Rabbi Finds His “Righteous Gentile”

October 26, 2008

The rabbi said he had been a small boy in the Buchenwald concentration camp when Michajlitschenko—imprisoned by the Gestapo—looked after him, knowing he was a Jew. The young man helped protect Lau against the biting cold and stole extra potatoes for him. Jews call Europeans who risked their lives to save Jews from the Nazis “righteous gentiles.”

Lau said that if Michajlitschenko should choose to visit Israel, he would personally welcome him to Ben Gurion International Airport and “make efforts to ensure he is bestowed ‘The Righteous among the Nations’ title.” “I always admired him,” Lau said emotionally. “He knew I was Jewish boy [and he] protected me with his body.”

Excerpts of an article by
Stan Goodenough, Jerusalem Newswire

Photo Credit: www.israelimages.com/Dan Porges