London - UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown Honors Britons for Helping Protect Jews During Holocaust |
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News Source: AP
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Sir Nicholas was one of 28 people honoured at the ceremony Photo: BBC NewsLondon - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Tuesday honored Britons whose extraordinary actions helped save Jews and other Holocaust victims during World War II, calling them a source of national pride.
Brown met two surviving recipients — Nicholas Winton and Denis Avey — at a reception at his Downing Street home, and praised the role of 26 others in saving the lives of those persecuted by the Nazis.
Britain has minted a new “Hero of the Holocaust” medal — a silver medallion — after a campaign by Jewish groups and lawmakers to win recognition for the bravery of those involved in the rescues.
The 100-year-old Winton organized the rescue of 669 mainly Jewish children by train from Prague in 1939, before the outbreak of war. Many of their parents were later killed.
Avey, 91, says he switched places with a Jewish prisoner at the Auschwitz concentration camp to gather information about the facility, and helped a fellow inmate to survive by sharing food.
“These individuals are true British heroes and a source of national pride for all of us,” Brown said. “They were shining beacons of hope in the midst of terrible evil because they were prepared to take a stand against prejudice, hatred and intolerance.”
During a visit to the Auschwitz concentration camp last year, Brown promised to honor the group.
Among those receiving posthumous awards are a group of British prisoners of war who saved the life of 15-year-old Hannah Sara Rigler, by hiding her in a hayloft and secretly taking food to her.
Rigler, who is still alive and lives in New York, wrote an account of her rescue called “10 British Prisoners of War Saved My Life.”
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Read Comments (4) — Post Yours »
1
Mar 09, 2010 at 06:03 PM Loshon Hora Says:Report as Inappropriate
Hishtadlus B4 elections.
2
Mar 09, 2010 at 06:42 PM Baruch Says:Report as Inappropriate
May G-D bless these great people!
3
Mar 10, 2010 at 12:03 AM londoner Says:Report as Inappropriate
“ Hishtadlus B4 elections. ”
Not fair. Stamford Hill/Hackney is a safe Labour seat. Brown would win this seat even if he gave Hitler a knighthood.
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Mar 10, 2010 at 04:57 PM anonymous Says:Report as Inappropriate
Not too many will qualify. A Polish doctor [not Jewish] escaped from Poland and reached England and tried to tell someone in the Foreign Office about the slaughter of Jews and was not granted an audience. The reason he had no "diplomatic" status. The only good I can say that their Bristol Blenheim bombers were manned by better pilots and night and precision bombing was assigned to the RAF instead of the USAF. Yes In Buchenwald as young boy I watched the B 25 flying like little white doves in the sky and leaving contrails, to us they looked like malochim in the sky