Righteous Among the Nations: Background information when reading The Plateau

Righteous Among the Nations

This article relates to The Plateau

Righteous Among the Nations refers to non-Jewish people who have been honored by Yad Vashem, The World Holocaust Memorial Center in Israel, for putting their lives at risk to help Jews at the time of the Holocaust. Yad Vashem set up a commission in 1963 to establish the criteria for the award and examine cases to determine recipients of the title. Since then, Yad Vashem has given the title of Righteous to over 27,000 individuals from over 50 countries. The Israeli government grants honorary citizenship to the Righteous, and organizations such as the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous offer assistance to surviving Righteous who experience economic hardship.

Yad Vashem names individuals as Righteous who meet four requirements:

• They participated actively in saving Jews from "the threat of death or deportation to death camps."
• They did so at risk to themselves (risking their lives, freedom or livelihoods).
• Their motivations were purely to help and not for self-interest (e.g. financial gain).
• Proof of the above exists in the form of first-hand survivor testimonies or "unequivocal documentation."

Some Righteous hid Jews on their property or in their homes, at times going so far as to present them as non-Jewish members of their own families. Others helped Jews escape dangerous areas by aiding them in border-crossing or establishing false identities with falsified documents. Some took in Jewish children whose parents had been killed or who had been separated from their families.

While some countries contain significantly larger numbers of Righteous than others, Yad Vashem points out that these numbers aren't indicative of the attitudes of specific populations towards Jewish people, as there are numerous factors that determine the numbers of Righteous in each area. For example, some areas didn't have as many Jews who needed to be helped. Furthermore, Righteous only applies to those who have met the exact criteria of the title with confirmed evidence, and so the number of Righteous isn't reflective of the number of non-Jewish people who aided Jews during the Holocaust. Yad Vashem has named dozens of Righteous from the village and surrounding areas of Le-Chambon-sur-Lignon, the subject of Maggie Paxson's The Plateau, including Daniel, André and Magda Trocmé, the author's relatives. The organization has also recognized the village of Le-Chambon-sur-Lignon collectively for its rescue efforts.

Due in part to the 1993 award-winning blockbuster Schindler's List, one of the most popularly known Righteous is Oskar Schindler, a member of the Nazi party who kept over a thousand Jews safe during the Holocaust by hiring them to work in his factories. His wife Emilie was also given the honor.

Also named Righteous, Mother Maria Skobtsova and Father Dmitri Klepinin were Russian immigrants residing in France who used their church as a center for feeding and sheltering Jews, as well as creating fake baptismal certificates. When a mass arrest of Jews took place in Paris, Mother Maria boldly walked into the stadium where Jews were being held and helped some children escape.

Additional Righteous include Irena Sendler, who used her connections in Poland to orphanages and other organizations to protect Jewish children; Raoul Wallenberg, who took charge of major rescue operations in Hungary; and Princess Alice of Battenberg, the mother of Prince Philip, who sheltered a Jewish family in her residence in Greece.

Righteous Among the Nations medal, courtesy of Medals and Decorations of Israel

Filed under People, Eras & Events

This article relates to The Plateau. It first ran in the September 4, 2019 issue of BookBrowse Recommends.