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Righteous among the Nations


Righteous Among the Nations (Hebrew: חֲסִידִי אֻמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם‎, khasidi umót ha'olám "righteous (plural) of the world's nations") is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to save Jews from extermination by the Nazis.

The term originates with the concept of "righteous gentiles", a term used in rabbinic Judaism to refer to non-Jews, as ger toshav, who abide by the Seven Laws of Noah.

When Yad Vashem, the Shoah Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority, was established in 1953 by the Knesset, one of its tasks was to commemorate the "Righteous among the Nations". The Righteous were defined as non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust. Since 1963, a commission headed by a justice of the Supreme Court of Israel is charged with the duty of awarding the honorary title "Righteous among the Nations". The commission is guided in its work by certain criteria and meticulously studies all documentation, including evidence by survivors and other eyewitnesses, evaluates the historical circumstances and the element of risk to the rescuer, and then decides if the case meets the criteria. Those criteria are:

The award has been given without regard to the social rank of the helper. For example, it has been given to Princess Alice of Battenberg, Queen Mother Helen of Romania and Queen Elisabeth of Belgium and to the most humble people without distinction.


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