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The Righteous

Righteous Among the Nations (Hebrew: חֲסִידֵי אֻמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם‬, khasidei 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 German Nazis and their allies.

 

No one can tell how many Poles were saving Jews during World War II. So far, the Yad Vashem Institute has awarded 6,706 Polish people the “Righteous Among the Nations” medal. Historians estimate that the number of Poles of all faiths who aided Poles of Jewish faith and Jews, risking their own and their families' lives, was much higher - even milions. It was only in German-occupied Poland that the entire family was murdered on the spot for helping the Jews. People were killed by the occupants even for handing a slice of bread to a Jew. Thousands have been murdered for aiding Jews. Thousands have not received, for various reasons, any recognition, even those who lost their lives for helping.

 

Who is to judge? This project pertains to those who could not fit Yad Vashem criteria, who have never been put forward for nomination, who are unknown, those who perished or those humble and brave Poles who have never sought any attention. Message passed between people and vessels on the ocean carries importance that is rarely found on land, this project aims at informing ships and their crews en route from New York to United Kingdom of the Righteous, Witold Pilecki i Jan Karski - Witold.

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