(JTA) — Polish politician and historian Wladyslaw Bartoszewski was scheduled to receive the Elie Wiesel Award from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
The award, given Sunday to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the museum, is the highest award given by the museum.
Bartoszewski was a former Auschwitz concentration camp prisoner, the Polish minister of foreign affairs and an honorary citizen of Israel. He is currently the secretary of state in the Polish prime minister’s office. During World War II, Bartoszewski was involved in the rescue of Jews, for which he received the Righteous Among the Nations medal from Yad Vashem in Israel.
Due to his declining health, Bartoszewski was not planning to take part in Sunday’s award ceremony; Polish Minister of Culture and National Heritage Bogdan Zdrojewski was to accept the award on Bartoszewski’s behalf.
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