14 June 2006
Yad Vashem applauds the city of Paris and the Memorial de la Shoah in France on the establishment of a wall commemorating French Righteous Among the Nations, which will be dedicated in Paris today. The wall is located on the street renamed the Avenue of the Righteous by the Municipality a few years ago.
To date, Yad Vashem has recognized 21,310 Righteous Among the Nations - non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust - from 42 different countries. Of these, 2,646 are from France, and their names are engraved on the Wall of the Righteous, which will be dedicated today in Paris in the presence of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin and Mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanoë. Yad Vashem will be represented by its Director General Natan Eitan.
The commemorative wall in Paris was established by the Memorial de la Shoah organization in close cooperation with Yad Vashem. Yad Vashem provided the names that are engraved on the wall and, according to an agreement between the two organizations, will continue to forward the names of future Righteous Among the Nations from France in the coming years, so they may be included on the wall.
Yad Vashem is currently publishing a comprehensive encyclopedia containing all the rescue stories of Righteous Among the Nations and a summary of Yad Vashem’s efforts in recognizing the Righteous Among the Nations over the past 40 years. The Righteous Among the Nations: France volume was published in English and French in 2003, with the support of the French government.
