British Hero of the Holocaust

The British Hero of the Holocaust award is a special national award given by the government of the United Kingdom in recognition of British citizens who assisted in rescuing victims of the Holocaust. On 9 March 2010 it was awarded to 25 individuals posthumously, and to two living people, Sir Nicholas Winton aged 100, and Denis Avey aged 91. The award is a solid silver medallion, and bears the inscription "in the service of humanity" in recognition of "selfless actions" which "preserved life in the face of persecution".

In 2008, a campaign to gain official posthumous recognition of British Holocaust rescuers was initiated by the Holocaust Educational Trust, a British charity founded in 1988. The campaign cited the examples of British citizens such as Frank Foley, Jane Haining and June Ravenhall who had previously been honoured by Israel as one of the British nominees to the status of Righteous Among the Nations, but had received no British honour during their lifetime.

Under the official British honours system honours cannot be awarded posthumously, so the Trust's campaign sought to have the honours system changed, to allow the awarding of either an MBE or an OBE posthumously to British rescuers such as Frank Foley. On 7 May 2008, the 50th anniversary of the death of Foley, the Trust filed an internet petition titled 'UK-Rescuers' on the 10 Downing Street website, to call on the Prime Minister to reconsider the laws governing the posthumous honours system. With a deadline for signatories of 7 May 2009, the petition ultimately gathered 1,087 signatories. It had stated:

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