...the shelter

Marker honoring PHL for saving Jews unveiled

03/19/2011 |

GMANews.tv

Philippine officials in Israel unveiled this month a marker honoring the Philippines for saving Jews during the Holocaust in World War II.

The marker commemorated the Philippines' "opening its doors" and its denunciation of the persecution of Jews, right before World War II broke out.

"This is the second recognition of this kind; the first was the Philippine Open Doors Monument inaugurated in June 2009 in the Holocaust Memorial Park in Rishon LeZion, outside Tel Aviv," the Department of Foreign Affairs said in a news release Saturday.

Ambassador Petronila Garcia, Dean of Boys Town Jerusalem (BTJ) Rabbi Moshe Linchner and Honorary Chairman of the BTJ Foundation of America Josh Weston led the unveiling ceremony of the Philippine marker in BTJ last March 14.

During the ceremony, BTJ Rabbi Linchner and Chairman Weston presented the Jan Zwartendijk Award for Humanitarian Ethics and Values to President Manuel L. Quezon, who with the Filipino people, denounced the persecution of Jews.

Garcia received the award on behalf of the late President, the DFA said.

In her speech in English and partly in Hebrew, Garcia thanked the BTJ officials and the project facilitators.

She narrated the story of the 1,200 Jews who arrived in the Philippines and the brotherly gestures of President Quezon and the Filipino people, who later provided livelihood opportunities to the refugees.

"These gestures of humanity are unparalleled in the history of the Philippines and the friendship of Jews and Filipinos is very much alive and vibrant today," said Garcia.

On the other hand, she noted Israel had opened its doors to 40,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who now take care of the survivors of the Holocaust and World War II.

Garcia added the marker also represents mutual commitment to educate the young generations of Jews and Filipinos about this magnanimity and gestures of humanity as well the great friendship long after the end World War II.

More than 300 guests attended the solemn ceremony in BTJ (Kiryat Noar Yerushalayim) to witness the unveiling of the marker.

Attending the event were members of the Israeli academe, BTJ students, Israeli Foreign Ministry officials, YadVashem (Israel's Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority), government officials, survivors and descendants of refugees in the Philippines during the Holocaust, the Filipino Community, Filipino soldiers from the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), Philippine Honorary Consuls, and Embassy officials and staff in Tel Aviv.

Indignation rally

The DFA said that in 1938, Filipinos rallied in Manila to denounce the persecution of Jews in Germany.

Shortly after this, President Quezon offered 10,000 visas to European Jews who went to the Philippines until World War II reached the country; only 1,200 visas were issued because of the war.

In 1940, President Quezon supported the construction of a housing community in Marikina and donated a portion of his estate as farmland for the refugees.

During the war, both Jewish refugees and Filipinos survived the street battles in Manila. A few Jews reportedly even joined the US forces in the country.

In 1947, three years after the death of President Quezon, the Philippines also stood by the Jews as the country delivered the most crucial and deciding vote to the UN Resolution creating the State of Israel.

The Philippines was the first Asian country to officially recognize Israel as a state.

Nearly 75 years after the rally in Manila and the arrival of Jewish refugees in the Philippines, President Quezon and the Filipino people are recognized by BJT in the Jan Zwartendijk Memorial Garden, named after the non-Jewish Dutch diplomat who also came to the rescue of Jews by offering them visas so they can leave Europe.

This great history of friendship during the Holocaust and World War II was left untold for many years until the publication of the book entitled "Escape to Manila" authored by the late Frank Ephraim together with the chronicles and testimonies of Max Weissler.

Both Weissler and Ephraim arrived in the country as young refugees from Germany and survived World War II atrocities in Manila. — LBG, GMA News