British Holocaust Hero

In 2008, a campaign for official posthumous recognition of British Holocaust rescuers was launched by the British Holocaust Education Trust, a British charity foundation founded in 1988. British citizens such as Francis Foley , Jane Haining and June Ravenhall, whom Israel had previously called British candidates for the status of "Righteous Nations of the World", were cited as an example. However, they did not receive well-deserved awards from Britain ^{[1] [2] [3]} .

According to the official British system of distinctions, honors cannot be given posthumously, therefore the Trust campaign sought to change the award system and reward posthumously British rescuers such as Frank Foley ^{[2] [3] [4]} . On May 7, 2008, on the 50th anniversary of Foley's death, Trust filed an online petition called “UK-Rescuers” on the Prime Minister’s website and encouraged him to review laws defining the posthumous honors system ^{[3] [3] [4] [ 5]} . In a short time, 1077 people signed up for the petition of May 7, 2009 ^[5] . It said:

... [Foley] has never been officially honored by the British people throughout his life for his heroic deeds. Therefore, we appeal to the government to review the current statute governing the system of honors so that the Honors Committee may consider awarding Frank Foley a posthumous award. We hope this will open the way to the Honors Committee for the recognition of other British Holocaust heroes, including Randolph Churchill, Sergeant Charles Coward, Jane Haining, Tommy Noble and Robert Smallbones, who risked and, in some cases, gave their lives to save others ... ^{[5 ]}

During 2008 and 2009, the campaign gained support from the media, as well as members of parliament in both the UK and Scotland ^{[2] [6] [7] [8] [9]} . In March 2009, MP Russell Brown introduced the issue of recognizing British Holocaust heroes at Westminster. He cited Foley, Haining, and Ravenhall as examples. Under his petition 135 people signed up ^[10] .

On April 29, 2009, the government announced that a new award would be created specifically for the recognition of these British rescuers ^{[1] [4] [11] [12] [13] [14]} . Right after Gordon Brown’s first visit to the former German concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in modern Poland, the prime minister announced: “We will create national prizes in Britain for those British citizens who helped many people - Jews and other citizens - during the Holocaust” ^{[ 15]} .

The new national award did not fit into the usual system of honors. The government ruled out the possibility of revising the rules of posthumous honors, so the Secretary of State for Community and Local Government and the Minister of the Cabinet Office discussed the form of the award with Trust, MP Russell Brown and the families of those who were going to be awarded ^{[11] [14] [15]} .

The new British state award is a recognition by the state of the merits of people who proved themselves during the Holocaust ^[16] . 27 people were nominated for the British Hero of the Holocaust Award. On March 9, 2010, the representatives of 25 families of Heroes who did not live to recognize their heroic deeds received the medal. Two people - Sir Nicholas Winton at the age of 100 and Denis Avi at the age of 91 - were awarded the prize in person. The award was presented at a gala reception at 10 Downing Street ^{[16] [17]} .

To qualify for the title of British Holocaust Hero, a person must be a British citizen who helped or saved Jews or other nationalities persecuted during the Holocaust. The awards will be awarded to those who showed extraordinary courage during the Holocaust, putting their lives at risk, becoming a righteous people of the world , or acting beyond their official duties in the most difficult circumstances. Among the awarded there are also people who before that were not righteous people of the world ^[18] .