| You may have heard the term righteous gentile | | | | titles have been awarded and no particular |
| or righteous among the nations and wandered if | | | | historical facts. |
| there was some type of definition for this title. | | | | Most of the awards were given to citizens of |
| This is not an arbitrary term but an official state | | | | European countries with nominal numbers in Asia |
| sponsored honor awarded by the Jerusalem | | | | as well as North and South America. As of |
| Holocaust museum, Yad Vashem, on behalf of | | | | January 1, 2009 the honor of righteous among |
| the State of Israel. There are certain criteria that | | | | the nations was given to a total of 22,765 |
| must be met to receive this title. The general | | | | individuals. The largest numbers are from Poland |
| concept of awarding this title is to honor gentiles | | | | at 6,135 followed by the Netherlands at 4,947 and |
| who rescued or saved Jewish lives during the | | | | the Ukraine at 2,246. |
| Holocaust. | | | | It remains an obscure fact that of the total |
| Statistics of righteous among the nations that | | | | rescuers worldwide 100 righteous gentiles moved |
| have been awarded during the years is interesting | | | | to Israel over the years, mostly after the collapse |
| but not telling. The numbers do not necessarily | | | | of the communist block. Many of these rescuers |
| reflect the attitudes held by the general population | | | | felt the need to deepen their ties with the Jewish |
| during the war years nor do they reflect the | | | | people while others were brought to Israel by the |
| number of Jews that were actually rescued or | | | | Jewish individuals that they saved. The later being |
| the total number of rescuers. This is because | | | | testimony to the deep bonds that were often |
| many of the righteous are unknown and | | | | formed between rescuer and rescue. |
| therefore the statistics only represent how many | | | | |