A group of Jews who escaped Nazi extermination during World War II tendered today a luncheon to a former German occupation official whose quiet heroism made their survival possible. The guest of honor was Eberhard Helmrich, now living in New York, who was an agricultural expert responsible for food production and distribution in the section of Nazi-occupied Polish Galicia around the town of Drohobiez.
Under the very noses of the Gestapo, he used his position to hide Jewish children in his home, shelter fleeing Jews on a vegetable farm he set up for that purpose, provide them with false papers and transport them in his own car. He is credited with the saving of some 70 lives. Today’s luncheon was a bon voyage gathering for Mr. Helmrich, who will be leaving May 27 for Jerusalem to plant a tree in his own name on the Hill of Remembrance. Thirty of the people he saved, now living in the United States, have banded together to make it financially possible for Mr. Helmrich and his wife to visit Israel. During the luncheon he was presented with airline tickets and a check.
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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.
