The Avenue of the Righteous Among the Nations

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Avenue of the Righteous Among the Nations

The Avenue of the Righteous Among the Nations was dedicated on Holocaust Remembrance Day, May 1, 1962. The Israeli government was represented by Foreign Minister Golda Meir, and the first eleven trees were planted along the path leading to the Hall of Remembrance on the bare hill of the Mount of Remembrance. The trees were placed in the ground by rescuers from different countries as well as by their Israeli hosts – the Jews they had rescued.

In her speech Golda Meir said that "the Jewish people remember not only the villains, but also every small detail of the rescue attempts." She compared the Righteous Among the Nations to drops of love in an ocean of poison, and said:

"They rescued not only the lives of Jews, but had saved hope and the faith in the human spirit."

The first trees – 1 May 1962

The first trees were planted before the establishment of the Commission for the Designation of the Righteous in the beginning of 1963.

The Planting of Trees in Israel

Planting trees has a special significance in Israel. It was a part of the comprehensive forestation and reclamation of land projects conducted by the Jewish National Fund on behalf of the pre-state Jewish settlement and later of the State of Israel. Planting forests in the arid country and creating a green landscape was one form of Zionist activity to develop the country. Within these campaigns, planting trees or forests became a form for commemorating persons or events. Thus the Martyrs Forest was planted In the 1950’s on the road to Jerusalem in memory of the six million Jews who had perished in the Holocaust, and school children were involved in the planting of trees in memory of the murdered children. Planting trees in memory of the victims of the Holocaust had also been included in the first plans for Yad Vashem.

In 1955 Rachel Auerbach, a Holocaust survivor from Warsaw, who worked at Yad Vashem and was in charge of gathering survivor testimonies, asked Arie Bauminger, Yad Vashem’s managing director, to discuss the honoring of rescuers in the Directorate meeting, and suggested to plant trees in on the Mount of Remembrance in their honor. Kobi Kabalek, who researched the evolvment of the Righteous Program believes that Auerbach got the idea when a year earlier she had represented Yad Vashem in a ceremony in memory of Jop Westerweel, who had rescued members of the HeChalutz movement in the Netherlands and was executed in 1944. The ceremony took place in a small forest that had been planted in honor of Westerweel.

The Memorial of the Anonymous Rescuer

In view of the dangers to Jews and their rescuers, rescue was conducted clandestinely. It is therefore sometimes difficult to find traces of rescue attempts; the information is scant and sometimes the identity of the rescuer remains unknown. Some rescuers were discovered and killed with the Jews they were protecting, leaving no evidence of the rescue attempt; in other cases no one came forward to report the case. In the absence of witnesses, some of these courageous deeds will forever remain unknown.

Wishing to honor these unknown heroes, Yad Vashem erected a monument to the anonymous rescuer in the Avenue of the Righteous.

The was written by Genja Klepfisz-Jodzka to Miss Bronja, a Polish woman, to whose care she had entrusted her seven-year-old son, Michael.

Parting from her son proved too painful, and after a certain time Genja decided to take Michael back. Mother and son tried to escape to Vienna, but they were caught and deported to Auschwitz in April 1944. Both perished. The letter was donated to Yad Vashem by Genja's sister, but nothing is known about Miss Bronja, except her first name. She is one of the anonymous rescuers.

The letter was read as part of the memorial ceremony held on the occasion of the visit of Pope John Paul II at Yad Vashem, 23 March 2000.