Righteous Among the Nations Honorific Goes to Hungarian Couple

Sándor Nagy and his wife, Mária Bergován, hid a Jewish family in their home for six months in 1944.

Sándor Pintér, Minister of Interior, and Jákov Hadasz-Handelszman, Israeli Ambassador to Hungary, granted the Righteous Among the Nations posthumous honorifics and Medal of Valor to Sándor Nagy and Mária Bergován for providing a hiding-place in their home for six months in 1944 to Mihály Jelli and his family, altogether eleven persons. The award was handed to Sándor Nagy, son of the late Sándor Nagy.

Sándor Pintér said that those who were granted the Righteous Among the Nations honorific set a high standard for humanity, solidarity and goodwill, for they saved lives in World War II by risking their own. The ones they saved commemorate and express their gratitude with the award.

The honorific is meant to symbolise that by saving one life, one saves the whole world – said the Minister, adding that no one should be secluded for their origins or religion.

Jákov Hadasz-Handelszman declared that the cruelty of the Holocaust should never be forgotten. The Righteous Among the Nations honorific aims to express respect and gratitude towards non-Jewish people who risked their and their families’ lives to save Jews from death.

Israel bestowed the honorific on almost 28 thousand people, including 878 Hungarians.