ADL Honors Woman as Teenage Rescuer of Jews During Holocaust

[Behind the Aegis]

New York, NY, February 24, 2010 … Arlette deMonceau Michaelis, who along with her family resisted the Germans and saved Jews in Belgium during the Holocaust, was honored by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) for her heroism in risking her life to save others.

Arlette received ADL's Courage to Care Award, which honors rescuers of Jews during the Holocaust era, during a ceremony at the League's National Executive Committee meeting in Palm Beach, Florida.

"Arlette never believed she was doing anything more than the universal obligation to help other people," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director and a Holocaust survivor, who presented the award. "As she states so simply but elegantly in the foreword of her book, 'We had a sacred obligation to save innocent people regardless of citizenship, race or religion.' In taking a moral stand, Arlette proved that is possible to choose to do a most demanding mitzvah against overwhelming odds and without hope of commendation or advantage."

In accepting the award, the Brussels-born New Jersey native spoke of the essential importance of helping human beings in need, and praised her Belgian neighbors for not denouncing her family to the Nazis, despite knowing that they were protecting Jews.

"It is our human duty to help people regardless of creed, race or religion," she said. "We did what we did … because it was the human thing to do. It was not only myself and my parents, but also my neighbors. The honor bestowed on my father and my family must also be shared with our neighbors. I never expected to be recognized for doing what was the human thing to do."

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