A ceremony posthumously honoring Martha and Waitstill Sharp, of the United States, as Righteous Among the Nations will be held in the Garden of the Righteous at Yad Vashem on Tuesday, June 13, 2006 at 11:30 a.m.
The couple frequently placed their lives in jeopardy during the Holocaust to assist persecuted Jews. Martha and Waitstill's daughter, Mrs. Martha Sharp Joukowsky, will receive the certificate and medal on her parents' behalf. The Sharps are the second and third Americans, after Varian Fry, to receive the Yad Vashem recognition.
The ceremony will be conducted in English in the presence of US Ambassador to Israel Richard H. Jones, Stanlee J. Stahl, Executive Vice President, The Jewish Foundation for the Righteous, and Chairman of the Yad Vashem Directorate Avner Shalev.
Also present will be Mrs. Eva Esther Feigl, whom the Sharps helped escape Europe, Mrs. Martha Sharp Joukowsky, daughter of the late Waitstill and Martha Sharp, and family and friends including some 40 people who flew in from New York.
