“…Let us not forget, after all, there is always a moment when moral choice is made…. And so we must know these good people who helped Jews during the Holocaust. We must learn from them, and in gratitude and hope, we must remember them.”
Elie Wiesel, in Carol Rittner, Sandra Meyers, Courage To Care – Rescuers of Jews during the Holocaust, NYU Press, 1986. P. 2
Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center located in Israel, was established “to perpetuate the memory of the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust.”
Yad Vashem grants the title Righteous Among the Nations to non-Jews worldwide who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust. Although not extensive in number, the few who helped receive the gratitude of the state of Israel and Jewish people, receiving a medal and commemoration on the Mount of Remembrance in Jerusalem.
Each submitted case is examined by a public commission headed by a Supreme Court Justice in order to determine granting the title of ‘righteousness.’ In her book, ENFANTS DÉPORTÉS, ENFANTS SAUVÉS: LES PETITS RÉFUGIÉS JUIFS DU GERS [DEPORTED CHILDREN, SAVED CHILDREN: THE YOUNG JEWISH REFUGEES IN GERS], Gisèle Polya-Somogyi credits three individuals for saving Peter Feigl’s life. Two of them, Anne-Marie Cavailhon and Daniel Trocmé, were well-known to Peter. The third, Marianne Cohn, indirectly played a role in his survival, and he did not know of her for many years. Click on the image of each to learn more.
