Two Polish families were posthumously honoured with Righteous Among the Nations medals for helping Jews during World War II in a ceremony in the Polish central city of Lodz on September 29.
The medals were presented by Israeli Ambassador to Poland Anna Azari, who said that honouring those who helped Jews during the Holocaust was one of her embassy’s most important missions.

The two families – those of Waleria and Marcin Swietlik and Helena and Stanislaw Podrzycki – were posthumously honoured because they risked their own lives to save two Jewish girls when Poland was under German occupation during World War II.

The ceremony was held as part of commemorations of the 72nd anniversary of the liquidation of the Lodz Ghetto, the second-largest ghetto in all of German-occupied Europe after the Warsaw Ghetto.

The Righteous Among the Nations medals are awarded by the Jerusalem-based Yad Vashem Institute to individuals and families who risked their own lives and the lives of their loved ones to rescue Jews from the Holocaust.

A total of 26,120 people have received the medal worldwide, with Poles representing the largest group among them, at 6,620. (PAP)

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