The list of 1,000 French citizens slated to receive the
Legion of Honor award, the country's highest civilian award,
includes 153 people that Yad Vashem has recognized as
Righteous Among the Nations for their efforts to save Jews
from being sent to Nazi concentration camps during World War
II. The list also includes renowned Nazi hunter Beate
Klarsfeld.
To date Israel has recognized 2,725 French citizens who
helped save the 75 percent of the 330,000 Jews of occupied
France who survived. (A total of 16,000 European citizens
have been recognized as Righteous Among the Nations.) France
ranks third after Poland and Holland for the number of
citizens who helped Jews survive.
According to a statement issued by the office of President
Jacques Chirac, "These men and women who, during one of the
darkest hours of our history, contributed to saving three-
fourths of the Jews of France from deportation, embody the
values upon which the nation and the republic are based."
The award recipients include the entire population of Chambon-
sur-Lignon, a mountain village where the local pastor
organized a mass shelter for numerous Jews.
The relatively large number of French Jews saved from
extermination demonstrates that without the full cooperation
of local populations the Nazi killing machine could not have
functioned, for even the light resistance of a small number
of French citizens was able to significantly slow the rate of
deportation.
