Jewish children. Leopold "Poldek" Socha, a sewer inspector, hid a group of Jews in a remote corner of the Lvov sewers. He began doing this for money but as the Nazi atrocities increased and he became more and more attached to his charges, the money became unimportant. His incredible story is told in the film In Darkness, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture of 2012. In the film, Socha is played by the renowned Polish stage actor Robert Wieckiewicz. In German-occupied Poland, all household members were punished by death if a Jew was found concealed in their home or property. Death was a punishment for providing any aid to a Jew, including giving bread or water to passing Jews. This was the most severe law enforced by the German Nazis in occupied Europe. See Polish Righteous among the Nations
Netherlands	5,108	Includes two persons originally from Indonesia residing in the Netherlands. In the Netherlands, people hiding Jews would usually be punished by either being sent to concentration camps or by being shot (usually after a "trial"). Includes Corrie Ten Boom.
France	3,331	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.
Ukraine	2,363
Belgium	1,584	Including Queen Elisabeth of the Belgians, née Duchess in Bavaria.
Lithuania	800	See Lithuanian Righteous among the Nations, Kazys Binkis, Ona Šimaitė.
Hungary	764	Zoltan Bay, physicist; father of radar-astronomy, Béla Király , Géza Ottlik author, Endre Szervánszky composer.
Belarus	555
Slovakia	522
Italy	498	Including Laura and Constantino Bulgari, Lorenzo Perrone, and Giorgio Perlasca
Germany	495	Including Oskar Schindler, the businessman who saved over a thousand Jews by employing them in his factory; and Hans and Sophie Scholl, sibling members of the White Rose resistance movement; Captain Gustav Schröder who commanded the "Voyage of the Damned"; German army officer Wilm Hosenfeld; German army Major Karl Plagge; resistance fighter Hans von Dohnanyi, and writer Armin Wegner.
Greece	307	Including Archbishop Damaskinos of Athens and Princess Alice of Battenberg.
Russia	173
Serbia	131
Latvia	129	Including Jānis Lipke.
Czech Republic	108	Victor Kugler one of the Anne Frank helpers.
Croatia	102
Austria	88	Irene Harand, Florian Tschögl
Moldova	79
Albania	69	Atif & Ganimet Toptani
Romania	60	Including Prince Constantin Karadja, credited by Yad Vashem with saving over 51,000 Jews.
Norway	47	See Norwegian Righteous among the Nations
Switzerland	45	Includes Carl Lutz, who helped save tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews.
Bosnia and Herzegovina	40
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.
Bulgaria	19	Dimitar Peshev; Sofia Metropolitan Stefan and Plovdiv Metropolitan Kiril of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church
United Kingdom	14	This list includes Major Frank Foley, but excludes Sir Nicholas Winton, as he is of Jewish parentage
Armenia	19
Sweden	10	Including Raoul Wallenberg, Per Anger and Valdemar Langlet
Slovenia	6
Spain	4	Angel Sanz Briz, José and Carmen Santaella, and Eduardo Propper de Callejón.
United States	4	Varian Fry, Hiram Bingham IV, Martha Sharp, and Waitstill Sharp
Estonia	3	Uku Masing and Eha Masing, Polina Lentsman
Republic of China	2	Pan Jun Shun and Feng-Shan Ho (provided approximately 2000 visas to Jews in needed during his tenure as ambassador of ROC in Austria in 1938).
Brazil	2	Luiz Martins de Souza Dantas and Aracy de Carvalho Guimarães Rosa.
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.
Morocco	1	Mohammed V of Morocco (former King of Morocco, grandfather of the current king Mohammed VI of Morocco)
Chile	1	María Edwards
El Salvador	1	José Castellanos Contreras (provided Salvadoran citizenship papers to approximately 13,000 Central European Jews).
Japan	1	Chiune Sugihara (provided approximately 3,400 transit visas to Jews in need).
Ireland	1	Hugh O'Flaherty
Georgia	1	Sergei Metreveli
Luxembourg	1	Victor Bodson, (former Justice Minister and Chairman of the Luxembourg House of Representatives; saved approximately 100 Jews)
Montenegro	1	Petar Zankovic
Turkey	1	Selâhattin Ülkümen
Vietnam	1	Paul Nguyen Cong Anh
Total	23,788	As of 2011

Veneration

The Righteous among the Nations are honored with a feast day on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church (USA) on July 16.

See also

• Category:Righteous Among the Nations
• Ger Toshav
• Ger tzedek
• 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
• Zegota Council to Aid the Jews in occupied Poland
• Virtuous pagan
• Ivan Vranetić
• Edwin Holt Hughes

References

• 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.
• 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 & Werblowski, 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 J. Neusner, A. Avery-Peck, and W.S. Green, Second Edition, ISBN 90-04-14787-X, Leiden: Brill, 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

External links

• The Righteous Among the Nations at Yad Vashem
• Story of Dutch Righteous Gentile Rut Matthijsen
• Polish Righteous at Museum of The History of Polish Jews
• Heroes and Heroines of the Holocaust at Holocaust Survivors' Network
• Holocaust Rescuers Bibliography
• Saving Jews: Polish Righteous
• Photo gallery on righteous gentiles during the Holocaust at Simon Wiesenthal Center
• Rescuers at 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." Irena Steinfeldt. The Jerusalem Post, April 14, 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