11 October 2007
For the first time, the Polish state has officially honored citizens who helped Jews during the Holocaust. Polish president Lech Kaczynski paid tribute to 50 Catholic Poles at a ceremony attended by some 1,800 people at the National Opera in Warsaw. Most of those honoured have also been recognized by Israel’s Holocaust memorial institution Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations, i.e. people who risked their lives to save Jews from the Nazi onslaught. Yad Vashem chairman Avner Shalev thanked them on behalf of Israel. Each walked to the stage in the company of two Polish children, one Jewish and one Catholic. "You were lonely and isolated and frightened," Shalev said. "You have proven to us that it is within each of us to fight evil. The Jewish people will forever remember you and the lessons you have taught us." Some 6,000 Poles are recognized as “Righteous among the Nations”, more than in any other country. Before World War II, Poland had the largest Jewish population in Europe, numbering three million. Ninety percent perished in the Holocaust.
