Certificates for Czechs Who Saved Jews Found After 46 Years
A box of documents covered with dust, which belonged to
the Israeli Embassy in Prague and was discovered accidentally 46 years later,
contains a historical memory which may allow the State of Israel to honor Czech
citizens who saved Jews during the Holocaust and have yet to be officially
recognized.
Shahar Shelef, the deputy Israeli ambassador to the Czech
Republic, received a phone call from a diplomat serving at the Swedish Embassy
in Prague several weeks ago.
"You're not going to believe this," the Swedish
diplomat told him. "We were organizing the embassy and decided to clean up
the cellars. We found an old cardboard box with papers of the Israeli Embassy
from 1967. You may come and take it."
An inquiry revealed that in 1967, after Czechoslovakia
severed its diplomatic relations with Israel, the Israeli Embassy staff placed
some of the diplomatic paperwork inside a cardboard box at the Swedish embassy.
The box was placed in the basement, only to be discovered there 46 years later.
Among the pile of administrative documents were three
Righteous Among the Nations certificates on behalf of Yad Vashem, the Holocaust
Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority in Jerusalem, which were to be
handed out along with medals, in an official ceremony, to three Czech citizens
who saved Jews during the Holocaust.
As they had to leave in a rush, the Israeli Embassy staff
did not have time to deliver the certificates, and they were buried in the
basement of the Swedish Embassy.
Upon receiving the box of documents, the Israeli Embassy
contacted Yad Vashem and received verification that those three Czech citizens
had indeed been registered as Righteous Gentiles.
The son of one of the three Czechs, who lives in Canada,
had received a copy of the medal from the Israeli Consulate in Montreal many
years ago. The other two have yet to be contacted.
"We know that the three Righteous Gentiles are no
longer alive," says Shelef. "We will do everything in our power to
see their offspring receive the official recognition of the State of Israel,
even if 46 years too late."
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