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Where there is no law, but every man does what is right in his own eyes, there is the least of real liberty
Henry M. Robert

Israelis Award Righteous Ukrainians

20 April, 1999 - 00:00

By Dmytro BABYCH

Anne Frank's famous book asks readers: if the Frank family had lived nearby,
could it count on your help? This question seemed to be asked by all those
who last Tuesday attended, an awards ceremony in the Israeli Embassy to
honor Ukrainians who sheltered Jewish children during World War II. The
awards were timed for Holocaust Remembrance Day, when Jews remember the
victims and recall those who helped the Jews to survive in those hard times.

According to the Charge d'Affaires of Israel in Ukraine Zeev Ben-Arie,
the Ukrainian righteous, as they are called by those they rescued, did
not consider it anything special to hide Jewish children from the SS.

They considered it a normal act of humanity. However, such manifestations
of mercy were fatally dangerous for the saviors. One of those decorated,
Kateryna Savchenko whose family sheltered a Jewish girl Halyna from the
Nazis, remembers that in neighboring villages the SS would shoot dead the
whole family if they found a Jew in the house. Although some righteous
did not live to see this day, their awards were received by their relatives.
For under Jewish tradition, a good deed glorifies the benefactor's family
for several generations.

 

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