Righteous Among the Nations
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Righteous Among the Nations

  •   Roddie Edmonds, Lois Gunden, and Walery and Maryla Zbijewski
  • 1/27/2016
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    On January 27, 2016, the Embassy of Israel in Washington, D.C., in partnership with Yad Vashem, posthumously honored four Righteous Among The Nations: Roddie Edmonds, Lois Gunden, and Walery and Maryla Zbijewski. ​The historic event included remarks by President Barack Obama. ​

    Set to coincide with International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the reception honored two American and two Polish citizens. The event was the first ever recognition of American Righteous Among the Nations to take place in the United States. 

    ​​Righteous Among the Nations is the highest honor the State of Israel bestows on non-Jews in the name of the Jewish People. Established in 1963 by the Holocaust Remembrance Authority Yad Vashem, the Righteous Among the Nations expresses the gratitude of the State of Israel and the Jewish people to non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust. 

    Text of Remarks
    ​Ambassador Ron Dermer ​
     
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  • The Honorees

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    ​​Roddie Edmonds – United States
    Master Sergeant Roddie Edmonds of Knoxville, Tennessee, participated in the landing of the American forces in Europe and was taken prisoner by the Germans. In January 1945, the Germans ordered all Jewish POWs in Stalag IXA to report the following morning. Defying the German order, Master Sergeant Edmonds ordered all POWs—Jews and non-Jews alike—to stand together. When the German officer in charge saw that all the camp’s inmates had reported in front of their barracks, he said: “they cannot all be Jews.” To this Edmonds retorted: “We are all Jews.” Edmonds did not waver even when the German took out his pistol and threatened to shoot him. “According to the Geneva Convention,” said Edmonds, “we have to give only our name, rank, and serial number. If you shoot me, you will have to shoot all of us, and after the war you will be tried for war crimes.” The German finally gave up and left the scene. Thus the Jewish POWs were not singled out for persecution as Jews and their lives were saved. “Although seventy years have passed,” Paul Stern, one of the Jewish POWs saved by Edmonds, told Yad Vashem, “I can still hear the words he said to the German camp commander."

    Lois Gunden - United States
    In 1941, Lois Gunden, a teacher of French from Goshen, Indiana, volunteered to work for the Mennonite Central Committee in southern France. She established a children’s home in Canet Plage, which became a safe haven for Jewish children whom she helped smuggle out of the nearby internment camp of Rivesaltes. Gunden pleaded with the parents to separate from their children and give them to her in order to save them from deportation. Ginette (Drucker) Kalish, one of the children saved by Lois Gunden, told Yad Vashem: “At the time I was 12 years old and certainly scared, but Lois Gunden was kind and passionately determined to take me and these other Jewish…to protect them from harm.” Gunden fearlessly protected the children when the French police arrived at the home and continued to run the children’s center even after the United States entered the war and she became an enemy alien. She continued her work until January 1943, when she was detained by the Germans, only to be released in 1944 in a prisoner exchange.

    Walery and Maryla Zbijewski – Poland
    On July 22, 1942, the Germans began the mass deportations from the Warsaw ghetto. By September 21, Yom Kippur, some 260,000 inhabitants of the ghetto had been deported to the Treblinka extermination camp, where they were murdered. Janina Ferster and her daughter Elzbieta managed to flee from the ghetto and go into hiding. After staying for two months at the home of acquaintances, Tadeusz and Eugenia Kucharski, Janina brought her daughter to the home of Walery and Maryla Zbijewski, until she was able to rent an apartment under a false name and take her daughter back. Despite the enormous danger – the Germans publicly announced that helping Jews would be punished by death – the Zbijewskis cared for Elzbieta and protected her until her mother was able to take her.



  • About the Righteous Among the Nations

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    Who is a Righteous Among the Nation?
    Righteous Among the Nations is an official title awarded by Yad Vashem on behalf of the State of Israel and the Jewish people to non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust. The title is awarded by a special commission headed by a Supreme Court Justice according to a well-defined set of criteria and regulations.

    What is the meaning of the term "Righteous Among the Nations"?
    The term “Righteous Among the Nations” (Chasidei Umot HaOlam) was taken from the Jewish tradition – from the literature of the Sages. A number of explanations of the term exist, such as: non-Jews who came to the aid of the Jewish people in times of danger; in other cases it is used to describe non-Jews who observe seven basic tenets set down in the Bible – including the prohibition of bloodshed. The lawmakers took the existing term and added new meaning to it. The Yad Vashem Law went on to characterize the Righteous Among the Nations as those who not only saved Jews but risked their lives in doing so. This was to become the basic criterion for awarding the title.

    What are the basic criteria for awarding the title of Righteous?
    The basic conditions for granting the title are:
    • Active involvement of the rescuer in saving one or several Jews from the threat of death or deportation to death camps
    • Risk to the rescuer’s life, liberty or position
    • The initial motivation being the intention to help persecuted Jews: i.e. not for payment or any other reward such as religious conversion of the saved person, adoption of a child, etc.
    • The existence of testimony of those who were helped or at least unequivocal documentation establishing the nature of the rescue and its circumstances.

    How are the Righteous honored?
    Persons recognized as a "Righteous Among the Nations" are awarded a specially minted medal and a certificate of honor – both bearing their name – as well as the privilege of their names being added to the Wall of Honor in the Garden of the Righteous at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem.

    The Yad Vashem Law authorizes Yad Vashem "to confer honorary citizenship of the State of Israel upon the Righteous Among the Nations, and commemorative citizenship if they have passed away, in recognition of their actions."

    Can a case be submitted even if the rescuers are no longer alive?
    Yes. Rescuers can be honored posthumously. The Righteous Among the Nations is an ongoing project, and we will continue to pursue the program for as long as petitions for this title are received and are supported by solid evidence that meets the criteria.

    Are all rescuers of Jews entitled to receive the title of Righteous Among the Nations?
    Rescue of Jews took many forms and required varying degrees of involvement and self-sacrifice. The title of the Righteous is reserved for the smaller group of those who actively risked their lives or their liberty for the express purpose of saving Jews from persecution and murder. There is a wider circle of men and women who assisted the persecuted in the darkest hour of Jewish history, but whose help did not involve the taking of risks. These humane people have our greatest appreciation and their deeds are being documented by us. Nevertheless, even though their aid was crucial to the Jews' survival, in the absence of risk, they do not qualify for recognition within the framework of the Righteous program.

    Did Yad Vashem recognize all those who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust?
    The Righteous Among the Nations are non-Jews who risked his lives or liberty to save Jews during the Holocaust. The title is not attributed if the motivation is other than the rescue of persecuted Jews. Such other motivations can be: (1) financial gain; (2) the wish to religiously convert the rescued persons, or the protection of converted Jews because they are viewed as Christians and the rescuers feel that they shouldn't be treated as Jews; (3) the wish to take in a Jewish child for the purpose of adoption; (4) rescue as a result of resistance activity that was not aimed at saving Jews.

    Another reason for not attributing the title may be that while saving one or several Jews, the very same rescuer was involved in murder, war crimes or causing harm to others.

    In cases of convents, monasteries and religious orders the title will be attributed to the head of the institution who was in charge and bore the responsibility. It is assumed that the members of a religious institution are bound by the vow of obedience, and therefore, unless acted above and beyond the call of duty and obedience, they will not be recognized.

    Some deserving acts of rescue were not recognized because no application was made. Grappling with painful memories is very difficult for survivors. Some didn't apply to Yad Vashem to have their rescuers recognized; others died before an application was made or didn't know of the program.

    Some rescuers will forever remain anonymous because the rescue attempt was discovered and both rescuers and their wards were killed, leaving no one who could testify. Knowing that there are cases that will never be documented, Yad Vashem erected a monument to the anonymous rescuer in the Avenue of the Righteous. See anonymous rescuer section.

    What country has the largest number of Righteous? What can be learned from the statistics?
    The numbers of Righteous recognized do not reflect the full scope of help given by non-Jews since many of the rescue stories remain unknown. They are rather the result of the material on rescue operations made available to Yad Vashem. The number of rescuers in the different countries depends on a multitude of factors and therefore does not necessarily indicate the attitude of the local population to the Jews and their murder. Moreover, in view of the great difference in circumstances between different countries and regions, one should proceed with great caution when making such comparison

    All material is from the Yad Vashem website.