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Germans Who Saved Jews from Nazis Honored by Yad Vashem
(AFP-Times of Israel) Deborah Cole - On Wednesday, Israel's Ambassador to Germany Ron Prosor and Berlin's Deputy Mayor Bettina Jarasch presented descendants and grand-daughters of four Germans with "Righteous Among the Nations" medals from Jerusalem's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial during a posthumous ceremony in their honor. Moritz and Henriette Mandelkern survived the Holocaust only thanks to the help of their neighbors, Bruno and Anna Schwartze, and a farming family, Friedrich and Helene Huebner. "Even in Berlin, where my father was born, there were people who fought for good and didn't forget humanity and compassion," said Amb. Prosor. The Schwartzes took Moritz Mandelkern into their attic from December 1942 for 18 months. Henriette found safe haven at the same time on the Huebners' farm in the village of Gross-Schoenebeck, 50 km. away, where her cousin had already sought refuge. After the Schwartzes' home was badly damaged in a bombing, Moritz also fled to the farm, where they were eventually liberated. Yad Vashem has since 1963 kept a historical record of non-Jewish people who risked their lives trying to save Jews from Nazi extermination, with nearly 28,000 people recognized.