(Slovak Spectator) On Jan. 27, another 10 Slovaks joined those who have received the Yad Vashem "Righteous of the Nations" title. Those five families joined 546 brave men and women from Slovakia and almost 26,000 people from all over the world who have received the designation. Zvi Aviner Vapni, the Israeli ambassador in Slovakia, said: "The stories are about ordinary people that never planned to become heroes and were unprepared to take risky decisions. They were ordinary human beings, but it is precisely their humanity that touches us so, and should serve as a shining example." Jan Varga and his wife Anna were honored for saving Efraim Neumann Goz in the village of Petrovce. "As everybody in the village was against the Nazis, we were able to stay there," Gotz said. Jozef Krajcovic and his wife Anna were honored for helping Imrich Foldes, his wife Magdalena, and daughter Judita. Jozef hid them in a kitchen storeroom that he bricked up apart from a small hole where they stayed for eight months. "When we came out of the hiding place, the bright sunlight, fresh air and the vast excitement overwhelmed us. My mother passed out," Judita said. Stefan Kassa and his wife Maria were honored for helping Franz Aaron Weiss, wife Rozalia, and sons Ariel and Gabriel. At first the family escaped to a cave at the entrance to a blocked mine. The Kassa family then offered the Weiss family a goat chalet where they took shelter for four months. "They were giving us food even when it was life-threatening," said Gabriel Weiss. "When Germans learned that someone was hiding Jews his whole family was endangered."
2016-01-29 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive