Late Filipino President Honored for Role in Saving Jews
On Monday, the Anti-Defamation League will posthumously award Filipino President Manuel Luis Quezon the Jan Karski Courage to Care Award. Named for the Polish diplomat who visited the Nazi death camps and sought to warn the rest of the world about atrocities taking place, the award will be conferred on Quezon for welcoming 1,200 Jewish refugees into the Philippines during WWII.
In a letter to Quezon’s daughter, Maria Zeneida Quezon Avanceña, the ADL was quoted by globalnation.inquirer.net as saying it would be “very proud to posthumously present this award to your father… for his heroic efforts to save Jews during the Holocaust.”
The ADL learned of Quezon’s heroic efforts through the work of Filipino-American professor Sharon Delmendo, who is currently working on a book about the Filipino role in saving Jews during the Holocaust. Quezon’s role came to the ADL’s attention through a presentation Delmendo delivered in 2013.
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