Grandchildren of the saviours attended the ceremony in Kraków's Galicia Jewish Museum, where Deputy Ambassador of Israel Ruth Cohen-Dar presented medals and certificates.
“During those hard, dark times, when Jews were persecuted and murdered, these people not only showed great courage, but also great nobility and humanism,” the ambassador said.
“At a time when death lurked around every corner, these heroes offered a helping hand, giving the persecuted a chance of survival,” she added.
Helena Sokalska and her daughter Jadwiga Szkilnik saved Nina and Mark Szmajuk and their 6-year-old daughter Ziuta in Lódż, central Poland. Before the war, Marek Szmajuk had been the Sokalski family's doctor, but the Szmajuks were forced into the Łódż Ghetto by the Nazi German occupiers.The Sokalskis hid the Szmajuks in a specially created compartment behind their kitchen stove.
Stanisław Faliszewski, who prior to the war had been director of the Grand Theatre in Lwów (now Lviv, Ukraine), hid Helena Tennenbaum and her daughter, who he came to treat as his own.
Jadwiga Goetel accommodated Róża and Marianowi Reibscheid in Warsaw, after being contacted by the Polish Underground State's Council of Aid for Jews (Zegota).
Lastly, Maria Stokłosa helped her friend's young daughter Bronisława Goldfischer escape from the Lwów Ghetto in November 1942. She kept the child in her house in secret for 8 months, and eventually arranged false papers for her, after which she was able to come out into the open again.
All of the saviours in question risked being executed along with their entire families for aiding Jews.
The medal of the Righteous among Nations has been awarded since 1963. Todate, Israel's Yad Vashem Institute has honoured about 25,000 people from 47 countries, including nearly 6,500 Poles. (nh)
Source: PAP