FOT21 - Righteous among the nations – Lea Micha

Good evening Good morning.
Good day everybody. It's

good to see you all here
with us today. Um, for those

of you who have not met in
the past, I will introduce

myself reintroduce myself.
My name is Sarah quantites.

I'm the director of the
Christian friends of Yad

Shem. And and as I said,
it's great to see friends

and I would appreciate it
people will turn on their

cameras so that we will
really feel that we are

together at least virtual
leaf we can't, if it is so

difficult to fly today
actually, last month in the

lecture, I was on my way
back home from the US there

was in the United States.
And I was on my way back to

Israel. And I must tell you
that it was a blessing

really for to meet friends,
many of whom are here today

with us. After so many
months of not being able to

meet personally It was great
to see it in, in talk with

face to face with with our
friends. But thank God

believe in a generation that
we do have alternatives and

we do have a resume that is
very convenient and enables

us to have this very, very
important webinar. As you

probably remember our
webinar series life hatred

and hope that is conducted
in partnership with the

international Christian
embassy, Jerusalem, the

combat anti semitism
movement, and the American

Christian leaders. for
Israel has six chapters.

Each chapter has two
lectures. Today we'll hear

the sixth lecture, given by
Mrs. Lammy her on the

Righteous Among the Nations
those non Jews who help save

Jews during the Holocaust by
actually endangering their

own lives, and many times
the lives of their families.

But before we start, I want
to remind you that if you

have any questions, please
write them in the chat.

After the lecture. Mikey
Weisberg will present like

their questions to lair and
she'll do her best to answer

your questions. They also
want to ask you not to miss

use the chat, please write
in the chat only questions

that are relevant to the
topic of the lecture and

remarks regarding the
lecture and not other

things, I would now like to
ask my friend and colleague,

Pastor Mark Jenkins, the US
representative of the

Christian friends of the of
the Shem, to say the opening

remarks, please, Mark?

Well, it's my privilege to
welcome you to this seminar

series, as saree has told
us, life hatred and hope.

And this is brought to you
live from Yad Vashem, the

world Holocaust Memorial
Education Center in

Jerusalem. This is a special
opportunity to gather and to

get information from,
really, I think, a world's

leading authority on what
we're going to be talking

about today. This is a
partnership of course

between the international
Christian embassy in

Jerusalem, the American
Christian leaders for

Israel, and also combat
combat anti semitism. And I

just want to offer my
personal thanks and

appreciation to your
computer of se ej Jerusalem,

Susan Michaels have asked ej
USA, and of course, our dear

friend and colleague Sorry,
sorry, Grenada, who's

director of the Christian
desk of Yod Miss Sherman is

our connections, your
connection to yada Shem and

we appreciate what she does
in connecting the Christian

community, to Yaga Shem and
to this important work that

your Bishop does, and today
we're going to be talking

about the Righteous Among
the nation's and

righteousness simply means
right doing, and we'll hear

about right doing people who
risked their lives or

livelihoods to protect as
best they could. The Jewish

people in their communities,
these courageous people,

many of them Christians
stood for what is right, and

one of the darkest periods
of human history. And now

they're examples to us of
courage in the face of

adversity. Their stories
inspire us and they are in

And we know that evil
triumphs when good people do

nothing. So we're not to be
silent in the face of rising

anti semitism. And as the
late evangelical minister

that many of you remember
Dr. Billy Graham once said,

racial prejudice, anti
semitism or hatred of anyone

with different beliefs, has
no place in the human mind

or heart. So we are thankful
today and indeed honored to

have with us Leah makeup.
She is a political scientist

and researcher. She's worked
at Yad Vashem since 2013,

initially as a researcher at
the International Institute

for Holocaust research at
the abbey Shem, working on

the deportation database and
research project, and later

in the Righteous Among the
Nations department. She's

currently the head of the
department of Balcon

studies, Greece, Cyprus and
Turkey at the International

School for Holocaust studies
of Jada sham. And Leah holds

a BA in political science, a
research master's degree in

International Relations from
the University of sovann in

Paris, France, as well as a
BA in religious and

religions from the
University of Athens,

Greece. She started her PhD
on Greek foreign policy

towards Israel in the
Department of Political

Science and International
Relations at the University

of Sorbonne. And she's also
worked as a research fellow

at bar Ilan university to
get a great Bible studies

program there. She is a
scholar and of the Israeli

Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
So we are in good company

today and laya, that the
thank you for staying up

late and bringing this
presentation about

benevolence during World War
Two and the Righteous Among

the Nations. So let us thank
and welcome, Leah. Hello,

there they are, Mark.
They're all I am in good

company. Thank you very
much. It's an honor to be

here tonight, among you,
very distinguished guests.

And thank you for the
invitation to talk about the

subject the topic that I
find. Absolutely. It's a

fascinating subject as as
Mark Jenkins already

mentioned, I have the
privilege to work at the

Righteous Among the Nations
department of Yad Vashem

with other than directory
Dinnerstein, Fareed, and I

had, again, the privilege
and the chance to do some

research in cases of
applications that came

together with the request to
have people recognized as

Righteous Among the Nations.
So I'm gonna start with

sharing my PowerPoint. So
when when, sorry, grants or

the director from Jeb Bush,
I'm the Christian

department, she contacted me
and asked me to deliver a

lecture about the Righteous
Among the Nations. And I

knew that the date was July
28. The very first thing

that that came to my mind,
it was a sort of say,

sad, or how would I say like
the coincidence of it,

obviously, I have this
specific date. So we're July

28. And in the three days
from now on July 31, that

will be completed 60 years.
Since getting, you have in

front of you that very first
slide of this PowerPoint

presentation. And 80 is the
famous letter sent from

getting to hydrate. And it
is about the implementation

of the final solution.
Herman getting as you know,

he was one of the most
powerful figures in the Nazi

Party. And he writes under
instructions from Hitler and

he orders ran out hydration
was an assess general and

the number two man of
Himmler to submit to Him as

soon as possible and general
plan of the administrative

material and financial
measures necessary for

carrying out I quote, the
desired final solution of

the Jewish question. This
letter is considered to be

so to say the cornerstone of
the cornerstone document in

the evolution and the
implement of the final

solution. I will not go
further into that besides my

direction Like multidevice
and Berg vice Berg presented

on the subject in the
previous lecture of the same

series. I will only briefly
say that, though, I start

talking about the right
shows by talking about the

final solution. The final
solution was preceded, of

course by a series of
actions and measures that

aimed at discriminating and
targeting and dispossessing

the Jews have all their
saving rights. Their

persecution and of course
ended with the deportations

to the extermination comes
in the murder of some 6

million Jews. This being a
procedure of course, that

started with a Nazi rise to
power and, and with with

extermination camps. I
quote, in the words of Elie

Wiesel, there was darkness
everywhere in heaven and on

earth. All the gates of
compassion seem to have been

closed, the killer killed,
and the Jews died. And the

outside world adopted an
attitude either of

complicity or of
indifference. Only a few had

the courage to care. These
few men and women were

vulnerable, afraid,
helpless, what made them

different from their fellow
citizens and of quote, in

the course of this
presentation, we will talk

about these very few
elements themselves, the

choices they made, the
dilemmas, the decisions, the

big decisions and the small
decisions, the very small

daily decisions that made a
big huge difference in other

people's lives, and
individual faced with

extreme conditions, such as
World War, and the Holocaust

is less likely to perceive
that this person has the

responses the necessary
responses to cope with it.

However, during the shock,
however, during the genocide

of the Jews, like in every
other case, people will

quit, we're still called to
position themselves and

respond to the challenges of
the time one way or another.

In Holocaust and genocide
studies in general, there is

a topology, the one that you
see in this slide for

classifying the participants
and observers of a genocide.

This was first proposed by
Raul hilberg in his 1992,

book perpetrators victims
bystanders, Jewish

catastrophic 1933 1945. So
according to this

psychology, you see in front
of you the three distinct

categories and all the gray
lines in between the

bystanders, the victims, and
of course, the perpetrators.

These people technology, I
will not go too much into

it, but I'm saying a few
words that it has been

criticized for vagueness and
for over generalization.

There have been academics
who have suggested adding

another type another
category, which is the

helpers and the
beneficiaries. In some, we

could say that the actions
reactions and motivations of

perpetrators victims and
bystanders are the focus of

Holocaust and genocide
research. Of course, the

greatest emphasis has been
on on the perpetrators.

However, the examination of
the role of bystanders and

even the definition of the
term itself has been quite

neglected. As I already
said, there are great gray

lines that are inter
relationships within and

among these three groups.
These three groups at the

end of the day they are
nothing but they are

everything I'm sorry but
static entities, they are

this topology is only there
for us to help us understand

the complexity of the
historical phenomenon that

the Holocaust has been
people in all their

contradictions were at times
part of this or the other

group or categorization
type. And as this graphic

such as we still have to
affirm that The rescue of

Jews by non Jews was the
exception rather than other

all during the Holocaust.
Most people never considered

helping Jews the brutal
repression of those who

helped and fear of such
repression, the culture of

conformity as well, the
prevailing atmosphere of

fear of anti semitism. And
of course, one cannot

neglect the profound
suffering engendered by the

word itself. all contributed
to an attitude of caring

only for me and me, myself
and my, and the general

abandonment of the Jews to
their fate was their own.

Nevertheless, that it is
estimated that out of 9

million Jews under Nazi
domination 10s of 1000s were

rescued during the Holocaust
by non Jewish people. So,

who were these people, the
rescuers and and why only if

you as as, as Elie Wiesel
asks, many rescuers acted

out of a sense of concern
acted out of a sense of

altruism. This selfish
desire to help those who

were being persecuted,
somewhere performed acts of

heroism based upon deeply
held religious beliefs.

Others acted simply in the
spur of the moment, offering

help to someone they had
never seen before, as soon

as they realize that this
person needs help. Yet

others acted out of loyalty
to people with whom they had

developed, close long
lasting close personal ties.

If caught by the Nazis,
those who attempted to

provide aid to Jews were
sent to prisons or

concentration camps or even
immediately executed. And

this of course, depending on
the country, which which

they lived. Rescue put both
the immediate family of

course the person but also
the immediate family and

even more than that,
sometimes even the entire

entire community of the
rescue are in danger. Some

rescuers survived until the
end of the war, only to be

murdered by their neighbors
for having had the carrots

or the audacity to help
Jews. It is unknown how many

people managed to survive
thanks to those very few.

But it is known that they
were only the fortunate few

those Jews that survived
thanks to that I chose among

the nations the
establishment of Yad Vashem,

which was enacted by a law
by the Israeli Knesset, the

Israeli parliament in 1953.

had had a very specific
mandate from its very

beginning. Even before that,
even before 53, already at

the height of World War Two,
in 1942. We come across the

initiative of, of creating a
space of memory in the

memory of those European
Jews who perished throughout

Europe at the time. The
person who was the was was a

better they initiated this
whole process more than I

should have be a member of
the kibbutz. Miss Mara emek

notes I caught for Jewish
heroism to build a monument

and more monument that will
symbolize the will of our

people to leave and fight.
Yep, a sham was immediately

had this this duty according
to the law of 53 to

commemorate the victims, and
in those who fought them the

heroes of the Holocaust
alongside as the law as I

read from the lightsaber
that is hereby established

in Jerusalem Memorial
authority, Yad Vashem to

commemorate number one, the
6 million Saudi members of

the Jewish people. Number
two, the Jewish families,

the communities and the last
one number nine in the

based, I quote the high
minded Gentiles who risked

their lives to save Jews.
The term Righteous Among the

Nations Casa de matar.
lambay varied in Hebrew was

taken from Jewish tradition,
from the literature of the

savage sages, where it was
used to describe the non

Jews who came to the aid of
the Jewish people in times

of need, or non Jews who
respect the basic tenets set

down in the Bible, including
the prohibition of

bloodshed. The Yad Vashem
law took the existing term

and added a new meaning to
it. The avenue of the

Righteous Among the Nations,
this is one of the memorial

sides inside. You see here
on the top left an aerial

picture of the abortion
complex. The avenue of the

Righteous Among the Nations
was one of the very first

memorials to be inaugurated
on Yad Vashem campus. It was

dedicated on Holocaust
Remembrance Day in 1962. The

Israeli government was
represented by the foreign

minister called the mayor
that you see in the picture,

and the first 11 trees were
planted along the path

leading to the Hall of
remembrance. These trees, we

will have a chance in a
while to have a sort of

visual tour of the Avenue of
the Righteous Among the

Nations where trees are
planted in the memory and in

the honor of the Righteous
Among the Nations. So these

trees were placed on the
ground by rescuers from

different countries, as well
as by their Israeli hosts,

those Jews that they were
rescued, in her speech

called the mayor said, I
quote, the Jewish people

remember not only the
villains, but also every

small detail of the rescue
attempts. She compared, End

of quote, she compared the
Righteous Among the Nations,

two drops of love in an
ocean of boys, and said, I

quote, they rescued not only
the lives of Jews, but they

saved hope, the hope and the
faith in the human spirit.

Okay. So, while I'm waiting
for the, for the link to be

uploaded, I will say that
the first trees were

planted. In 19, in the
beginning of 1963, you have

a view of how it looks, this
is the entrance of the

avenue of Righteous Among
the Nations.

As you see at the beginning
of this link, I'll go back

for a second. And I'll stop
here, you see a sort of an

alley in the middle of this,
of this picture of this

video. And on the left of
eight, eight is the entrance

to the I'm sorry, to the Yad
Vashem Holocaust History

Museum, the choice of the
location for the creation

for the creation of the
Avenue of the Righteous

Among the Nations was made
very early and very with a

very clear aim, which was
exactly to demonstrate the

this dynamics of the
situation or situations

include on what a person is,
is called to make decisions.

So, on the right, you have
the avenue you have the

helpers, those who rescued
and on the left, so that the

hope and something to keep
the hope to the human exists

existence and on the left
you have the Holocaust

History Museum, which
symbolized symbolizes simply

the disaster. I will keep
playing I press on the Play

button and I will talk while
you are virtually visiting

the avenue there was a
choice to plant trees in the

memory of the Righteous
Among the Nations and why

for for various reasons.
First of all, for all,

everything that a tree
symbolizes for the oxygen,

which is a symbol of Life Of
course, the shadow was a

symbol of protection and and
refuge. You see On the

bottom of the tree there is
there is always a sign with

a name of the rescuers, the
name of the righteous, and

the country of origin. So
it's usually in Hebrew and

in English. And so I said
it's for the oxygen and for

the shadow and for the
fruits, the symbol of future

life, the symbol of an
optimistic future. amiable

shame. There are two types
of trees planted olive

trees, with all the powerful
and universal symbolism of

peace, and the other one is
the cat of trees. The second

category of trees was a more
Jewish symbolism. There is a

short story from the movie
that I would like to share

with you. So the story goes
like this. It's about honey

and the carob tree. I first
of all, I have to say that

it takes 70 years for these
three the character to bear

fruit. Therefore, one
wonders what is the point of

planting a carob tree, if
one is not going to leave at

the end of the day to enjoy
the outcome of it and of

course, let alone to taste
its fruits. So honey asks a

man and this man tells him
that he came into the world

with when when he came into
the world, his father and

grandfather had planted
carrot trees for him so that

he could enjoy them. The
story from the Talmud, it

goes like this one day,
honey was walking down the

road when he saw a man
planting a carob tree. And

honey said to the man, how
many years will these three

need to produce fruit? The
man answered 70 years. And

honey said, Is it so clear
to you that you will leave

70 years, the man answered,
I felt cut off trees in the

world. I plant them for my
children. The story goes

like this Polly sits down
and eats some bread and

falls asleep. A pile of
rocks and dirt. Our eyes are

always I'm sorry around him.
He slept for 70 years. And

when he wakes up, he sees
the same man picking carrots

from the tree and he says to
him, Are you the same man

who planted this tree? And
the man answer's no. I'm his

grandson. So finally the
planting of here you see the

entrance? Exactly. Here's
the entrance to the

Holocaust History Museum of
Yad Vashem and of course the

planting of, of trees has
also another symbol is

Israel. I'm going back to my
PowerPoint

which has to do with the
reforestation, exploitation

of land projects carried out
by the Jewish national fund.

Already on behalf of the
issue of and later on for

the State of Israel. In Yad
Vashem, there is an

independent public
conditions shared by a

justice of Israel Supreme
Court, established in order

to define the criteria and
decide who can be awarded

this title of Righteous
Among the Nations. The

committee's first meeting
was hailed in 1963. And the

discussion that went on to
grapple with regulations and

procedures, the definition
of the criteria and the role

that should be accorded to
their archers, Indian

regimes work. Most of the
members of the Commission

are Holocaust survivors, and
who really strongly

apparently believe in the
importance of bringing to

light the stories of
humanism and rescue. And all

the decisions are reviewed
by the Commission's

chairman. As I said before,
it's is a justice of the

Israeli Supreme Court. So
this is the person reviewing

before the decisions become
final awarding being awarded

the title of Righteous Among
the Nations is accompanied

by a model that you see on
the left and the certificate

on the right on the on the
medal itself it is written

from a quote from the
Mishnah, Whosoever saves a

single life saves an entire
universe, this is what is

inscribed on the medal. Up
until this day, there are

close to 28 more than
27,700. Righteous Among the

Nations recognized by Yad
Vashem on the name of the

State of Israel from 51
different countries. And

it's, it's it's, the numbers
keep, keep growing, I mean,

through we've been now at
the stage where lots of the

persons were asked to give
testimony, those who were

saved. parish howevers, the
grandsons and granddaughters

come to Yad Vashem still
attend today they send

applications with a request
to have the rescuers being

awarded this title. Only
last last week, I was

contacted just because of my
country of origin, a person

from Greece and 94 years
old, contacted me with his

request to accomplish what
he considers a duty before

his life Hence, the basic
conditions of going back to

the law of 1953. The basic
conditions, in order to give

this title are the following
First active involvement of

the rescuer in saving one or
several Jews from the threat

of death or the protection
to death camps. It was it

was one of this active
involvement that you see

here. It was it was the very
first one of the very first

criteria and immediately
accompanied by the risk. The

Knesset law, the Israeli
parliament law that went on

to characterize already back
in 53, that I chose as not

only those who saved Jews,
but risked their lives and

this is the second criterion
to risk their lives in doing

so. And this as a matter of
fact, has come to has become

the basic criterion for
awarding the title. The

third criterion is
humanitarian intentions as

primary incentive, ie, the
person who helped and

rescued did not do that in
order to get something in

return did not do that for
payment or any other reward,

such as religious
conversion, for instance,

adoption of a child and so
on and so forth. And the

last criteria number four is
the existence of testimony

of those who were helped of
those who are rescued.

So, there is a very clear
cut meat of documentation.

In order to establish the
actual nature and the

circumstances of the rescue.
Different types of help we

can we can distinguish in
the different files It can

range from shelter,
providing shelters writing

and drawing one's home. In
some sort of institution, it

can be providing Jews with
false certificates, false

IDs or baptised ml
certificates. Then, another

type of help has been to
give, provide help in order

to facilitate the person's
fleeing to a safer location,

negotiate safe crossing
inside occupied territories

from border to border. And
finally, we have seen also

the cases of temporary
adoption of Jewish children.

And of course, this has
always been under not their

real name, and identity. If
we would like to categorize

the types of rescue
activities we would give to

sort of big categories one
individual or personal

rescue and The other one
would be the organized or

group rescue. In the case of
individual and personal

rescue, in most cases, the
rescuer provided the help

based on either Family Ties
or friendship or business

relationships. However, and
this is less of course, then

in the other categories, we
also have cases of providing

help without any previous
contact. In the cases of

organized rescue, there is a
great variety here of

ranging from from clergy
members. So, religious

institutions, anti fascist
and leftist movements,

partisans, administrative
officials as well, which has

been diplomats as rescue
operations of diplomats from

a neutral countries. There
is no clear type of, of what

I secure. There is no clear
type of a helper of an

overnight secure there were
men and women and religious

people and our face and
religious Christians and

religious Muslims and poor
and rich and conservatives

and leftists. Bottom line in
a four a five we could like

pinpoint a quote that comes
out of many of these very

different in background
cases is that they did that

out of a sort of inner
necessity. The court that I

have put in this slide what
I have done is what I should

have done is something that
we see coming back again and

again repeating itself
throughout the the fires and

the cases that we examine
the first in for the second

part of this presentation,
we shall see together a few

examples of righteous.

The very first one we saw
her three before we saw the

three that it is planted in
her memory and in her honor.

It is Irena Sendler. Irena
Sendler was a Polish social

worker, you see her picture
on the left on the top left

in this picture says Eros
antlers is 29 years old. And

in the picture on the right,
she is the same person at

towards the end of her life.
When World War Two broke

out. Elena was a Spanish
social worker nurse. And

later on, she became
director of the children's

department for the council
for AIDS to choose the so

called cincotta. It was an
underground resistance group

in Poland during World War
Two.

when World War Two broke,
she was working in the

welfare department of the
Warsaw municipality. After

the German occupation, the
department continued to take

care of a great number of
poor and dispossessed people

in the city. And the Rana
was the person that she took

advantage of her job in
order to help the Jews. At

some point, this became
impossible because of the

ghettoization of the Jews of
the city. However, she

managed to find a way to
enter the ghetto to smuggle

things in and smuggle things
out. smuggling aim it was

apparently provisions and
food and smuggling out it

was children. She helped
smuggle Jews out of the

ghetto to the area inside
and help setting up hiding

places for them. There were
four many ways in which

she's married our children.
One of them was hiding them

in luggage bags and carrying
them out by by the use of a

trolley and in some other
cases also via via

ambulance. faking illnesses
are, of course in some cases

being genuinely ill. What
was very unique in the Rana

Sandler's case, is that she
made a great effort when she

would smuggle these children
out and she would try

interest them to different
families or in religious

institutions. She made sure
to keep record of the names

of the family names and to
track the place where each

child was placed. She was
arrested in 43. She managed

to stash away incriminating
evidence, such as the code

that addresses of children.
And she made sure she I'm

sorry, she was also
sentenced to death and sent

to the famous public prison.
But underground activists

managed to bribe officials
and release her. In October

19 1965, she was among the
very first persons to be

recognized as as Righteous
Among the Nations by good

vision. And her and the tree
that you see on the right is

planted in her honor at the
very entrance of the avenue

of that I chose among the
nations for this second case

of Righteous Among the
Nations local Soha. With the

stay in Poland, Leopold
Sahil lived in a poor

neighborhood of law of
evolve in Poland and worked

as a laborer for the
municipal sanitation

department in maintaining
the sewage system. When the

Germans occupied evolve, so
horrified by the Germans

atrocities, I guess the
Jewish population,

befriended Jews who had been
interned in the ghetto, and

he decided to rescue at
least 20 of them. He co

opted another person to help
him to work with him Stephen

Grove levski, a poll who
worked with him in the

cleaning of these swedge
canals. And one night as he

walked in the kennels during
the ACCION in which the

ghetto was liquidated,
softened, notice several

Jews wading through the
effluent. So how allayed

their fears stop them from
heading from heading towards

the the end of the canal,
which was the mouth of the

river and propose that they
stay where they were so he

could help them assist them.
These sewage canonize that

he was responsible for their
maintenance became the

hiding place of the Jews.
And so high his wife and the

grog lab skis met their
needs from that day on. As

one can imagine hiding in
the sewers was very

difficult and both the
hiding Jews and their

helpers faced enormous
challenges.

The there was a family in
this ghetto in this sewage

canals I'm sorry to survive.
Do you see the pictures on

the right on the top right.
These are two children Pavel

and Christina. Shade offski
Massoud offski family, they

went into the sewers with
these two children who were

four and seven years old.
Paulina she rawski the

mother, in her interview
telling stories about how

she tried to teach her
daughter even under these

conditions. Later on
Christina herself she

describes how her father
used to write poetry inside

the sewage canals and
teacher language and

mathematics. They stayed
there for 14 months and saw

her not only helped them to
hide, but he did something

also very noble to help them
maintain a sort of normality

in between brackets, if I
may say by providing candles

for Shabbat and making sure
they get provided with other

things to maintain a sort of
normality in their everyday

life. They were recognized
Leupold and Magdalena saw

her his wife they recognized
as writers in 78. And also

Stephen herb levski. The
other sewer maintenance

worker and his wife are also
recognized as Righteous

Among the Nations there was
a film in 2011 released in

darkness by an yeska
Holland. Based on the actual

story of lamp on sofa and
the hiding in this worse,

the film director and yeska
Holland insists in in her

film, and in the interview
that she gave that it is

precisely on the burly
shoulders of Saha and his

ilk that their hopes for
human decency rest from time

to time. I mentioned before
both personal individual

rescue attempts and group
group efforts organized

rescue. There have been
various cases in countries

and communities across
Europe, where organized

rescue was successful. In
the Netherlands, in in

various cases, however, one
of the more prominent ones

is the one of Denmark.
Denmark and its underground

saved almost the whole
Jewish community in that

country some 7200 souls in a
single operation in October

1943. Just very few words
about the background, their

mark then mark was his
Museum, the map it's a

country located exactly on
the north of Germany. And

the population and like
other European countries was

able to lead the sort of
normal existence in again in

comparison to other
countries. Since the Nazis

consider the Danes to be
racially kinder and Kindred

I'm sorry, and follow the
policy of trying to convince

them to become allies
willing allies to the Nazi

Germany. Also, when the
Nazis occupied Poland in a

prime 40, the Danish Armed
Forces did not oppose that.

Therefore, they were allowed
to keep their own government

and they had a quite unusual
amount of freedom during

that time. In spring 1943,
when the war more clearly

turns against Nazi Germany,
Germany, actions in Denmark

become more pronounced.
information that there is

information leaked about
scheduled the protections of

the Danish Jews. This
information is linked to the

Danish underground, which
immediately goes into

action. And people literally
from all walks of life

pulled together and
participated in a massive

rescue operation within a
few hours.

Basically, all all the
Copenhagen, Jews and the

country's largest Jewish
community were taken out of

their homes were hidden and
taken in small groups to

fishing ports. Then his
fishing fleet was quickly

mobilized to ferry them
across the sea to Sweden

which was a neutral country.
This rescue operation by the

Danish underground is
exceptional for many

reasons, and one of them
being the resolve of many

Danes. Again, I repeat
myself from all walks of

life, intellectuals and
priests and policemen and

doctors and workers to save
the country's Jews. Of

course, there have been
cases of Danes who were pro

Nazi and even joined the
Waffen SS and participated

in war crimes. However, the
underground rail implement

this unique rescue going
back to this classification

of individual rescue and
group rescue, there have

been cases of Christian
clergymen who really felt

compelled to resist Nazism
on Nazis on religious

grounds. And to help Jews
survive the Holocaust they

felt this need to help them
survive as a religious

obligation. cases like
father are the Catholic

father, Dragon yes from
Croatia. He was executed by

the austerity regime like
the Croatian or socialism

which was pro Nazi, for
sheltering Jews in his own

home. Mother Maria sculpture
Nova, she was a nun in

France, who helped Jews
during the Holocaust. She

was of Russian origin she
emigrated to France and with

the a the father Dimitri
painting you see on the

bottom, the picture they
both affirmed, deciding that

as devoted Christians, they
were required to do whatever

they could to help the Jews.
They opened initially they

opened the churches free
kitchen to the needy Jews.

They arranged housing for
them. They issue forced

baptismal certificates. The
quote that you see in the

middle, between the
different pictures is from

from hair from other Mario's
sculpture. When in March

1942, other fichman ordered
all Jews to wear the yellow

star, the yellow star of
David the yellow star. She

said, if we were true
Christians, we would all

wear the star. This was how
Maria responded in July

1942, when the Nazis round
up 1000s of Jews for

deportation. Some seven
close to 7000 were taken to

the Parisian stadium with
the velodrome the were near

the Eiffel Tower, and some
of them a big part of them

4000 word children. Mother
Maria managed to enter the

stadium where they were
being held and with the help

of garbage collectors, she
smuggled out children in

garbage bins. The Nazis who
want her to stop hyping Jews

but she did not listen. They
both she and Dimitri

campaigning were arrested,
sent to concentration camps

where they both perished. On
the bottom left, you see

Archbishop of Athens,
Greece, the musky nose, and

in the middle the Chief
Rabbi of Athens, Greece,

Leah's birther lie. In the
case of the Greek clergyman,

he ordered the clergy of all
the country to provide fake

certificates baptismal
certificates, to shelter in

monasteries and convents
urge literally, the priests

to ask their congregations
to hide the Jews in their

homes. And in very close
contact and cooperation with

the Chief Rabbi of Athens.
They set an example for the

Jews of Athens and actually
made it possible for a big

amount of them a big number
and sort of them to to find

shelter and hide and avoid
deportation. How much time

do I have left? We should

start concluding the
lecture.

Okay. Um, as I said at the
very beginning, people came

from all broads of life,
laymen and Royals. You see

here Princess Alice, and
Prince Andrew of Greece,

using the middle of the
ceremony at the adverse time

with the presence of Prince
Philip. Princess Alice saved

family of Greek Jews. Also
cases of Germans Germans in

uniform and German civilians
employed in the occupied

territories are among the
Righteous Among the nation.

Here I have a case of from
Albania, the only European

country with a Muslim
majority that in fact

succeeded where other
European nations failed. in

Albania, we have this
paradox of having a number

of 200 Jews before the
Holocaust living in the

country. And the number
after 45 the number of Jews

living in Albania after the
Holocaust was raised up to

2000.

As a concluding remark, and
in order to, in a way, find

a way to to end this
presentation, I would like

to mention a few words about
what the study of different

cases reveals when it comes
to analyze the decision to

hide. The decision to hide
Jews was not self evident.

In many cases, rescuers
hesitated or entered into

disputes with their own
families. In the first case

that you see here, Benzion
rubner heard his rescuers

quarrel about continuing to
hide him and his brother in

in whose house they were
sheltered. So he heard the

woman saying, I don't want
to keep the gtes. And in

this case, as it has been
the Commission's the

admission Commission's role
to weigh this against the

fact that when her husband,
Yana Yulia schinsky when Yan

stood firm, she gave in
Yulia gave him and

eventually took good care of
the two children, and thus

they were awarded the title.
In other cases, the rescue

began as a business
arrangement. For example,

the rescuers requested and
were given important amount

of money or important
amounts of money and gold.

However, the war was long,
and over time, this changed

and the rescuers kept the
Jews in hiding, even though

they could not offer
anything anymore in return.

And while of course, the
danger was still imminent.

In the words of more than hi
hagie he says in his

testimony, about the case of
ladislav bouchercon. My

description of wpscan of his
motives and contact is

accurate, everything is
forgiven. His risk is his

life to save us it was not a
passing impulse. The rescue

lasted three years, years
filled with fear how and I

believe sometimes even
hatred towards us on his

part, but still, it was the
highest degree of heroism.

the deeds of the righteous
prove that it was possible

to help the excuse that the
Nazi tire or machine

paralyzed voluntary acts in
defiance of official policy

is belied by the deeds of
1000s of person from all

walks of life who helped you
survive the final solution.

the deeds of the righteous
of the of the righteous

serve as role models for
future generations and as a

parameter for moral context,
even under circumstances of

great physical and
psychological distress. the

deeds of the right shoes
especially and this is also

something personal as an
educator. the deeds of the

righteous, they prove that
one can and should oppose

evil, that resistance was an
is possible and not only as

a group but also as an
individual. Finally, the

deeds of the righteous help
balance the terrible legacy

of the Third Reich. Their
example drives home the

lesson that life is a value
unto itself. Hence the motto

from the mood. The one that
appears on the middle of the

right shows whosoever saves
a life, it is as if he saves

and preserves the entire
world. I would kindly ask

you to allow me to conclude
with the words of Rabbi

modified LBL I quote,
goodness leaves us gasping

for we refuse to recognize
it as a natural human

attribute. So off we go on a
long search for some hidden

motivation, some
extraordinary explanation

for such peculiar behavior.
Thank you very much for your

attention.

Installed today historic
partnership with the global

evangelical Christian
community. Tell me a little

bit about the history of how
did it stalled, you played a

central role in that.

When I started working at
the adverse shame, I came to

know where Malcolm heading
we get to know each other

and we started meeting each
other from time to time and

talking, we established a
partnership between the

adverse shamed Christian
friends of Yad Vashem, the

Christian desk of Yad Vashem
and the International

Christian embassy. It's
about the support that we

need to get from the
Christian world, which is

very important to for
Jamelia version to be

supported by the Christian
world. But it's also part of

our common mission to
educate the world,

what I see as Muslim awful
to Christians and how can

Christians support your
question?

So Christian support, you
have a sham in many

different ways. helping us
to bryndza soldiers, we

spoke about the importance
of educating the soldiers

educating us, Jews and non
Jews were educating their

1000 non Jews are coming to
visit you even putting Arab

seal, they'll also bring gay
ops Hill to educate them. We

need the support to continue
with Christian seminars that

we have here. We would like
to have more seminars, we

would like to bring young
gay Christian leaders to

join them in all those that
learn where they will take a

major role in their
communities that they will

have knowledge and
understanding what why it's

important what's the role of
furlough costs in shaping

the identity of their
communities. So that can be

a very important way to
support the adverse shame.

You know, shy knowing you
know, for all those seals, I

think we know each other
more than 50 years, you are

the son of Holocaust
survivors who could have had

any reason to say I didn't
want to have anything to do

with Christians anymore,
especially chairman's like I

am and the warmth and
embrace that we feel here on

this institution and the
welcoming spirit from

Christians around the world
to stand with them and to

receive their support.
That's amazing. And I really

want to congratulate the
adoption and you personally,

for this visionary voice
that you're doing, you know,

our major role is to ensure
that the legacy of the

survivors that's what they
wanted, they established Yad

Vashem followings all across
the survivors established

the admission and they want
the other shame to be a

place that will carry on the
legacy for eternity.

Cheyenne Ellison amazing
passage that You're blushing

put on the entry and exit
gate of your classroom. What

does it mean for you and for
your classroom?

When we did this work of
building Yad Vashem VR

service, what should be the
final message when someone

is coming out of fear or
shame? And we thought that

the message from the book of
Zakat from the prophets of

Zakat is the right words
because I will put my

blessing to you and you
shall live again and I will

set you upon your own soil.
It's the right message when

you come out of the adverse
shame

show. I thank you so much
for having us here today.

This was an amazing day you
learn so much, and thanks

for this incredible
partnership.

Thank you for coming to our
bar.

God bless you, God bless
you. Bye bye. We have been

confronted with the Abbott's
of the human heart. But at

the same time we met amazing
people that are building

bridges between Jews and
Christians. As Christians,

we have the serious
responsibility to support

and to speak up for insol
and for the Jewish people.

We cannot afford to be
silent again. To learn more

about the ways that the ICJ
is actively fighting anti

semitism, and how you can be
a part of this meaningful

work, go to ice j.org slash
yard Beacham