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Faith

11 Belgian Families Honored as ‘Righteous Among Nations’ for Rescue Work During Holocaust

Mar. 7, 2013 11:37am Tiffany Gabbay

Israeli President Shimon Peres Honors 11 Belgian Families as Righteous Among Nations for Saving Jews in the Holocaust

Righteous Gentiles at Yad Veshem

The Righteous Among Nations were those who, despite the moral-decay which surrounded them, operated by a higher code and stood up for humanity, saving thousands of Jews — and thereby a greater number of generations — from the death camps that ultimately claimed 6 million of Europe’s 9 million Jews.

On Tuesday, Israeli President Shimon Peres and Prince Phillipe of Belgium honored 11 families as the Righteous Among Nations for saving Jews during the Holocaust.

“On behalf of the State of Israel and the Jewish people, I thank you from the depths of my heart,” Peres said. “The Righteous Among the Nations brought light into the world, and exhibited bravery and courage in the face of the atrocities of the Holocaust.”

Peres told the families that they “should be very proud because there were not many like you.”

Holocaust survivors from across the world were in attendance, along with Jewish leaders, lawmakers and leaders of faith communities in Belgium, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders praised the Righteous Among the Nations, vowing that future generations would not be allowed to forget the Shoah.

The JTA notes that Belgium has accepted responsibility for its involvement in the Holocaust and recently established a museum in Mechelen — significant due to the fact that it is from where trains bound for Auschwitz departed.

The ceremony to honor these Righteous Gentiles is heartening, particularly in light of the fact that researchers at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, who have spent 13 years uncovering the true extent of the Nazi machine, recently published a study revealing the existence of 42,500 ghettos, concentration camps and death camps that operated during the Holocaust.

Of course the world is familiar with the camps of Birkenau, Dachau, Warsaw and Auschwitz, but even researchers were dismayed by the staggering discovery of additional camps and ghettos since they had only anticipated uncovering a total of roughly 7,000 additional smaller sites.

“The numbers are so much higher than what we originally thought,” Hartmut Berghoff, director of the German Historical Institute said.

“We knew before how horrible life in the camps and ghettos was,” he said, “but the numbers are unbelievable.”

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Comments (21)

PIGSWILLNEVERFLY
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 8:29am
I found a really great old movie on you tube. It was just posted last October. To find it type in Loretta Young movied. The name of the movie is “The house of Rothschild 1934″. It tells the story of how the 5 brothers started in banking having been born in the European ghetto. What their father told them on his death bed. It’s eye opening to see what they went through and why. They did honor their father and their mother. They wanted peace for all of Europe and an end to the ghettos.

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Free the Midwives
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 7:59am
You left out the part listing the eleven families! Who were these brave families?????

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Tim Upham
Posted on March 7, 2013 at 8:26pm
During World War II Leopold III surrendered to the Nazis, so they allowed him to stay and Belgium could have its own government under Nazi control. Unlike the Netherlands, where Queen Wilhelmina fled, and the Netherlands was placed under direct Nazi control. So it was not as stringent in Belgium as it was in the Netherlands. It was easier for the Belgians to assist Jews in hiding. But still it was this 11 Belgian families that went to great pains, to perform something which was illegal at that time.

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Charles Curtis
Posted on March 7, 2013 at 7:18pm
Great ! Thank you.

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SquareHead
Posted on March 7, 2013 at 3:49pm
I often wonder if anyone here in America would stand up for a people as they would be shipped off to camps. My guess is that we will find out as Americans willingly give more and more power to our government and accept the ever increasing regulation, ans the fact that government never has to justify anything they do by any results. All are too willing to do this in the name of a little security, as they suck at the breast of TV propaganda. The people have become ignorant of history, immoral gluttons, ignorant about the suffering in this world. They do so by being positive and not talking about depressing (real) issues. Nobody votes in the primaries, which is where we could get rid of the compromising candidates, because people are to busy watching sports, reality TV or their favorite reruns.

The moral decay here in the US has me believing that most will be concerned by investing in the “extermination sector” instead of sticking their own necks out. America’s has in large part turned their back on God, as Germany did a 100+ years ago. The American god is that of personal peace and prosperity, I am sorry to say.

What we see has been very evident to the likes of George Orwell, Ayn Rand, and Francis Scheafffer 40-60 years ago that this is where we would end up.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdLejdyNpik

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- piper60
  Posted on March 7, 2013 at 4:16pm
  I think, that at the time they would have stood up. Now—–too many sheeple, and not enough people.
  
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- Cronpolis
  Posted on March 7, 2013 at 5:05pm
  There has to be a generational shift of politics. There is a reason why politics are “boring”. It is by design that people fall asleep while watching political TV or news stations. If it doesn’t hurt them in any way then they don’t care. The sad part is the only way to actually change this behavior is by conservative education. Showing someone who is opened minded about the possibilities of getting a pro-liberty president, congress, and senate. If we get this so and so will happen. I think people are looking for an end result rather than a step in the right direction. We need to setup some kind of game plan so we all head in the same direction. Conservatives are playing catch up and are constantly on the defense. We need to switch more to offense, but to move to the offense we need a game plan that someone needs to lay out so we can at least get an idea of what the end game is. Nobody wants to take the risk of stepping on another conservative toes and if we don’t start pushing in the same direction we will probably will fail.
  
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SquareHead
Posted on March 7, 2013 at 3:38pm
Don’t think that this could not happen here, as the sinful nature of man is still present. As we as a nation are turning away from God, and towards a materialism, that is what Germany did. They were the most “civilized and educated people in the world” at the time.

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Small World
Posted on March 7, 2013 at 3:27pm
I watched the Corrie Ten Boom movie and it made me dough God.I kept asking myself why.That family saved so many and she was the only one left alive. I pray God doesn’t test me like that.It all reminds me of the book of Job.God bless those people.

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honestynow
Posted on March 7, 2013 at 3:11pm
“Never forget…..” Well, it seems people are forgetting. Belgium is becoming overrun with islamists. Wonder who will be left there to be righteous……….

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AlaskaismyEden
Posted on March 7, 2013 at 1:20pm
Amen. And Amen. I read The Diary of Anne Frank and the story of Corrie Ten Boom when just a youngster – 12 or 13. The horrors of the holocaust astounded me, and I had nightmares of Nazis for years afterwards. EVERY SCHOOL AGE CHILD SHOULD BE REQUIRED TO READ AT LEAST ONE OF THESE. We must NEVER forget the horrors perpetrated by governments upon the people!

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Whatmeworry-never
Posted on March 7, 2013 at 12:28pm
Those pople were truly inspiring.

Problem is we need folks like that today as most people in USA and most of the world are mindless zombies who do not care that the world is on fire and there are no firemen. Our Emperor Obama fiddles in DC as we burn by his design, where is our Augustus, could it be Rand?

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- Vindex
  Posted on March 8, 2013 at 7:36am
  Exactly right–and we have them here on this site. Where is The_Jerk?
  
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godlovinmom
Posted on March 7, 2013 at 12:02pm
And all God’s people say Amen :0)

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termyt
Posted on March 7, 2013 at 11:58am
That is what courage looks like. The Righteous Among Nations risk life for not only themselves but their entire families for people who could not repay them. They did it for no benefit other than it was the right thing to do, even though their friends and neighbors – the majority – did not agree.

When the need arises, may I have but 1/10 of the bravery that these people have.

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13th Imam
Posted on March 7, 2013 at 11:51am
The Holocaust Museum in DC is truly humbling. Send a copy of that report to Amadinnerjacket. He can read, right??

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- RJJinGadsden
  Posted on March 7, 2013 at 12:09pm
  I suppose that somebody could read it to him.
  On another note, I was in transition back to the states from Germany when the movie Shindler’s List came out. Was not able to see it in a theater, I bought it when it was made available on VHS. No DVDs back then or they were really rare. Having been on tours of a couple of the concentration camps during my tours in Germany I put the video still in it’s wrapper on a shelf with my other movies. I just couldn’t watch it right away. Finally, one weekend when the wife and son were away I sat down and watched it. I couldn’t help but to openly weep through much of the movie. I had already seen in person the huge apothecary jars filled with eyeglasses, while others contained gold teeth. I saw the small memorials to two American pilots at one of the sites, where they had the misfortune of being shot down near the camp and were captured by the guards. Since they had seen too much, they also were ushered to the showers. I also got to see the Anne Frank museum in Amsterdam.
  I applaud as well as salute these families.
  
  To THE_JERK, should you show you can say what you will. But in my opinion, you can very well go Bork yourself.
  
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- Xanderson
  Posted on March 7, 2013 at 12:14pm
  13th–amen! Every American needs to visit the National Holocaust Museum in DC. Other cities also have excellent museums and memorials that we all need to patronize as well. The Virginia Holocaust Museum in Richmond is a powerful journey of one family’s harrowing story. They were fortunate enough to be hidden underground (under a potato field, if I remember correctly) by a catholic farmer and his family. There is a portrait gallery of heroes who risked everything, including their lives, to shelter Jewish people all over Europe. The first time I visited was on a field trip with middle schoolers. It was so sobering that even 12 and 13 year olds were silent and many were moved to tears. Those young people will not forget!
  
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- Yakov-Yurovsky
  Posted on March 7, 2013 at 8:19pm
  @ XANDERSON,
  
  I think you’re talking about the Jedwabne massacre? I know the case personally.
  
  If you read the book, The Holocaust by Martin Gilbert, on page 170 they blamed the massacre on the SS. The book was written in 1985.
  
  But on January 16, 1976, Yad Vashem recognized the family that saved Shmuel Waserstein, his wife and kids. Yad Vashem clearly states that it was carried out by Polish nationals:
  
  “without any assistance or guidance by the Germans,”
  
  On the cover of the book Elie Wiesel says, “A fascinating work that overwhelms us with its truth….This book must be read and reread.”
  
  I don’t think Elie read the book because he would’ve spotted the error/lie! Keep in mind this is the massacre where Jews were forced into a barn and the barn was set on fire as the SS machined gunned the people that tried to escape! I think the massacre was also portrayed in a Hollywood film?
  
  How could the Author make such a historical mistake nine years later? How come Elie didn’t spot it?
  
  Well, if you want the answer, its because they never thought the IRON CURTAIN would come crashing down. lol
  
  The last thing I’ll say about the matter is sometime in, I think early 2000s or late 90s, about 100 bishops participated in the unprecedented ceremony, “apology to God”, for the fact that Polish patriots conducted the massacre and not the SS, some 20 or more years after Yad Vashem officially recognized/knew who committed the massacre!
  
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TEARS FOR AMERICA
Posted on March 7, 2013 at 11:49am
May we never forget and stand as these courageous did.

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- Totally Domestic
  Posted on March 7, 2013 at 7:59pm
  Amen!
  
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