The Embassy of the State of Israel in Slovakia organized the awarding ceremony of Chasidei umot ha-olam - the Righteous Among the Nations that awards humanity and represents the highest award that non-Jews can receive from the State of Israel.
The Yad Vashem State Museum, Documentation Center and Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem decide on who is awarded by this honorary title.
Only non-Jewish or non-religious people, who helped Jews during WWII and saved them from deportation and death, are eligible.
To this date more than 28,000 people in more than 50 countries have been awarded this title. The holders of the title are, for example, 119 Czechs, 113 Austrians, 122 Croatians, but as many as 598 Slovaks. The names of another 12 rescuers were added to these 598 Slovak names this year.
Antónia Nikodemová, Anton Baláž, Oľga Balážová, Oliver Rácz, Ján Makóny, Anna Makónyová, Pavel Petroch, Ján Bukov, Mária Bukovová, Jozef Fekiač, Ján Spevák and Mária Speváková entered the list of awardees this year. The names of the awardees will be carved into the Wall of Honor in the Garden of the Righteous in Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. In totla, the awardees saved lives of 22 Jews, including 10 children.
At this year's ceremony, we also welcomed a distinguished guest, the Minister of Intelligence of the State of Israel, H.E. Elazar Stern and had the honour to host Speaker of the National Council of the Slovak Republic, H.E. Boris Kollár and Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic, H.E. Eduard Heger.
Special thanks to Pressburger Klezmer Band for their performance and author of the photos, Oles Cheresko.
The ceremony was organized in cooperation with RTVS, and its recording can be found at:
https://www.rtvs.sk/televizia/archiv/14095/352716#29