NEW YORK (JTA) — Longtime JTA correspondent Ruth Ellen Gruber was presented one of Poland’s highest honors awarded to foreigners.
The Knight’s Cross of the Order of Merit was awarded to Gruber on Sept. 22 during a ceremony at the Polish Consulate in New York. It recognizes the contributions she made in covering the Polish struggle for democracy as well as her work to encourage understanding between Poles and Jews.
In 1983, Gruber was the bureau chief of United Press International covering the Solidarity surge in Poland when she was deported for “crimes against the state.”
Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski, who presented the award, was in New York for the United Nations General Assembly. Gruber, who covers Eastern and Central Europe for JTA, was in Europe at the time of the ceremony.
