On January 16, 2019, the Embassy of the State of Israel in cooperation with RTVS (Slovak National Television) organized a gala awarding ceremony Righteous Among the Nations.
The State of Israel awarded another 15 brave Slovaks who did not hesitate to risk their lives and saved persecuted Jews in the times of Holocaust.
The names of the rescuers will be engraved in Wall of Honor in Yad Vashem Museum.
This year, we awarded Ondrej Čanecký, the rescuer of Vrba and Wetzler, who miraculously escaped the Auschwitz death camp and spread the testimony of the murder machinery of Jews to the whole world.
We also told the story of Cecilia Scheibenreif and her 9-year-old son of Rudko from Nitra, who saved life of a 6-year-old Eva Felsenburg (Chava Timor).
We introduced you to Zlatica and Jozef Vojtkoví, who saved 8 members of the Engel family and the rescuers of Erika Kohn, Anna and Ignác Chladní, who were hiding her all around the house and repeatedly faced the inspections of Nazi soldiers.
Sister of Anna Chladná- Karolina Bullová decided to help as well and provided shelter to two Jewish families - Groszows and Grünbergs. However, this story was a very unfortunate one. Both Jewish families were shot by Nazis and when Karolina tried to prevent it, they burnt her alive in her own house.
Elena and Ondrej Rapčanoví saved Lipschutz family. Rapčans lived in a very simple house with only one bedroom, but did not hesitate to share with strangers to save their lives.
Anna and Peter Brezovskí from Piestany decided to help Janka Blum and her daughter Lili, Anna and Margit with their families. Altogether, Brezovskí saved 8 human lives.
Sisters Viera and Denisa Rosenthal did not have an easy childhood. Instead of playing with toys and falling asleep listening to a fairytale, they faced violent attacks and had to hide to avoid deportation. Their life, however, was saved by Štefánia Pellerová, who took care of them after their parents were caught by Nazis.
Mária and Imrich Počuch lived in constant fear for more than half a year. The rescue of Horansky and Brichta family was kept secret from neighbors, but also from the closest members of the family living with them under one roof.
If reported, they could have paid the highest price. Yet they had opened their homes to strangers, who were persecuted and the world was a very lonely place for them.
The vast majority of people refused to help and closed their eyes to this terrible tragedy. What would you do?
The premiere of the ceremony will be broadcasted by RTVS: 2 on Saturday January 26th at 8:40 p.m. Live stream of the broadcast is available on the following link http://www.rtvs.sk/televizia/live-2