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529:, the Nazis would torch hundreds of synagogues across Germany, Austria, and the Sudetenland and trash and loot 7,500 Jewish-owned businesses and murdered hundreds of Jews. Helmy witnessed how, Anna Boros, a Jewish teenager whose life he would go on to save, being forced to transfer to a ″Jewish only school″. Like her family, she had been one of his patients since 1936, the Boros family considered themselves lucky that Dr Helmy treated them since Jewish people were forbidden to see a German “Aryan” doctor. Following the closure of the Jewish school in 1940, Helmy began by degrees to take care of Anna.
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565:. When this became too risky, he took Anna to stay at acquaintances’ homes. He created the story that Anna had escaped to Romania, while giving her an identity as his headscarfed Muslim niece, ″Nadya″. Helmy took her on as his assistant at his GP practice and taught her how to conduct blood tests and use the microscope. He managed to evade
654:: "Whosoever saves a single life saves an entire universe" and accompanying certificate of honor intended for Mod Helmy. But his relatives in Cairo were hesitant to accept it, citing hostile relations between Israel and Egypt. "We would be delighted if another country honored him,” they explained to German Jewish
545:. Egyptian detainees in the camp were to be exchanged for Germans detained in Egypt. On 3 October 1939, Helmy was arrested and detained for a month before being sent to Wülzburg, where he fell seriously ill. He was released alongside the rest of the Egyptian prisoners in December. In January 1940,
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Adolf Hitler's rise to power in 1933 upended life in
Germany, by that time most Arabs had left the country, fearing their racist ideology. Helmy was one of just 300 who decided to stay, bound to both his patients and to his true love he had met, the Berlin-born Emmi Ernst. Extensively involved in
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agreed to receive the certificate from the
Israeli ambassador to Berlin, but at a ceremony in the German Foreign Ministry, not in the Israeli Embassy, due to the family's difficulty in receiving the honor directly from an Israeli institution. The ceremony took place on 26 October 2017 with also
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ordered the internment of all adult male
Egyptian nationals, which led to an ill Helmy being arrested for a second time. The Egyptian embassy managed to secure Helmy's early release in 1940 due to his deteriorating condition, sparing him another year in the internment camp.
518:. Helmy was fired from his hospital in 1937 and barred from practicing medicine under the new Nazi laws. Since he could no longer obtain a medical license, Helmy opened a private practice without licensure and treated patients privately. He was also forbidden from
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At the same time, Helmy had to be increasingly cautious himself. On
September 5, 1939, immediately following the start of World War II, the Ordinance on the Treatment of Foreigners required citizens of "enemy states" to register with authorities. Shortly after,
447:, to cultural events. The mosque’s manager, Dr. Hugo ″Hamid″ Marcus, continued to identify as a member of Berlin's Jewish community after having converted to Islam, he was so enthusiastic about Islam that he was one of the first to begin translating the
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had previously demanded her to leave
Germany within three days and go back to Romania. The Romanian consulate in Berlin warned them about the deadly journey. Helmy hid her in his girlfriend Emmy's garden shed in the suburb of
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For over a year, Helmy was obliged to report to the police twice every day and provide proof every month that he was too ill to be present to the internment camp. Conscripted to the practice of Dr. Johannes
Wedekind in
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After the war Helmy was finally able to marry his fiancée Emmi and became director of the hospital in Buch. In 1962 he was recognized as a hero by the Berlin Senate. That same year his friend Frieda
Szturmann died.
573:, a friend of his. For over a year, Szturmann hid and protected Anna's 67-year-old grandmother and shared her food rations with her. Helmy also provided for them and attended to their medical needs.
581:, Helmy fabricated sick notes for foreign workers to help them return to their countries, and also for German citizens to help them avoid labor civil conscription, and obligatory military service.
693:, who agreed to participate the film and to be the first Arab to ever talk about the holocaust in a film. Finkel proposed Dr. Kotby to accept the Yad Vashem award in Berlin and Kotby agreed.
638:'s Righteous Among the Nations Department. On 18 March 2013, the Commission for the Designation of the Righteous decided to award Helmy and Szturmann the title of Righteous Among the Nations.
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who visited them. “Helmy helped all people no matter what their religion. Now Israel wants to honor him specifically because he helped Jews. But this doesn't do justice to what he did."
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to be recognized as a
Righteous Among the Nations; his nephews were summoned by Yad Vashem to receive the honour on his behalf, but were reluctant to do so because of the
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Nazi policies, the hospital issued a wave of dismissals three months after the Nazis came to power, and would lose almost all its mid-level scientists. Helmy himself was
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into Arabic. Others – such as Mod Helmy – saw in the Mufti’s relationship with the Nazis an opportunity to take on a role in resisting the persecution of Jews.
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interrogations, despite the authorities being well aware Helmy treated Jews. He also hid a number of Anna's relatives from Nazi persecution with the help of
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By 2010, some 22,765 people had been granted this honor by Yad Vashem, of whom 70 were of the Muslim faith. These included 63 Albanians and several
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Anna Boros and four of her relatives were able to evade deportation thanks to Helmy and
Szturmann. They would go on to emigrate to the
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When letters sent by Anna Boros (later Gutman) and her relatives shortly after the war on behalf of Helmy and
Szturmann to the
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for the decriminalization of homosexuality. Mod Helmy completed his state examinations in 1929, and began his doctorate at the
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Helmy witnessed the escalating humiliations and persecution Jewish people, on November 9-10, 1938, known euphemistic as
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by Israeli filmmaker Taliya Finkel was released in Israeli TV. Finkel had located and made contact with Helmy's nephew
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Eventually, four years after Mohammed Helmy's family accepted the award Righteous Among the Nations, his nephew
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dome a landmark of the capital. Its community was open, progressive, and welcomed Jewish luminaries, including
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When the Nazis began deporting Jews from Berlin in 1942, the 17-year-old Anna Boros asked Helmy for help. The
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who was Jewish, like 70% of the doctors at the Robert Koch Hospital at that time – he was the brother of
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Israel's Yad Vashem honors first Arab as 'Righteous Among the Nations' for heroism during Holocaust
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Ronen Steinke: Anna and Dr Helmy: How an Arab doctor saved a Jewish girl in Hitler's Berlin,
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and territories annexed or occupied by the Nazis were arrested, jailed, and deported to the
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Grave of Egyptian physician Mod Helmy in Friedhof Heerstraße in Berlin-Westend
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Anna and Dr. Helmy: How an Arab Doctor Saved a Jewish Girl in Hitler's Berlin
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383:, he moved to Berlin to study medicine and was later involved in saving many
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After a long wait, first Arab 'Righteous Among the Nations' gets recognition
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Anna and Dr Helmy: how an Arab doctor saved a Jewish girl in Hitler's Berlin
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were discovered in the Berlin archives in the 2010s, they were submitted to
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he was finally allowed to marry his love Emmi. In 2013 Helmy was the first
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Mod Helmy. Wie ein arabischer Arzt in Berlin Juden vor der Gestapo rettete
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In the fall of 2010 a medal engraved with a Jewish proverb taken from the
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1078:"Egyptian doctor honoured for saving Jewish lives during the Holocaust"
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In 1943, Helmy and his Muslim assistant ″Nadya″ was summoned to the
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from Old Testament. Those classified as Hamitic were considered of ″
775:"Yad Vashem names Egyptian first Arab Righteous Among the Nations"
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1059:משפחתו של חסיד אומות העולם הערבי הראשון הסכימה לקבל תעודה מיד ושם
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On 25 July 2023, Helmy's 122nd birthday was celebrated through a
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race″ and subject to harassment and persecution, according to
592:. He was tasked with providing Muslim guests, including the
893:"How an Egyptian doctor saved a Jewish teen in Nazi Berlin"
677:, but never an Arab, although many others protected Jews.
363:) was an Egyptian-German physician who was recognized by
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Egyptian doctor and Righteous Among the Nations recipient
1032:"Israel honours first recognised Arab Holocaust saviour"
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present descendants of the Jewish family from New York.
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in 1922 to study medicine. The 'Arabic Berlin' of the
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Mohamed und Anna, Eine muslimisch-jüdische Geschichte
801:"The Robert Koch Institute under National Socialism"
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1010:. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 121.
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481:, the forensic diarist of daily life under the
1186:the documentary film from Taliya Finkel (2017)
981:"Family of WW2 Arab hero reject Israeli honor"
956:"A Muslim Doctor, Righteous Among the Nations"
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919:"Israel: Egyptian Rescuer Is Honored"
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1215:Egyptian Righteous Among the Nations
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856:Steinke, Ronen (25 November 2021).
626:Discovery of Helmy's correspondence
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1235:Prisoners and detainees of Germany
1220:Muslim Righteous Among the Nations
1184:Federal Agency for Civic Education
891:Philpot, Robert (3 January 2022).
748:"Rescued by an Egyptian in Berlin"
433:mosque in the Wilmersdorf district
14:
687:Mohamed and Anna – In Plain Sight
1250:20th-century Egyptian physicians
1106:"Dr. Mod Helmy's 122nd Birthday"
917:Rudoren, Jodi (1 October 2013).
451:and fought alongside his friend
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1225:Egyptian expatriates in Germany
1130:Adams, Tim (26 December 2021).
724:, 2017, ISBN 978-3-423-28146-1.
1240:People extradited from Germany
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415:Mod Helmy was born in 1901 in
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1230:Egyptian expatriates in Sudan
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1245:Robert Koch Institute people
862:. Oxford University Press.
387:from being exterminated by
369:Righteous Among the Nations
171:Righteous Among the Nations
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716:Igal Avidan, Helmut Kuhn:
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431:centred around the grand
681:In films and other media
594:Grand Mufti of Jerusalem
493:Nazi takeover of Germany
411:Early life and education
19:Not to be confused with
1006:Steinke, Ronen (2021).
722:Dtv Verlagsgesellschaft
711:Oxford University Press
1255:Berlin in World War II
833:encyclopedia.ushmm.org
642:Ceremony by Yad Vashem
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586:Prinz-Albrecht-Palais
541:internment camp near
405:Arab–Israeli conflict
359:– 10 January 1982 in
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109:Robert Koch Institute
1210:People from Khartoum
1083:The Jewish Chronicle
520:marrying his fiancée
516:Nazi racial theories
421:Anglo-Egyptian Sudan
345:Mohammed ″Mod″ Helmy
54:Anglo-Egyptian Sudan
781:. 30 September 2013
1067:, October 22, 2017
923:The New York Times
663:Prof. Nasser Kotby
464:Krankenhaus Moabit
355:; 25 July 1901 in
226:Seven Laws of Noah
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1086:. 27 October 2017
1040:. 27 October 2017
1017:978-0-19-289336-9
987:. 20 October 2013
869:978-0-19-289336-9
673:and Muslims from
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1139:. Retrieved
1136:The Guardian
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1113:. Retrieved
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389:Nazi Germany
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148:Emmi Ernst (
128:World War II
77:West Germany
67:(1982-01-10)
46:25 July 1901
1205:1982 deaths
1200:1901 births
1141:30 December
965:23 December
936:27 December
838:27 December
810:27 December
720:. Munich:
487:Third Reich
467: [
458:Robert Koch
391:during the
361:West Berlin
153: 1943
135: [
89:Nationality
73:West Berlin
56:(now Sudan)
1194:Categories
1164:Yad Vashem
1090:27 October
1044:27 October
902:10 January
878:1259547044
805:www.rki.de
753:Yad Vashem
729:References
704:Literature
636:Yad Vashem
601:Mein Kampf
500:racialized
437:neo-morish
379:. Born in
373:Yad Vashem
274:Lithuanian
240:By country
231:Yad Vashem
130:alongside
97:Occupation
83:, Germany)
42:1901-07-25
931:0362-4331
685:The film
543:Nüremberg
512:non-Aryan
475:internist
435:with its
393:Holocaust
377:Jerusalem
353:محمد حلمي
304:Ukrainian
279:Norwegian
269:Hungarian
191:Righteous
124:Holocaust
122:from the
100:Physician
985:i24 News
960:IranWire
759:18 April
621:Tributes
539:Wülzburg
506:” after
485:of the ″
460:Hospital
417:Khartoum
395:. After
357:Khartoum
294:Romanian
254:Croatian
249:Austrian
105:Employer
92:Egyptian
50:Khartoum
1166:website
1115:25 July
1064:Haaretz
779:Haaretz
671:Balkans
567:Gestapo
558:Gestapo
299:Serbian
126:during
118:Saving
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876:
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648:Talmud
504:Hamite
502:as a “
483:terror
425:Berlin
365:Israel
349:Arabic
284:Polish
264:German
173:(2013)
160:Awards
145:Spouse
81:Berlin
991:8 May
785:8 May
652:Quran
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449:Quran
419:, in
381:Sudan
259:Czech
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1143:2021
1117:2023
1092:2017
1046:2017
1012:ISBN
993:2014
967:2023
938:2021
927:ISSN
904:2022
874:OCLC
864:ISBN
840:2021
812:2021
787:2014
761:2014
713:2021
563:Buch
489:″.
401:Arab
385:Jews
288:list
120:Jews
62:Died
36:Born
1162:at
508:Ham
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