The medal was presented to Sielski's granddaughter, Maja Juras, at a ceremony in Zagreb on Tuesday, which was also attended by Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic. The Righteous among the Nations medal is awarded to individuals who risked their lives and the lives of their families to save Jews during the Second World War. Sielski (1891-1958) saved many Jewish doctors and their families in Zagreb from perishing in the Jasenovac and Auschwitz concentration camps by providing them with shelter in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Israeli Ambassador to Croatia, Zina Kalay Kleitman, said that although a small country, Croatia has 111 Righteous among the Nations, which she said speaks enough of the people living here who in difficult times were ready to risk their own lives to save the life of another. She said that there were several more candidates in Croatia for the title of the Righteous among the Nations.
President Grabar-Kitarovic said she was honoured that Croatia had 111 Righteous among the Nations. "It is important to speak about them, about the Holocaust and the value of fighting for human life, the importance of all the people who helped save even a single human life, and especially about people like Dr Sielski who saved a lot of lives," she said and added: "It is extremely important to pay attention to history and work on increasing respect and tolerance in the future."
Juras spoke of her grandfather as an extraordinary, well-respected and selfless person. "He was a Croat from Bosnia and Herzegovina who demonstrated by his life and his deeds, like a large majority of Croats, that he did not support the Ustasha regime and hatred of Jews, but quite the contrary he demonstrated his readiness to risk his own life and even the lives of his family to save the life of another," Juras said in an emotional speech.
Among those attending the ceremony was a witness whom Dr Sielski had saved, 102-year-old Teodor Gruener.