(JTA) — A U.S. Jewish foundation honored Polish non-Jews who rescued Jews during the Holocaust at an event in Warsaw.
Some 30 rescuers in their 80s and 90s attended the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous ceremony Sunday at the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jewry.
“These are heroic people of exceptional character who risked their lives and often the lives of their families to save Jews during the Holocaust,” said Stanlee Stahl, the foundation’s executive vice president. “This special event is designed to recognize them and give them the proper honor they deserve.”
Foreign diplomats, religious leaders and community leaders also were on hand.
The event also marked the launch of a partnership between the foundation and Warsaw’s first kosher food bank, which was founded earlier this year under the leadership of Poland’s chief rabbi, Michael Schudrich, with the support of Yad Ezra, a kosher food bank in Detroit. The food pantry based in the Nozyk Synagogue complex will provide bimonthly food packages to needy non-Jewish rescuers — those who have been recognized as Righteous Among the Nations, or Righteous Gentiles, by the Yad Vashem Holocaust center in Jerusalem.
The foundation provides monthly financial support to some 147 needy Polish rescuers of Jews during the Holocaust, and to a total of some 265 Righteous Gentiles living in 18 countries.
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