Since April 23, 1987, the Anti-Defamation League has awarded the Courage to Care Award to honor rescuers of Jews during the Holocaust. In 2011, the award was renamed the Jan Karski Courage to Care Award in honor of one of its 1988 recipients, Jan Karski, a Polish Righteous who provided one of the first eyewitness accounts of the Final Solution to the West.
Background Since 1962, the Yad Vashem Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority conferred the title "Righteous Among the Nations" on non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews. Yad Vashem was established in 1953 to perpetuate the memory of the Jewish world destroyed in the Holocaust. A special committee is impaneled to study the evidence gathered from survivors and documents in order to establish the authenticity of each rescue story. To date, over 9,000 men and women have been so honored by Yad Vashem.
In addition to examining its own records, ADL consults with Yad Vashem before conferring the Courage to Care award. The Courage to Care program is sponsored by Eileen Ludwig Greenland.
Award The award plaque features miniature bas-reliefs depicting the backdrop for the rescuers’ exceptional deeds during the Nazi persecution, deportation and murder of millions of Jews. It is a replica of the plaques which constitute the Holocaust Memorial Wall created by noted sculptor Arbit Blatas, who also created the Holocaust Memorial in Paris and the display in the old ghetto of Venice. The award is given during specific programs and ceremonies sponsored by the ADL, often occurring several times a year, when possible.
Miep Gies and her husband Jan received the first Courage to Care award on Thursday, April 23, 1987.
Recipients Courage to Care honorees.
János Eszterházy, 2011 Irene Gut Opdyke, 2009 Gilberto Bosques Saldivar, 2008 Eduardo Propper de Callejón, 2008 Clara M. Ambrus (Bayer), 2008 Martha and Waitstill Sharp, 2007 Khaled Abdelwahhab, 2007 Ernst Leitz II, 2007 Mefail and Njazi Biçaku, 2007 Hiram "Harry" Bingham IV, 2006 Nicholas Winton, 2006 Konstantin Koslovsky, 2006 The People of Turkey, (accepted by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, 2005) Giovanni Palatucci, 2004 Dimitrios P. Spiliakos, 2004 Kostas Nikolaou, 2003 Johanna Vos, 2003 The Partisans of Riccone, Italy, 2003 Hans Georg Calmeyer, 2002 Hannah Pick-Goslar, 2000 Monsignor Beniamo Schivo, 1999 The People of Bulgaria (accepted by President Petar Stoyanov), 1998 Shyqyri Myrto, 1997 Renia & Jerzy Kozminski, 1996 Emilie & Oskar Schindler, 1993 Alice & Paul Paulus, 1993 People of Denmark, 1993 Peter Vlcko, 1991 Stefania Burzminski née Podgórska, 1991 Mela & Alex Roslan, 1990 Friedrich Born, 1990 Marion P. Pritchard, 1990 Jan and Anna Puchalski, 1989 Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, 1989 Chiune Sugihara, 1989 Selahattin Ülkümen, 1988 Jan Karski, 1988 Aristides De Sousa Mendes, 1987 Jan & Miep Gies, 1987
See also Courage to Care (organization) The Courage to Care (film)
References