Garden Of The Righteous

Yom HaShoah, April 18, 2023, 7 pm

Honoring José Ignacio Burbano from Ecuador
Charles E. Smith Sanctuary or Click Here to Livestream

Please join us on Yom HaShoah, Tuesday, April 18 at 7 pm, as we honor José Ignacio Burbano as our Garden of the Righteous honoree. This year we will welcome Adas Israel member Betty Adler and her family, who will tell their grandfather’s story.

José Ignacio Burbano (1890-1973) was an Ecuadorian diplomat, member of the Royal Spanish Academy, poet, linguist, journalist, educator, intellectual, but most of all, a man whose actions spoke of him as a humanist.

During his mission as Consul of Ecuador in Bremen, Germany from 1937 to 1940, José Ignacio Burbano worked diligently to save the lives of Jews, breaking the rules and challenging Ecuador’s anti-immigration policies. He defended the granting of visas to Jewish families before the Ecuadorian authorities, endangering his career and his life. He succeeded in granting more than two hundred visas and saved the lives of many German Jews, whose lives were in extreme danger because of the Nazi regime.  Burbano courageously saved Jewish families until he was relieved of his duties and relocated to the Ecuadorian consulate in Houston, Texas.

Many years after Burbano’s actions during his mission in Bremen, his eldest daughter Betty, married Federico Adler, an Austrian Jew who had found refuge in Quito, Ecuador, in 1939 (their daughter is long-time Adas Israel member Betty Adler), thus bringing Burbano’s actions full circle. By saving Jewish families, Burbano unknowingly also saved his own future son-in-law, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

Please join us as we honor the righteous on Tuesday, April 18 at 7 pm for this moving ceremony, followed by dessert reception.

Erev Yom HaShoah, April 27, 2022 at 7:30pm

Honoring the Village of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, France
Click Here for a Recording of the Program

Please join us virtually on Wednesday, April 27 at 7:30 pm as we honor The Village of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon. This year we welcome Nelly Trocmé Hewett, Pierre Sauvage and Peter Feigl who will tell the story of this isolated French community that banded together to offer sanctuary and shelter to about 2,000 Jews in the throes of World War II.

In Nazi-occupied countries during the Second World War, many courageous and righteous individuals risked their lives to provide shelter to people fleeing persecution and death. These rescuers knew that at any time, they might be discovered by friends or informants, and turned in to the authorities. But from December1940 until September 1944, an entire town in France and the nearby villages gave shelter to every refugee, including thousands of Jews: never once turning anyone away or over to the Nazis.

The story of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, located in the mountains of south-central France, begins with its pastor, Andre Trocmè, and his wife Magda. Always a pacifist, Trocmè practiced a quiet but firm resistance to the Vichy government, refusing both to recognize the Vichy head of state and to obey any orders from the Nazis and he encouraged his parishioners to do the same. Le Chambon, a town of around 5,000 people, doubled in size as it took in every refugee who arrived and provided refuge for an estimated 5,000 people. That number included about 2,000 Jews (many of them children) who were fleeing from the Vichy authorities and the Germans. 

When the deportations began in France, Pastor Trocmé urged his congregation to give shelter to any Jew who should ask for it. Trocmé reminded the villagers the day after France surrendered to Nazi Germany, “The responsibility of Christians is to resist the violence that will be brought to bear on their consciences through the weapons of the spirit.”   

The village and its outlying areas were quickly filled with hundreds of Jews. Some of them found permanent shelter in the hilly region of Le Chambon, and others were given temporary asylum until they were able to escape across the border, mostly to Switzerland. Despite the danger, Jews were housed with local townspeople and farmers, in public institutions and children’s schools, often given false names and papers. Children and young people continued their education at the school founded by Trocmè and assistant pastor, Reverend Edouard Theis.

All these endeavors which frustrated Vichy’s anti-Jewish policies were implemented under the sponsorship and encouragement of Pastor Trocmé. The Vichy authorities suspected what was taking place and demanded that the Pastor cease his activities and give names of the Jews that he knew were living in the area. His response was clear-cut. He said, "These people came here for help and for shelter. I am their shepherd. A shepherd does not forsake his flock... I do not know what a Jew is. I know only human beings."

These actions of rescue were unusual as they involved the majority of the population of an entire region. Nowhere else did a persistent, successful and collective rescue effort develop on a scale approaching what happened in the area of Le Chambon.  Defying the Nazis and the French government that was collaborating with the Nazis, the villagers of the area of Le Chambon provided a safe haven throughout the war for whoever knocked on their door. This community provided the most successful, longest-lasting haven of refuge from the Holocaust anywhere in occupied Europe. 

On January 5, 1971, Yad Vashem recognized the Pastor Trocmé and on May 14, 1984 his wife, Magda, as Righteous Among the Nations. On March 18, 1976, Daniel Trocmé (the Pastor’s nephew and principal of a school for Jewish refugee children) was recognized as Righteous Among the Nations.  Yad Vashem has also awarded 40 individuals from Le Chambon and its environs the designation of Righteous Among the Nations.   

Wednesday, May 1 at 7:00pm (Erev Yom HaShoah) 2019

Sir Nicholas Winton from Great Britain

This year on Wednesday evening May 1, 2019 at 7 pm, Adas Israel Congregation will honor the memory of Sir Nicholas Winton (1909-2015) from Great Britain. Sir Nicholas was a 29-year-old stockbroker who in 1939 organized trains out of Prague to secure the safe passage of children, most of them Jewish, from Czechoslovakia to England at the dawn of World War II in an operation later known as the Czech Kindertransport. Winton raised money to fund the transports of the children and also the 50 pound per child guarantee demanded by the British government to fund the children's eventual return ticket. He also had to find British families willing to care for the refugee children. In all, Winton was able to bring 669 children out of Czechoslovakia to England. The world found out about his work over 50 years later, in 1988, and the British press dubbed him the "British Schindler". Taking into the account the children and grandchildren of those he saved, there are estimated to be around 6,000 people in the world today who owe him their lives. To this day they call themselves 'Nicky's children'. Winton has received many honors, including a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II in 2003 for his services to humanity. He died on July 1, 2015, at the age of 106.

Garden of the Righteous Program - Live Transcription Access
Provided by the Adas Israel Inclusion Task Force Click for the Link

This year’s Garden of The Righteous program will be transcribed via CART (Communication Access Real-Time Translation) services. You can access the live transcription via your phone, tablet or laptop at the event itself (or from anywhere else) using this link. Please note: the live text feed will not be projected onto a screen at the event—the only way to read the text is on your own device. We are piloting this service and welcome your input following the event. Please email inclusion@adasisrael.org with any feedback or questions. Thank you to Adas Israel’s Inclusion Task Force for supporting this pilot and to Vital Signs LLC for providing this service.

2017

The Veseli Family – Vesel and Fatima and their sons: Refik, Hamid and Xhemal Veseli

On Sunday April 23, Adas Israel Congregation will honor the Veseli Family from Albania: Vesel and Fatima and their sons: Refik, Hamid and Xhemal and their daughters: Hyrije and Deshire. The Veseli Family sheltered the families of Moshe Mandil and Josef Ben Joseph from Yugoslavia. Albania was the only country in Nazi-occupied Europe that ended World War II with more Jews living in it than before the war started. For the Veseli Family and for all Albanians, protecting Jews during the Holocaust was part of “besa,” which literally means “to keep the promise”. This Albanian code of honor requires that individuals protect anyone in danger regardless of religious or political affiliation, to extend hospitality and to treat them as part of their family.  

The Adas Israel Garden of the Righteous is a beautiful reminder of numerous acts of decency and daring performed by many non-Jews in the midst of one of the most tragic moments in human history. The entire community is cordially invited for this moving event. 

We are pleased to present Raif Hyseni and Merita Halili as performers at this year’s Garden of the Righteous ceremony. Raif Hyseni is the most famous Albanian accordion player. He graduated from Caldwell College in 1999, as well as Master in Music from Montclair State University in New Jersey, where he is now an Adjunct Professor and teaches Albanian Ensemble. Merita Halili is one of Albania’s top performers. Born in the capital city of Tirane, her nationwide debut came in 1983, at the age 16, when she sang at The National Folk Festival in the town of Gjirokaster. Soon afterwards she began to perform on Albanian Radio and Television and as a soloist with the State Ensemble for Folk Songs and Dances.

2015

Aristides de Sousa Mendes

Aristides de Sousa Mendes (1885-1954) was an unlikely hero. Born into an aristocratic family, he attended a prestigious university and received a degree in law. After a few years of teaching, he went into the diplomatic corps. Mendes served in many countries, including the United States, Brazil, Zanzibar, Spain and Belgium. Mendes was the Portuguese Consul-General in Bordeaux, France, when the Germans invaded in 1940. Hundreds of thousands of refugees fled to the French-Spanish border hoping to get Portuguese transit visas for passage through Spain to neutral Portugal. Portugal’s fascist dictator, Antonio Salazar, ordered his embassies and diplomats not to issue visas to those seeking temporary shelter in Portugal, especially the Jews. Sousa Mendes, a devout Christian, saw the terrible plight of the refugees. When he received a delegation of refugees at the consulate headed by Rabbi Haim Kruger, Mendes decided to disobey his government’s explicit instruction and promised transit visas to everyone in need. In June 1940, Mendes issued some 30,000 visas, including about 10,000 to Jews. This heroic feat was characterized by renowned Israeli Holocaust historian Yehuda Bauer as “perhaps the largest rescue action by a single individual during the Holocaust.” For his actions, the Portuguese government fired Mendes and he never worked again. Aristides de Sousa Mendes died in poverty in Lisbon on April 3, 1954. On October 18, 1966, Aristides de Sousa Mendes was posthumously honored by Yad Vashem as “Righteous Among the Nations.”

2013

Irena Sendler

Mrs. Sendler, a Roman Catholic social worker, who died at the age of 98, risked her life and survived torture to help save thousands of Jewish children in Poland. By 1942, when the deadly intentions of the Nazis had become clear, Sendler joined a Polish underground organization, Zegota. Working with a group of volunteers, the majority of them women, they began rescuing Jewish children by smuggling them out of the Warsaw ghetto. The children were given false identities and placed with Catholic families, in orphanages and convents. In the hope of later reuniting the children with their birth parents, Sendler wrote the children’s names and new identities and addresses in code, on slips of paper, and buried them in jars in a neighbor’s back yard. That hope never came true; most of the parents died in concentration camps. In 1965 Irena Sendler was recognized by Yad Vashem as “Righteous Among the Nations,” was made an honorary citizen of Israel in 1991 and in 2003 was awarded Poland’s highest distinction, the Order of White Eagle.Irena Sendler’s achievements went largely unnoticed for many years until the story was uncovered in 1999 by four young students from Kansas who wrote a play titled, “Life in a Jar”, about the heroic actions of Irena Sendler. Adas Israel was honored to host a performance of “Life in a Jar” as part of our Garden of the Righteous ceremony.

2011

José Arturo Castellanos

José Arturo Castellanos, a diplomat from El Salvador, was this year’s Garden of the Righteous honoree. Mr. Castellanos was El Salvador’s consul in Geneva during the war, when he approved about 40,000 passports and birth certificates for Jews from different countries so they would not be caught by the Nazis and sent to death camps. José Arturo Castellanos, who died in 1977 at age 83, was honored on July 15, 2010 by the Embassy of El Salvador in Israel and the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum as a “Righteous Gentile” for saving thousands of Jews during World War II. See Channel 9's coverage of this event.

2009

Father Bruno (Henri Reynders) and Mr. Georges Ranson

Our 18th honorees were Mr. Georges Ranson and Father Bruno (Henri Reynders) of Belgium. Industrialist and resistance fighter Georges Ranson (pictured far left) provided jobs, false identification cards and a place to live in his factory for Jews during the German occupation of Belgium. He also took Jewish children, one of whom was Flora Singer, z"l (a resident of Potomac, MD), to an orphanage where they made contact with Father Bruno. Father Bruno, a Benedictine Monk, presided over the lives of between 300 and 400 Jews, most of them children. For months after the war Father Bruno searched for surviving parents to reconnect them with their children who had been under his care. Both Georges Ranson and Father Bruno have been recognized by Yad Vashem as one of the "Righteous Among the Nations." Georgette Ranson and Yves Pierseaux (Ranson's daughter and grandson) will be here to represent him.

2007

Heinz Drossel

Honoring Heinz Drossel of Germany. Heinz Drossel, Adas Israel’s 16th Garden of the Righteous Honoree, was a German officer during WWII. The son of ardent anti-Nazis, Mr. Drossel was forced to serve in the German army but continued to refuse to join the Nazi party. Mr. Drossel fought first in the campaign against France in 1940, then from 1941 to 1945 against Russia. In the summer of 1941 Heinz Drossel’s unit captured a Russian officer. His commander told him to take the prisoner back to the battalion where Mr. Drossel knew that the prisoner would be shot; rather, he took the prisoner in the opposite direction. Mr. Drossel, who speaks Russian, urged the officer to go into the woods, sending him off towards the Russian troops. While on leave in 1942, Mr. Drossel was walking through Berlin when he noticed a woman by the railing of a bridge who, seeing his uniform, grew increasingly agitated at his approach. As she tried to leap from the bridge, Mr. Drossel caught her and soon discovered that she was Jewish. He calmed the woman, took her to his apartment, and gave her money so that she could find a safe place to stay. In 1945 Mr. Drossel was later reunited with this women, Marianne, and they married in 1946. Also in 1945, Mr. Drossel helped four of his neighbors who had been living with forged papers (Ernst and Margot Fontheim, and Jack and Lucie Hass) to find shelter when they were in immediate danger of being reported to the authorities. The Gestapo came to look for them the day after they relocated. In May 2000, Yad Vashem honored Mr. Drossel, as did the German government in 2001, awarding him its highest civilian medal. Mr. Drossel, of blessed memory, passed away in April of 2008.

2005

Dr. Magdelena Stroe

Dr. Magdelena Stroe of Romania was the 2005 Garden of the Righteous Honoree. Participating in the ceremony were representatives of the Romanian and Israeli Embassies, the Adas Israel Clergy, and children from our Melvin Gelman Religious School. Dr. Stroe was honored by Yad Vashem through the Embassy of Israel in Bucharest which granted her the title “The Righteous Among the Nations” for risking her life to save Jews during the Holocaust. In 1944 in the city of Cluj, Magdelena Stroe saved her Jewish friend Hanna Kende. When Hungary was seized by Germany, ghettos were established and Jews were expelled. Magdelena, though she did not know about the existence of death camps in Auschwitz, knew that Hanna was in danger and gave her friend her own identity documents, saving her life. It was Hanna Kende who requested the Yad Vashem Institute to acknowledge Magdelena Stroe’s heroism.

2003

Gauvin Family

Adas Israel honored the Gauvin Family from France in the 2003 Garden of the Righteous ceremony. Mr. Robert Gauvin, one of the children of Louis Gauvin, represented his family and Leon Epsteinas (related to Adas Israel member, Jackie Levinson) was present representing his family who was saved along with twenty other Jewish families saved by the Gauvin Family. Many thousands of Jews of France did not survive the war and were in fact handed over to the Nazis by the French government. The heroism of the Gauvin family is a story of distinction, which we are honored and compelled to share.

2001

Bruno Rozentals

The 2001 honoree was Bruno Rozentals from Latvia. In early 1942, 16-year-old Bruno Rozentals, his 13-year-old brother, their father and stepmother began to rescue Jewish people. By the end of World War II, three years later, they had saved 36 Jews. The Rozentals hid and supplied food to 36 Jews who came from the Ghetto and killing camps. They hid them in a series of rooms and tunnels carved beneath their house and barn, and at the farm of neighbors they recruited to help. Every Jew taken in by Bruno’s family survived the war. Aside from the obvious Jewish content in teaching children, as well as adult members of the congregation, about the history of the Jews during the Holocaust, many Jewish values are associated with this undertaking. These include remembrance, humaneness, compassion, righteousness, overcoming indifference, brotherhood, honoring others, giving thanks, and choosing life. Equally noteworthy is that this annual event teaches our people’s history to our children in a way that emphasizes respect, honor and good deeds, while de-emphasizing the fears often associated with the Holocaust, especially in trying to teach the subject to younger children.

1999

Magdalena Horvath

Magdalena Horvath from Budapest, Hungary was the 1999 honoree. Married to Erny Szendrody, a Jewish man, Magdalena risked her own life and that of her two small children to hide many members of her husband’s family. When her mother-in-law received her notice to report for deportation, Magdalena asked her own mother for her papers. Her mother, afraid of the consequences for helping a Jew refused. Magdalena, feeling she had no other choice, took her mother’s papers and gave them to her mother-in-law. She then took her mother-in-law to an apartment in the mountains where she lived as a gentile until the end of the war. In the last months of the war, when the situation became extremely dangerous, 28 Jews were hiding in Magdalena’s small apartment. Magdalena and Erny came to the United States in 1956 after the Hungarian revolution. Her husband died years ago. Magdalena, of blessed memory, passed away in August 2004.

1997

Mr. Eugene de Thassy

Mr. Eugene de Thassy of Hungary, our 1997 honoree, spent the years of the war attempting to rescue Jews from certain death. Among other heroic deeds, he risked his life in Budapest, Hungary, trying to save a doctor and his wife, who unfortunately eventually perished at Auschwitz. He rescued another family from the Gestapo by hiding them in a convent and by enrolling their son in a boarding school as his own son. After the war, Mr. de Thassy settled in the United States where he has worked for the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe. Mr. de Thassy, of blessed memory, passed away in April 2008.

1995

Dr. Marion Pritchard

Dr. Marion Pritchard was the 1995 Garden of the Righteous honoree. Dr. Pritchard, a practicing psychotherapist in Vermont, is a native of the Netherlands, and has been recognized by The State of Israel at Yad Vashem, the Memorial to the Six Million, as well as by her own state of Vermont. During World War II she not only hid Jews from the Nazi's, but shot a German soldier in order to protect them.

1993

Preben Munch Nielsen

The 1993 ceremony, enhanced by scheduling of the dedication and opening of the Holocaust Museum in Washington, honored Preben Munch-Nielsen of Copenhagen. Fifty years earlier, as a high school student, Mr. Munch-Nielsen was among a number of Danes who risked their lives to ferry their Jewish neighbors in small fishing boats across German-patrolled waters to sanctuary in Sweden. As a result of their heroic efforts, 7,000 Danish Jews (more than 90% of that country’s Jewish community) were rescued. Coincidentally, the small boat actually piloted by Mr. Munch-Nielsen was located and donated to the Holocaust Museum as a permanent exhibit. Mr. and Mrs. Munch-Nielsen returned in subsequent years to honor other honorees. Mr. Munch-Nielson, of blessed memory, passed away in 2002.