| Righteous Among the Nations |
|---|
 |
| By country |
This is a partial list of some of the most prominentRighteous Among the Nations per country of origin, recognized byYad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority inJerusalem. These people risked their lives or their liberty and position to help Jews duringThe Holocaust; some suffered death as a result. As of 1 January 2021[update], Yad Vashem has recognized 27,921 Righteous Among the Nations from 51 countries.[1]
These figures are not necessarily an indication of the actual number of Jews saved in each country, but reflect material on rescue operations made available to Yad Vashem as of January 1, 2019.
| Country of origin | Awards | Notes |
|---|---|---|
 Poland | 7,177 | The largest contingent.[2] It includes a wide variety of both individuals of different occupations and organized activists, includingIrena Sendler (Polish social worker who served inPolish Underground andŻegota resistance organization inWarsaw, saving 2,500 Jewish children);Jan Karski (who reported on the situation of Jews in occupied Poland);Tadeusz Pankiewicz (Kraków pharmacist),Henryk Sławik (social worker);Rudolf Weigl (scientist);Stefan Korboński (politician),Sister Bertranda (Catholic nun);Eryk Lipiński (artist);Franciszek and Magdalena Banasiewicz (painter and his wife);Irena Adamowicz (scout leader);Maria Kotarba (Polish Resistance fighter); thePodgórski sisters (store clerks);Józef and Wiktoria Ulma (family of farmers murdered together with their six children forhelping Jews);Leopold "Poldek" Socha (sewer inspector, hid a group of Jews in remote corner ofLviv sewers); writer and activistZofia Kossak-Szczucka; andKarolina Juszczykowska (kitchen worker forOrganization Todt, hid Jews in her home for which she was executed).[3] SeePolish Righteous Among the Nations for additional names. Poland was among the occupied countries where helping Jews or even not reporting them to German authorities could be punished with death. This law also applied to Belarusians, Ukrainians and Serbs.[4] |
 Netherlands | 5,910 | On a population of 9 million in 1940 the figure represents the largest per capita number: 1 in 1,700 Dutch was awarded (Poland: 1 in 3,700; population of 24,300,000 ethnic Poles in 1939).[5] Includes two persons originally from theDutch East Indies (nowIndonesia) and one person fromSuriname (William Arnold Egger). IncludesCorrie ten Boom;Frits Philips, who ranPhilips during the German occupation;Gertruida Wijsmuller-Meier, who helped save about 10,000 Jewish children from Germany and Austria just before the outbreak of the war (Kindertransport); she also managed the last transport to the UK on May 12, 1940, on the last ship leaving the Netherlands;Jan Zwartendijk, who as a Dutch consular representative inKaunas, Lithuania, issued exit visas used by between 6,000 and to 10,000 Jewish refugees; includes the people who hid and helpedAnne Frank and her family, likeMiep Gies. Also includes theSalvation Army majorAlida Bosshardt and the founder ofVPRO Radio, theologianNicolette Bruining.[6] Remarkable is the relatively large number of Protestant ministers and their wives who participated and were awarded. Also includes the German lawyerHans Georg Calmeyer,[7] who was recognized for his activities in the Netherlands during the war. Also includesHendrika Gerritsen, a member of the Dutch Resistance who hid Siegfried Goldsteen and Judith Fransman in her home in 1943 and transported forged papers for people in hiding on behalf of the Amsterdam Resistance,[8][9] andCaecilia Loots, a teacher and antifascist resistance member, known for saving Jewish children during the war.[10]Marion van Binsbergen helped save approximately 150Dutch Jews, most of them children, throughout theGerman occupation of the Netherlands.[11][12]Tina Strobos, rescued over 100 Jews by hiding them in her house and providing them with forged paperwork to escape the country.[13] Also includes famous author and television personalityGodfried Bomans andFrisian writer and poet Tiny Mulder(fy).Henk Zanoli returned his medal in 2014 after some of his family members were killed in anIDF airstrike inGaza. Also uniquely includes three organisations or collectives: the collective participants of the so-called "Amsterdam dock strike" (better known as theFebruary strike, about 30,000 to 50,000 people who on 25 and 26 February 1941 took part in the first strike against persecution of the Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe); the whole village ofNieuwlande (117 inhabitants) that set up a quota-system under then alderman and later resistance fighterJohannes Post; and the resistance group Naamloze Vennootschap for saving Jewish children. In Denmark, France, and Norway, as well, a group of people was recognized as a single entity. |
 France | 4,150 | In January 2007, French PresidentJacques Chirac and other dignitaries honored France's Righteous in a ceremony at thePanthéon, Paris. TheLegion of Honour was awarded to 160 French Righteous for their efforts saving French Jews during World War II.[14] Also includesJohan Hendrik Weidner, head of theDutch-Paris organisation, which saved over 800 Jews and over 100 Allied airmen. |
 Ukraine | 2,673 | Including Daniil Tymchina,[15] hieromonk of theUniv Lavra (2008);Klymentiy Sheptytsky, the Archimandrite of the Studite monks of Greek-Catholic Monastery (1995); Stepan Omelianiuk (1982)[16] |
 Belgium | 1,774 | IncludingQueen Elisabeth of the Belgians. Also includesJeanne Daman, who helped rescue two thousand Jewish children from the Nazis by taking them to shelters.[17][18][19] |
 Lithuania | 918 | SeeLithuanian Righteous Among the Nations, includingKazys Binkis andOna Šimaitė. Based on a population of approximately 2 million ethnic Lithuanians in 1939 the figure represents the second largest per capita number: 1 in 2,183 Lithuanians were awarded (after the Netherlands, with 1 in 1,700). |
 Hungary | 876 | IncludingZoltán Lajos Bay (physicist: "father of radar-astronomy");Béla Király (commander, 56 freedom fighter);Géza Ottlik (author);Endre Szervánszky (composer);Paulina and Ilona Kolonits (the latter a documentary film director); Father Raile Jakab, S. J.;Margit Slachta (social activist);Tibor Baranski (religious student, saved about 3,000 Jews);[20] BlessedSára Salkaházi, S.S.S. (Roman Catholic nun);Karig Sára;[21]László Ocskay (soldier, saved about 2,500 Jews) |
 Italy | 744 | Including Laura and CostantinoBulgari,[22]Giovanni Palatucci,Lorenzo Perrone,Calogero Marrone,Angelo Rotta,Andrea Cassulo,Francesco Repetto,Giorgio Perlasca,[23]Gino Bartali andOdoardo Focherini[24] |
 Belarus | 676 | IncludingVanda Skuratovich and Mariya Yevdokimova[25] and Dennis and Eva Vorobey |
 Germany | 641 | SeeList of German Righteous Among the Nations. IncludingOskar Schindler, the businessman who saved more than 1,000 Jews by employing them in his factory;CaptainGustav Schröder who commanded the "Voyage of the Damned";Wehrmacht officersWilm Hosenfeld,Heinz Drossel,Karl Plagge, andAlbert Battel; resistance fighterHans von Dohnányi, and writerArmin T. Wegner. |
 Slovakia | 621 | IncludingPavel Peter Gojdič, Dr. Michal Majercik and his wife Anna[26] |
 Greece | 362 | IncludingArchbishop Damaskinos of Athens andPrincess Alice of Battenberg |
 Russia | 215 | IncludingNikolay Kiselyov |
 Serbia | 139 | Including three members of theMilenković family |
 Latvia | 138 | IncludingJānis Lipke,Paul Schiemann,Roberts Seduls and Johanna Sedule |
 Croatia | 130 | SeeList of Croatian Righteous Among the Nations. |
 Czech Republic | 119 | SeeList of Czech Righteous Among the Nations. IncludingAlena Hájková,[27]Victor Kugler,Premysl Pitter andAntonín Kalina. |
 Austria | 113 | SeeList of Austrian Righteous Among the Nations. IncludingAnton Schmid, one of threeWehrmacht soldiers executed for helping Jews. |
 Moldova | 79 | Including the Stoyanov family[28] |
 Albania | 75 | Including Isuf and Niqi Panariti, parents of former Albanian Minister of AgricultureEdmond Panariti |
 Romania | 69 | IncludingQueen Helen of Romania; theVenerableÁron Márton (Bishop of Alba Iulia);Traian Popovici (credited with saving 20,000 Jews of Bukovina from deportation); PrinceConstantin Karadja (credited with saving more than 51,000 Jews);[29] andElisabeta Strul. |
 Norway | 67 | SeeList of Norwegian Righteous Among the Nations. TheNorwegian Underground is listed as one group. |
 Switzerland | 49 | IncludingCarl Lutz, who helped save tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews[30] |
 Bosnia and Herzegovina | 49 | IncludingNurija Pozderac and his wife Devleta,Roza Sober-Dragoje andZekira Besrević,Mustafa and Zejneba Hardaga, Izet and Bahrija Hardaga, Ahmed Sadik,Derviš Korkut[31][32] |
 Armenia | 24 | Including Taschdjian (Tashchiyan) family[33][34] |
 Denmark | 22 | As per their request, members of theDanish Underground, who participated in therescue of the Danish Jews, are listed as one group. The fishermen who transportedDanish Jews toSweden in 1943, however, were ineligible because they had been paid.[35] |
 United Kingdom | 22 | Including MajorFrank Foley andJane Haining. It excludes SirNicholas Winton, who was of Jewish parentage. |
 Bulgaria | 20 | IncludingDimitar Peshev;Metropolitan Stefan of Sofia andMetropolitan Kiril of Plovdiv of theBulgarian Orthodox Church |
 Slovenia | 15 | IncludingZora Piculin[36] |
 North Macedonia | 10 | IncludingSmiljan Franjo Čekada,Boris Altiparmak[37] andStojan Siljanovski[38] |
 Sweden | 10 | Raoul Wallenberg,Per Anger,Ivan Danielsson,[39]Lars Berg,[40]Valdemar Langlet,Nina Langlet,Elow Kihlgren,Erik Perwe,Elisabeth Hesselblad andErik Myrgren |
 Spain | 9 | Ángel Sanz Briz (1966),José Ruiz Santaella and his wife, Carmen [es] (1988),Eduardo Propper de Callejón (2007), Concepción Faya Blásquez y Martín Aguirre y Otegui (2011),Sebastián de Romero Radigales (2014) and Joseph Jose and Victoria Maria (Dolores) Martínez (2016) |
 United States | 5 | Varian Fry,Martha andWaitstill Sharp,Lois Gunden,[41][42] andMaster SergeantRoddie Edmonds[43] |
 Estonia | 3 | Uku and Eha Masing andPolina Lentsman |
 Peru | 3 | José Maria Barreto,[44]Isabel Weill,[45] andJose Gambetta[46] |
 Portugal | 3 | IncludingAristides de Sousa Mendes, who issued thousands of visas to people escaping the Nazis in France, andCarlos Sampaio Garrido who sheltered Jews in safe-houses inBudapest and gave them Portuguese documents to leave the country.[47] |
 Brazil | 2 | Luis Martins de Souza Dantas andAracy de Carvalho Guimarães Rosa |
 Chile | 2 | Maria Edwards McClure[48] andSamuel del Campo[49] |
 Indonesia | 2 | Tolé Madna and Mima Saïna[50] |
 Republic of China | 2 | Pan Jun Shun (hid a Ukrainian Jewish girl during the war) andHo Feng-Shan (provided more than 3,000 visas to Jews in need during his tenure as ambassador of ROC to Vienna in 1938) |
 Cuba | 1 | Ámparo Otero Pappo |
 Ecuador | 1 | Manuel Antonio Muñoz Borrero |
 Egypt | 1 | Mohammed Helmy[51] |
 El Salvador | 1 | José Castellanos Contreras (provided Salvadoran citizenship papers to approximately 13,000 Central European Jews) |
 Georgia | 1 | Sergei Metreveli |
 Ireland | 1 | Mary Elmes[52] (saved at least 200 Jewish children by smuggling them in the boot of her car). There is also a review underway on the case of Mgr.Hugh O'Flaherty,[53] a Catholic priest and Vatican official who rescued thousands of Jews (and some PoWs) in Rome over the course of the war, subject of the TV filmThe Scarlet and the Black as well as the book and radio playThe Scarlet Pimpernel of the Vatican.[54] |
 Japan | 1 | Chiune Sugihara, who provided approximately 3,400 transit visas to Jews in need |
 Luxembourg | 1 | Victor Bodson, former Justice Minister and Chairman of the Luxembourg House of Representatives, who saved approximately 100 Jews |
 Montenegro | 1 | Petar Zanković |
 Turkey | 1 | Selâhattin Ülkümen |
 Vietnam | 1 | Paul Nguyễn Công Anh |
| Total | 27,921 | As of January 1, 2021 |
A Cork woman who risked her life to save Jewish children from Nazi gas chambers has become the first Irish person to be honoured as "Righteous Among the Nations" by Yad Vashem, Israel's official memorial to Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Among those saved by Mary Elmes, who died in 2002, was Ronald Friend, now professor emeritus of psychology at Stony Brook, New York. At the time he was a two-year-old child whose father would not survive but whose five-year-old brother Michael was also rescued by Ms Elmes.
