BETWEEN HITLER AND STALIN

DEPARTMENT OF THE RIGHTEOUS AT YAD VASHEM

Yad Vashem is Israel’s official Holocaust memorial – its full title is Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority. Yad Vashem undertakes several activities, including, among others, recording testimonies of survivors, conducting research on the Holocaust, conducting education campaigns on the Holocaust, holding ceremonies of remembrance, and honoring those who helped Jews escape the horrors of the Holocaust.

The Department of the Righteous at Yad Vashem researches the role of gentiles in aiding Jews during the Holocaust. A gentile can be declared a “Righteous among the Nations” if they aided Jews in escaping from the Holocaust and did not receive material compensation from doing so. Those who helped Jews escape or sheltered Jews from the Holocaust did so at great peril to themselves; aiding or hiding a Jew carried with it the death penalty.

Since 1963 when the law on the Righteous among the Nations was passed, some 15 000 people have been honored with the title. Among them is Ukrainian Metropolitan Andriy Sheptytsky. Ukrainians place third on the list in terms of numbers of those who have been honored as Righteous Among the Nations of all the nationalities of Europe. The medal received by those so honored is inscribed with a passage from the Talmud – “Whosoever preserves one life, it is as though he has preserved the entire world.” The title “Righteous among the Nations” is the highest honor bestowed by the Israeli government on non-Jews.