A special ceremony honoring Poles who saved Jews during the Holocaust has been held at the National Theater in Warsaw.

Report by Slawek Szefs.

Most of the decorated have already received the Righteous Among The Nations medal from the Yad Vashem Memorial Institute in Jerusalem. Poles constitute over 6 thousand recipients of the prestigious distinction making up more than one fourth of all those recognized for saving Jewish lives during The Holocaust.  But despite six decades since the end of the war, new names are still being found and added to the list.

Evaluating the deeds of the honored Poles it must be remembered that Poland had been the only country in Nazi occupied Europe in which any form of assistance to Jews, even giving them food or clothing, had been punishable by death on the spot.

As had been emphasized by many speakers at Monday's decoration ceremony, it is important that also the Polish state recognizes the heroic merits of its citizens and not only Israel. People of whom future generations of Poles can surely be proud of.

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