Yad Vashem, the holocaust memorial organization in Jerusalem, has awarded the “Medal of the Just” to several Belgians in recognition for their help to Jews during the Nazi occupation. Israeli Ambassador Moshe Alon presented the medals at a special ceremony at the Israeli Embassy here.
The recipients were Madeleine Deruisseau-Berwart, Louis and Jeane Van Cutsem, Paul Vandergheynst, Herman Bouton and Francis Lassoie. Vandergheynst, Bouton and Lassoie saved more than 50 Jewish children by hiding them under false names in a mental institution where they worked.
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