Barack Obama to Take Part in Ceremony Honouring Polish Righteous
This ceremony is exceptional in that this will be the first time that Righteous have been honoured in the United States and that a US President will take part in the proceedings. The men behind Barak Obama's involvement are former Yad Vashem Institute Director Avner Shalev and the Israeli Ambassador to the USA Ron Dermer. Co-organisers of the event are the Israeli Embassy, Yad Vashem and the American Society for Yad Vashem.
The ceremony will posthumously honour Americans Roddie Edmonds and Lois Gunden, as well as the Polish couple, Maryla and Walery Żbijewski. The medal and certificates will be accepted by close relatives of those honoured. Barack Obama will give an address and the entire event will be streamed live on the Yad Vashem website from 6:00pm local time: http://www.yadvashem.org/27th/ceremony_ran.asp
Edmonds, an American Senior Sergeant, took part in the landing of forces into Europe and then found himself to be German prisoner. In January 1945, Jewish prisoners of war were required to report to the camp authorities. Sergeant Edmonds, realising that they would most probably be sent to their deaths, motivated other prisoners to report together. He told the camp commandant that "We're all Jews". The Germans, not knowing how to react, backed down from their plans for Jewish prisoners.
In 1941, Lois Gunden, a French teacher from Indiana, volunteered to work in southern France. She established an orphanage in Canet Plage which cared for many children, including Jewish children. Several of them she had helped smuggle out of the nearby Rivesaltes internment camp. She pressured parents to give up their children into her care, thereby saving them from deportation.
Maryla and Walery Żbijewski helped to save Elżbieta Ferster in Warsaw. The girl, together with her mother Janina, managed to escape from the ghetto before the big liquidation operation in 1942. In the beginning, they hid with the Kucharski family (also Righetous). Janina Ferster had false papers and endeavoured to rent an apartment. During searches, her daughter Eżbieta was hidden by the Żbijewski couple.
