Victor Kugler received the Nicholas and Hedy Munk Brotherhood Award of $10,000 for his defiance of the Nazis when he hid the Anne Frank family in Amsterday for 25 months. The award was given at the annual dinner of the Canadian Council of Christians and Jews.
Rabbi Michael Stroh, chairman of the Toronto Board of Rabbis, who made the presentation, called Kugler’s deed an “act of pure moral courage” that likened him to one of the legendary 36 righteous persons on whose merit the world exists. Kugler, 77, was too moved to reply and his response, in the presence of 1200 persons in attendance, was made by Claus van Banning, vice-consul of The-Netherlands. “‘They were my friends’ is how Kugler answers,” van Banning said. “‘What could I do?'”
Kugler emigrated to Canada 23 years ago with his second wife, Loes. He has been living modestly and unobtrusively in a Toronto suburb. In Holland he was associated with Otto Frank, Anne Frank’s father, in a spice import business.
The award was established in 1973 by Munk, a Hungarian-born engineer, to be given every second year to the person who had done most to further Jewish-Christian amity and to combat anti-Semitism. The jury committee for the award consists of the Anglican Bishop, Roman Catholic Archbishop, secular and lay leaders of the Jewish community and Protestant leaders.
Avital Shcharansky, wife of the imprisoned Anatoly Shcharansky, was in the audience. The meeting adopted a resolution asking the Canadian government to express its concern in the Shcharansky case as an example of violating the Helsinki Final Act.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
