The first Arab recognized by Israel’s Holocaust memorial as a hero for risking his life to save Jews during World War II will finally be presented with the honor after a four-year delay.
Egyptian doctor Mohammed Helmy will be presented posthumously with the “Righteous Among the Nations” medal and certificate at a ceremony tomorrow in Berlin.
Helmy’s great-nephew is to accept the honor.
Helmy had already been recognized back in 2013 as a “Righteous Among the Nations” — the first Arab to be recognized as such — but the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial said it had not been able to contact the doctor’s next of kin.
Members of Helmy’s family reportedly did not want to accept the honor because of its link to Israel, reports which were never confirmed by Yad Vashem.
However, the efforts of an Israeli filmmaker seemed to have helped reach a resolution.
Helmy had hidden a young Jewish woman, Anna Boros, in a property he owned during the war, while also finding places for her grandmother and giving medical care to her parents.
— AFP
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From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, October 25, 2017
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