Righteous
Among the Nations
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, Yad Vashem has recognized 27,921 Righteous Among the Nations from 51 countries.[1]

By country

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, Paul Schiemann, Roberts Seduls and Johanna Sedule
 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 [es] (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

See also

References

  1. ^ "Names of Righteous by Country". Yad Vashem. 1 January 2021. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
  2. ^ "Poland. Historical Background – The Righteous Among The Nations". Yad Vashem. Archived from the original on 18 August 2010. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
  3. ^ "Karolina Juszczykowska". Stories of Women Who Rescued Jews During the Holocaust. Righteous Among the Nations - Yad Vashem.
  4. ^ "The Death Penalty for Helping Jews | Polscy Sprawiedliwi".
  5. ^ Graaff, Arthur (18 January 2012), "Nederlanders redde joden", De Volkskrant (in Dutch), NL
  6. ^ "The Righteous Among The Nations". Jerusalem, Israel: Yad Vashem. 1990. Retrieved 14 December 2015.
  7. ^ Hans Calmeyer: his activity to save Jews' lives during the Holocaust, at Yad Vashem website
  8. ^ Gerritsen, Hendrika Jacoba (Heinsius), in The Righteous Among the Nations. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, retrieved online 6 April 2018.
  9. ^ "Familieberichten" [Family notices]. Het Parool. 28 December 1990. Retrieved 13 April 2018 – via Delpher.
  10. ^ "Caecilia Antonia Maria Loots - Stories of Women Who Rescued Jews During the Holocaust". Righteous Among the Nations - Yad Vashem.
  11. ^ "Stories of Rescue The Netherlands Mario Pritchard". The Jewish Foundation for the righteous. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
  12. ^ "Profiles in Courage". Keene State College. Retrieved 4 September 2014.
  13. ^ Langer, Emily (29 February 2012). "Tina Strobos, Dutch student who rescued 100 Jews during the Holocaust, dies at 91". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
  14. ^ "Jacques Chirac Honors French World War II Saviors". European Jewish Congress. 11 April 2007. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007.
  15. ^ Hieromonk Daniil Tymchyna – his activity to save Jews' lives during the Holocaust, at Yad Vashem website
  16. ^ Stepan Omelianiuk – his activity to save Jews' lives during the Holocaust, at the Yad Vashem website.
  17. ^ "Former Catholic Teacher Honored for Saving 2000 Jewish Children from Nazis". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 6 October 1972.
  18. ^ Dan Mikhman (1998). Belgium and the Holocaust: Jews, Belgians, Germans. Berghahn Books. pp. 310–. ISBN 978-965-308-068-3.
  19. ^ "Jeanne Daman-Scaglione - Stories of Women Who Rescued Jews During the Holocaust - Righteous Among the Nations - Yad Vashem".
  20. ^ Kirst, Sean (27 August 2017). "Saying goodbye to quiet hero who saved thousands during WWII". The Buffalo News. Retrieved 27 August 2017.
  21. ^ Karig Sára - her activity to save Jews' lives during the Holocaust, at Yad Vashem website
  22. ^ Israel Gutman, Bracha Rivlin e Liliana Picciotto, I giusti d'Italia: i non ebrei che salvarono gli ebrei, 1943-45 (Mondadori: Milano 2006), pp. 75-76.
  23. ^ "Yad Vashem The Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority". Yad Vashem. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
  24. ^ "Catholic activist killed for saving Jews set for sainthood". The Times of Israel. 16 June 2013. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
  25. ^ "Belarus. Historical Background - The Righteous Among The Nations". Yad Vashem. 16 February 2010. Archived from the original on 18 August 2010. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
  26. ^ Slovakia yadvashem.org
  27. ^ Alena Hájková - her activity to save Jews' lives during the Holocaust, at Yad Vashem website
  28. ^ Moldova yadvashem.org
  29. ^ "Minutes of the Sub-Commission for the Recognition of the "Righteous Among the Nations"" (in German). Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 18 April 2005. Retrieved 10 June 2009.;
  30. ^ Tschuy, Theo. Dangerous Diplomacy: The Story of Carl Lutz, Rescuer of 62,000 Hungarian Jews, 2000. Grand Rapids:Eerdmans. ISBN 0-8028-3905-3
  31. ^ "Featured Stories - Bosnia - The Righteous Among The Nations". Yad Vashem. 16 February 2010. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
  32. ^ Bosnia yadvashem.org
  33. ^ "Featured Stories - Armenia - The Righteous Among The Nations". Yad Vashem. 16 February 2010. Retrieved 21 October 2021.
  34. ^ Armenia yadvashem.org
  35. ^ Novick, Peter (1999). The Holocaust in American Life. Mariner Books. p. 180. ISBN 978-0618082322.
  36. ^ "Slovenian Righteous at Yad Vashem" (PDF). Retrieved 6 September 2013.
  37. ^ Boris Altiparmak - his activity to save Jews' lives during the Holocaust, at Yad Vashem website
  38. ^ Stojan Siljanovski - his activity to save Jews' lives during the Holocaust, at Yad Vashem website
  39. ^ Ivan Danielsson - his activity to save Jews' lives during the Holocaust, at Yad Vashem website
  40. ^ Lars Berg - his activity to save Jews' lives during the Holocaust, at Yad Vashem website
  41. ^ "American Lois Gunden named Righteous Gentile". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 8 July 2013. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
  42. ^ "Lois Gunden - Stories of Women Who Rescued Jews During the Holocaust - Righteous Among the Nations - Yad Vashem". Retrieved 4 December 2015.
  43. ^ "American Named Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem for Saving Fellow Jewish Soldiers". Retrieved 4 December 2015.
  44. ^ "Yad Vashem recognizes first Peruvian righteous gentile". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 12 June 2014. Retrieved 4 February 2017.
  45. ^ "Names of Righteous by Country".
  46. ^ "Peru; Righteous Among the Nations Honored by Yad Vashem by 1 January 2022" (PDF).
  47. ^ "Diplomats Recognized by Yad Vashem".
  48. ^ "The Righteous Among the Nations Department". Yad Vashem. 2005. Retrieved 1 April 2013.
  49. ^ "Chilean diplomat who saved over 1,200 Jews honored as Righteous Among the Nations". 22 October 2017.
  50. ^ Indonesia yadvashem.org
  51. ^ "Dr. Mohamed Helmy and Frieda Szturmann". The Righteous Among The Nations - Yad Vashem. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
  52. ^ "Cork woman receives first Irish honour for saving Jewish victims of the Holocaust". The Irish Times. 15 May 2013. Retrieved 21 August 2013. 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.
  53. ^ "Tribute to the Irish Scarlet Pimpernel - The Jewish Chronicle". Archived from the original on 8 September 2017.
  54. ^ Riordan, Michael (20 May 2017). "The unbelievable heroic story of Ireland's overlooked 'Oskar Schindler'". The Times of Israel.

Bibliography

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