Khaled Abdul Wahab

1911 - 1997

A Tunisian Arab who saved Jewish lives during the Holocaust

Sunila Abeysekera

1952 - 2013

Singer, actress and minority rights activist

Anna Akhmatova

1893 - 1966

The poet of dissent

Máxima Acuña

1970

The Peruvian activist who’s struggling against the Yanacocha

Hashem Aghajari

1957

The historian persecuted for criticizing the ayatollahs

Flavia Agnes

1947

A lawyer for women’s rights, writer and activist of gender issues

Father Gianantonio Agosti

1886 - 1967

The priest who hid and saved numerous Jews during the Shoah

Susanna Aimo

1891 - 1975

Housekeeper of the Segre family since the early 1900s, she was ready to take risks for all the members of the family and kept their objects until the war was over

Taner Akcam

1953

A Turkish professor who denounced the Armenian Genocide

Khaleel al Dakhi

Iraqi Yazidi, together with his wife created a massive rescue network, saving many hundreds of Yazidi girls and women from ISIS enslavement

Khaled al-Asaad

1932 - 2015

The keeper of Palmyra

Sister Enrichetta Alfieri

1891 - 1951

The mother of San Vittore

Ayaan Hirsi Ali

1969

Member of the European Parliament

Sonita Alizadeh

1996

The rapper who denounced the tragedy of child brides

Domenico Amato

1905 - 1945

The lance corporal of the Tax Police who helped Jews expatriate to Switzerland and was deported

Betty Ambiveri

1888 - 1962

She hid in her house in Seriate the Müllers, a Jewish family from Germany

Hassan Amdja

The Circassian officer who denounced the massacres he had witnessed during the genocide of the Armenians

Alexei Ananenko

1959

He emptied Chernobyl's safety pools, preventing a second explosion

Gabriel Andreescu

1952

Bravely fought against human rights abuses in Eastern Europe

Dragan Andric

1956 - 2004

Bosnian activist, dedicated to hunting for justice during and after the Serb-Bosnian conflict

Carlo Angela

1875 - 1949

He rescued several people in the hospital where he worked

Andrea Angeli

1956

Italian UN official who, in besieged Sarajevo, first worked to find and rescue Rosaria Bartoletti

Ricky Richard Anywar

1974

A former child soldier who rescues children from the militias

North African Arabs

Muslims, officials, aristocrats

Mother Luisa Arlotti

1904 - 1988

The canossian sister who hid and treated several partisans during the war of Liberation

Giobbe Armaroli, Angelo Maltoni, Giovanni Pignatti

Righteous from Emilia

The city of Assisi

How Assisi protected the Jews

Rita Atria

1974 - 1992

A girl against the mafia

Lina Attalah

1983

Young independent Egyptian journalist, co-founder of the newspaper Mada Masr

Luca Attanasio

1977 - 2021

The Ambassador peacemaker

Aung San Suu Kyi

1945

1991 Nobel Peace Prize

Akram Aylisli

1937

An Azerbaijani writer defies in solitude his government by publishing a book about Armenians

Raif Badawi

1984

The Saudi blogger sentenced to 1000 lashes

Albino Badinelli

1920 - 1944

The policeman who turned himself in to the Nazi-Fascists to save 20 hostages and the whole country from the retaliation

Gazhwan Baho

1971

The brave parish priest of Alqosh that resisted to ISIS and now works for reconciliation

Angelo and Felicita Ballabio

Milanese spouses who hid in their home a Jewish couple

Yuri Bandazhevsky

1957

Scientist, pathologist, investigated the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster

Costantino Baratta

1957

The bricklayer from Lampedusa who saved 12 Eritrean children during the massacre of 3 October

Emilio Barbarani

1940

Former ambassador to Chile, he organized the escape of about 750 supporters of the Allende government

Giovanni Barbareschi

1922 - 2018

Founder of OSCAR

Guglielmo Barbò

1888 - 1944

Deported to Flossembürg Camp after having joined the Resistance movement

Gino Bartali

1914 - 2000

The champion who saved Jews

Władysław Bartoszewski

1922 - 2015

Anti-nazi journalist committed to aiding the Jews and fostering post-war reconcilation

Franco Basaglia

1924 - 1980

He has been the main driving force of the real change in psychiatry

Halima Bashir

1987

A doctor in Darfur

Giacomo Bassi

1896 - 1968

Faking the documents he saved several jews by the deportation

Ahmad Batebi

1977

A student persecuted by the ayatollahs

Lassana Bathily

1990

The young boy from Mali who saved the Jews during the attack against the kosher supermarket

Julius Baumann

1898 - 1942

Sacrificed his life to give dignity and joy to Jewish children at the time of Nazism

Emily Bayer

She gave free hospitality to a Jewish family during the war

Moshe Bejski

1920 - 2007

The man who created the Garden of the Righteous

Arnaud Beltrame

The hero policeman

Mohamed Naceur (Hamadi) ben Abdesslem

1951

The guide who took into safety the Italians at the Bardo Museum

Václav Benda

1946 - 1999

One of the most active members of the Charter '77

Massoud Benhoud

1947

A journalist persecuted for his defence of freedom of information

Sihem Bensedrine

Journalist and civil rights activist

Maria Bertolini Fioroni

1900 - 1987

The Italian "mother of the house on the mountain" that hosted numerous fugitives during the Second World War

Carlo Bianchi

1912 - 1944

He dedicated his life helping those in need, saving the Sonnino-Shapira Jewish family from persecution

István Bibó

1911 - 1979

He helped Jews with false documents and he wrote political analyses in which he opposed the Communist party's dictatorial tendencies

Wolf Biermann

1936

Musician and poet who criticized East Germany for militarism and totalitarianism

Krstan Bijeljac

1916 - 2010

Orthodox priest who chose not to leave Sarajevo to continue helping those who were in need

Bodil Katharine Biørn

1871 - 1960

The nurse who documented the Armenian Genocide

Bo Kyi

A student victim of torture and a civil liberty activist

Barbel Bohley

1945 - 2010

Pacifist and important member of the Anti DDR forces in East Germany

Corrado Bonfantini

1909 - 1989

Promoter of the socialist ideals of freedom and social justice.

Mario Borsa

1870 - 1952

The anti-fascist journalist who defended the independence and freedom of expression

Bogdan Borusewicz

1949

He promoted numerous forms of solidarity and material support for the students and workers arrested for political reasons and he joined the Workers’ Defence Committee (KOR)

Vesna Bosanac

1949 - 2022

The doctor who saved many lives during the siege of Vukovar and testified in The Hague

Mohammed Bouazizi

1984 - 2011

The young boy who gave rise to the Arab Springs

Hassiba Boulmerka


1968

First african women to win a world title

Willy Brandt

1913 - 1992

The German Chancellor who knelt down in front of the Holocaust Memorial in Warsaw

Wallace Broecker

1931 - 2019

Pioneer of the fight against climate change

Svetlana Broz

1955

Cardiologist who told the stories of rescue from the conflict in the former Yugoslavia

James Bryce

1838 - 1922

The Irish statesman who documented the Armenian Genocide

Father Eugenio Bussa

1904 - 1977

He founded a displacement Colony where he hid several Jewish

Berta Cáceres

1971 - 2016

The protectress of the river, environmental activist and leader of the Indigenous peoples of Honduras

Lydia Cacho

1963

Journalist and women’s rights activist

Enrico Calamai

1945

The vice consul who rescued 300 people from the military dictatorship

Leonida Calamida

1906 - 1992

The partisan who risked his life delivering false papers to Jewish on the run

Guadalupe Campanur

1986

Protectress of the indigenous community and the forests of Cherán

Jan Carnogursky

1944

Intellectual who challenged Czechoslovakian totalitarianism and fought for civil liberty

Mons. JP Carroll Abbing

1912 - 2001

Founder of the "Opera Nazionale Per Le Citta' Dei Ragazzi", he devoted his life to the assistance and education of young people without a family

Vera Cáslavská

1942 - 2016

The czech athlete who turned her back in protest during the Soviet anthem

Vittorio Castellani

1902 - 1972

The diplomat who protected the Jews in Croatia

Achille Castelli

1883 - 1957

The National Councilor of the PNF who saved the persecuted and refused to hand over his employees

Ettore Castiglioni

1908 - 1944

He guided and took to safety Jews and political persecuted through Alpine passes

Sister Donata Castrezzati

The Mother Superior who hid several Jews and victims of political persecution in his elder care institute

Giuseppe Castruccio

1887 - 1985

The consul who set up the "rescue train"

Regina and Christopher Catrambone

For their activity in the mediterranean sea

Ernesto Cattaneo

He contributed to the rescue of a Jewish child from Nazi persecution

Father Francesco Cavazzuti

1934

The missionary priest who protected the farmers in Brasil, putting at risk his own life.

Goran Cengic

1946 - 1992

Was killed for trying to protect his Muslim neighbour from the “Monster of Grbavica”

Dina Cerioli

1925 - 2023

The last witness of the "secret house" of Magenta, a refugee for jews during the Holocaust

Aura Lolita Chavez

1972

Human rights activist in Guatemala

Guillermo Chen

Campaigner for justice for the Maya massacres

The Chilesotti family

Prof. Laura Lattes, wanted because she was a Jew, was helped by the Chilesotti family

Ching Cheong

1949

Chinese journalist

Rocco Chinnici

1925 - 1983

Brave promoter of the first anti-Mafia team of the Palermo courthouse, was killed by the cosche (Mafia group)s

Anna Christensen

When the danger to Jews increased, she organized, with the help of her friends, hiding places for the Jewish children

Reinhold Chrystman

He saved nearly 700 Jews, including many children

Domenico Cipriani

Alessandro Cofini

1911 - 2003

Agricultural entrepreneur from Abruzzo who saved the Jewish family Nathan from persecution

Elvira Colombo Cattaneo

She contributed to the rescue of a Jewish child from Nazi persecution

Brother Biagio Conte

1963 - 2023

Lay missionary from Palermo, has dedicated his life to helping the most needy

Doina Cornea

1929 - 2018

An active voice against totalitarianism in Romania

Father Placido Cortese

1907 - 1944

A priest who saved several Jewish refugees and soldiers scattered after September 8, 1943.

Nella Molinari and Luigi Cortile

They saved some families in Milan from Nazi persecution by helping them flee to Switzerland

Pierantonio Costa

1939 - 2021

Consul and enterpreneur who rescued 375 children during genocide in Rwanda

Norma Cruz

1966

Women’s rights activist and former guerrilla fighter

Vian Dakhil

1971

Yazidi deputy against the Islamic State

Romeo Dallaire

1946

General who tried in vain to warn the UN about the upcoming genocide in Rwanda

Eugenio Damiani

1872 - 1944

Lombard building contractor who transformed his house into a refuge for anti-fascists

Yuli Daniel

1925 - 1988

Russian educator who struggled for prisoners' rights in the Soviet Union

Louis Dartige du Fournet

1856 - 1940

French Admiral during the WWI, he ordered to proceed with the evacuation of Armenians besieged at Musa Dagh

De Bernardinis and other rescuers from the Abruzzi

The families that hosted the Jews fleeing from Rome

De Regibus Family

They hid and saved a Jewish family

Maurizio Lazzaro de' Castiglioni

1888 - 1962

The general of Mussolini who saved the Jews

Mbaye Diagne

1958 - 1994

The Senegalese UN Captain who tried to stop the genocide in Rwanda

Diamandis Diamandopoulos

1932

He protected a Jewish family

Lucy Díaz

A woman who takes on drug cartels in Mexico

Blaga Dimitrova

1922 - 2003

Prolific Bulgarian writer and dissident against the pro-Moscow Communist regime

Mircea Dinescu

1950

Romanian dissenter who used satire to criticize the political world

Hrant Dink

1954 - 2007

Journalist who promoted dialogue and reconciliation between Turks and Armenians

Mirza Dinnayi

1973

Founder of an organization that evacuates persecuted Yazidis from Iraq and brings them to Germany, where they are given medical assistance, Mirza Dinnayi helped hundreds of people to flee ISIS-controlled territories

Jovan Divjak

1937 - 2021

Despite his Serbian origin, he has openly sided with the Bosnian, Croatian and many other Serbs in defense of Sarajevo and Bosnia-Herzegovina

Jurij Dmitriev

1956

The historian of Memorial convicted on false charges for his inconvenient work on the remembrance of the victims of Stalinism

Ahmed Demir Dogan

1954

The opponent who set up a legal organization in defence of the rights and freedom of Bulgarian Turks

Dolkun Isa

1967

Uyghur political activist in exile, President of the World Uyghur Congress

Alice Domon

1937 - 1977

French missionary in Argentina who was tortured and killed for her compassion

Ferenc Donath

1913 - 1985

Liberal lawyer and dissident in Hungary and key actor during the Hungarian revolution

Georg Ferdinand Duckwitz

1904 - 1973

A Nazi who saved more than 7,000 Danish Jews from deportation when he worked for the Merchant Navy at the German embassy in Denmark

Miklós Duray

1945

Slovakian dissenter dedicated to reform and recognizing all ethnic minorities

Knud Dyring Dyby

1915 - 2011

Young Danish policeman who helped Jews escape the persecution

Marek Edelman

1919 - 2009

Vice commander of the Warsaw insurrection

Harald Edelstam

1913 - 1989

The Swedish diplomat who, in just a few months, helped rescue about 1,500 refugees and fugitives in Chile

Erich Eder

1924 - 1998

A young Commanding Officer of the Wehrmacht who saved Jewish families from deportation

Fayez El Ghossein

1883 - 1938

His memoir is one of the first pieces of documentation and testimony about the Armenian Genocide

Salah Farah

? - 2016

He could save him life by declaring himself a Muslim, but he preferred to protect Christians during a terrorist attack in Kenya

Ho Feng Shan

1901 - 1997

The first diplomat who saved Jews by issuing visas for them to let them escape from the Holocaust

Alganesh Fessaha

1948

A woman to the rescue of migrants in Africa and Lampedusa

Silvia Ana Filler

1953 - 1971

The activist symbol of the student struggle in Argentina of the 70s

Vito Fiorino

1949

Rescuer of refugees in Lampedusa

Ruth First

1925 - 1982

The anti-apartheid sociologist and militant who denounced the repressive apparatus of Pretoria regime

Pavel Florenskij

1882 - 1937

Profoundly thoughtful philosopher killed for his personal expression

Odoardo Focherini

1907 - 1944

Was an Italian who issued false documents to Jewish people to escape the Nazi regime

Ellen Fogh

1889 - 1958

In October 1943, Ellen Fogh and her son Fredrik Fogh saved the lives of 9 Jews, and helped many others

Father Piero Folli

1881 - 1948

A brave priest from the Maggiore Lake

Anatole France

1844 - 1924

Nobel laureate, he fought for freedom of thought and human dignity

Attilio Francesetti

1926 - 2010

The mountain Righteous

Achille Franchini

1870 - 1966

Socialist, he fought against injustice, for peace and brotherhood between people

Father Costantino Frisia

? - 2009

Missionary in Rwanda, he rescued some young Tutsi nuns during the hundred days of the Rwanda genocide

Varian Mackey Fry

1907 - 1967

American journalist who obtained documents and visas for 4 thousands people to help them escaping Nazi persecutions in France

Yuri Galanskov

1939 - 1972

The poet of Majakovskji Square

Nedeljko Nedo Galic

1949 - 2001

Managed to free prisoners from the Heliodrome by making fake phone calls and helped them obtain papers to escape

Akbar Ganji

1960

The journalist who symbolizes dissent against the regime of the ayatollahs

Gao Xingjian

1940

Nobel Prize for Literature

Gao Zhisheng

1964

Lawyer and human rights activist

​Mehmet Gelal Bey

1863 - 1926

The vali of Aleppo who opposed the Armenian genocide

Bronislaw Geremek

1932 - 2008

He was a Polish social historian and politician and he always had an exclusive interest for the poorest social classes

Fritz Michael Gerlich

1883 - 1934

A journalist against Hitler

Andrée Geulen

1921

She saved hundreds of Jewish children

Andrea Ghetti

1912 - 1980

Co-founder of OSCAR, together with Don Giovanni Barbareschi

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

1933 - 2020

Liberal judge and pioneer of feminism, fought for gender equality at the US Supreme Court

Evgenija Solomonovna Ginzburg

1904 - 1977

Witness to the whirlwind of the Gulag

Alexander Ginzburg

1936 - 2002

Journalist and defender of human rights

Caterina Giordano

She faked a pregnancy to save a Jewish family during the Holocaust

Piero Gnecchi Ruscone

1902 - 1997

The director of the Opera S. Vincenzo who participated in the Milan rescue network for Jews and others persecuted

Sister Maria Goglia

1910 - 1996

Along with her sisters she saved numerous Jews during the Shoah

Giacomo Gorrini

1859 - 1950

He broke the silence in order to bear witness to the Armenian tragedy

Petro Grigorenko

1907 - 1987

Anti-Stalinist Soviet General declared "mentally ill" for openly resisting Stalinism

Vasily Grossman

1905 - 1964

In his Life and Fate he denounced the crimes of both communism and nazism

Ginette Guy

Member of the French Resistance, tortured by the Gestapo, she fought against the violence of the occupiers and hid Jewish children

Silas Habiyambere

1953

Saved many people from the Tutsi genocide in Rwanda

Abdel Kader Haidara

The saviour of the Timbuktu manuscripts

Fannie Lou Hamer

1917 - 1977

Outspoken advocate of civil and political rights for African Americans

Dag Hammarskjöld

1905 - 1961

An introverted diplomat for peace, he increased the executive role of the Secretary General in peace operations

Nagham Nawzat Hasan

1978

Yazidi doctor and activist who cures the body and the soul of the people

Adélaïde Hautval

1906 - 1988

The doctor who treated the Jews in Birkenau refusing to execute the Nazi orders

Václav Havel

1936 - 2011

Leader of the Velvet Revolution

Robert Havemann

1910 - 1982

German scientist who worked tirelessly against the Nazi Regime and later Soviet totalitarianism

Agnes Heller

1929 - 2019

Hungarian philosopher, founder and most prominent exponent of the “Budapest school”

Gustav Herling

1919 - 2000

He wrote A World Apart

Kiichiro Higuchi

1888 - 1970

The Japanese officer who saved 2,000 Jews

Etty Hillesum

1914 - 1943

Was the author of confessional letters and diaries which describe both her religious awakening and the persecutions of Jewish people in Amsterdam during the German occupation

Ursula Hirschmann

1913 - 1991

Along with Ada Rossi, she played a key role in spreading the Manifesto of Ventotene and its ideas of Europeanism

Hu Jia

1973

Journalist and the man behind the “letter of a thousand signatures”

Sadia Hussein

The Kenyan advocate who is building a mass movement to save many girls from Female Genital Mutilation

Faraaz Hussein

1996 - 2016

The young man who in Dhaka sacrificed himself in order not to desert his friends

Ilham Tohti

1969

Known as “China's Mandela”, he was sentenced to life imprisonment for defending Uighur rights

Felicia Bartolotta Impastato

1916 - 2004

Peppino Impastato’s mother

Italian Coast Guard

Women and men that risk their lives to save the ones on the run from hunger and violence

Italian Righteous among the Nations

They helped the Jews by disobeying "racial laws"

Viktor Ivancic

1960

From the pages of Feral Tribune he denounced the crimes and violence committed by the various parties in the conflict during ethnic cleansing

Djuro Ivkovic

1934 - 2008

Serbian policeman who, during the war, saved several people from the police station in Nevesinje

Vera Vigevani Jarach

1928

The journalist and activist who bears witness to the memory of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo

Karl Jaspers

1883 - 1969

German philosopher who refused to bend to the Nazi regime and laid the foundations of the elaboration of the Shoah's responsibilities

Karen Jeppe

1876 - 1935

A Righteous woman for the Armenians

Jan Nowak Jezioranski

1914 - 2005

Dissident and resistant against the nazi occupation of Poland

Gareth Jones

1905 - 1935

Welsh journalist who revealed the Holodomor

​Emilia Kamvisi

1934 - 2023

The grandmother of Lesvos

Jean-Sélim Kanaan

1970 - 2003

Aid worker killed in the attack on the UN headquarters in Baghdad

Natasha Kandic

1946

Human rights activist in Serbia

Kang Chol-hawan

1969

A Korean journalist who escaped from a North Korean gulag

Mehrangiz Kar

1944

Lawyer, writer, lecturer at Harvard University

Senija Karamehic

1949

The teacher who saved the lives of those persecuted and spoke out against ethnic segregation in schools

Jan Karski

1914 - 2000

He tried in vain to warn the Great Powers about the genocide against the Jews

Samir Kassir

1960 - 2005

Journalist and Political Activist

Eric Kempson

1955

The English artist who rescues the 'lost souls' of Lesvos.

János Kenedi

1947

Hungarian dissident who championed the freedom of press in Hungary

Hevrin Khalaf

1984 - 2019

Activist for the peaceful coexistence between Kurds, Syriac Christians and Arabs

Shaheen Khalaf

1988 - 2017

Yazidi interpreter who sacrificed his life to save a Muslim girl

Josip Reihl Kir

1955 - 1991

A policeman against the war in Croatia

Paul Klebnikov

1963 - 2004

An American journalist in Russia

Dimitri Klepinin

1904 - 1944

He forged Christening certificates for the persecuted Jews

Esad Kocan

1956

A journalist against the war in Bosnia

Dusko Kondor

1947 - 2007

Murdered for testifying about Serb crimes

Patriarch Konstantin Kiril

1901 - 1971

With his tenacity, between 1943 and 1944, he prevents the deportation of Bulgarian Jews to the extermination camps

Budimir Budo Koprivica

1935

He protected those persecuted in Mostar and defended their property.

Janusz Korczak

1878 - 1942

Educator, he followed the Jewish children into the Warsaw Ghetto and in deportation

Jan Chryzostom Korec

1924 - 2015

Underground priest in Czechoslovakia, targeted for his faith

Ciril Kotnik

1895 - 1948

Diplomat who saved Jews and anti-fascists, died from the torture suffered by the Nazis

Sergei Adamovich Kovalyov

1930 - 2021

One of the most important human rights defenders in the Soviet Union and Russia

Erwin Kräutler

1939

The rebel bishop, defender of the indigenous peoples and the Amazon forest

Janusz Krupski

1951 - 2010

Underground journalist and dissident against Polish totalitarianism

Pietro Kuciukian

1940

Fights against negationism and honors the Righteous of the Armenian genocide

Reiner Kunze

1933

Fearless critic of the Soviet regime in East Germany

Zofia Kuratowska

1931 - 1999

The doctor of Solidarity movement

Jacek Kuron

1934 - 2004

One of the leaders of Poland's civil opposition to the Communist regime

Gerhard Kurzbach

1915 - 1944

A Nazi who became a Righteous among the Nations

Gorka Landaburu

1951

A Spanish journalist targeted by ETA

Father Italo Laracca

1904 - 1997

Rescuer and reference figure for all those in need during the Second World War

​Efi Latsoudi

1968

Coordinator of the Pikpa Solidarity Camp and winner of 2016 Nansen Refugee Award for her tireless work helping refugees on the Greek island of Lesvos

Hersch Lauterpacht

1897 - 1960

British jurist, advisor at the Nuremberg Trials and creator of the Charter of Human Rights

The schoolgirls of Rorschach

The brave denounce against Helvetic Government's indifference

Valerij Legasov

1936 - 1988

The man who managed to mitigate the consequences of Chernobyl

Raphael Lemkin

1900 - 1959

The great jurist who coined the word “genocide”

Claudio Hugo "Pocho" Lepratti

1966 - 2001

The Argentine activist and educator engaged in the defense of the poor during the economic crisis

Johannes Lepsius

1858 - 1926

He helped the survivors to the Armenian Genocide for a lifetime

Milan Levar

1954 - 2000

He chose to testify against his own army about crimes committed against civilians

Primo Levi

1919 - 1987

The writer who bore witness to the Holocaust

Lydia Chukovskaya

1907 - 1996

Anti-stalinist writer who published her work despite heavy Soviet censorship

Father Paolo Liggeri

1911 - 1996

He worked for the building of the La Casa social assistance center, saving political and Jewish persecuted people

Liu Xia

1961

Human rights advocate in China, she shared Liu Xiabo's commitment for democracy

Liu Xiaobo

1955 - 2017

Writer and soul of Charter 08, the manifesto for the rule of law in communist China

Antonia Locatelli

1937 - 1992

She was murdered for having denounced the Rwandan Genocide

Wa Lone

1986

A journalist for the Rohingya

Luz Long

1913 - 1943

The German athlete who suggested the winning strategy to his black adversary Jesse Owens, thus becoming a universal symbol of brotherhood among the peoples

Jelena Lovric

1948

A journalist against power

Carl Lutz

1895 - 1975

Swiss diplomat

Claire Ly

1946

The Cambodian genocide testimony in Back from Hell

Wangari Muta Maathai

1940 - 2011

The woman of trees, symbol of the struggle to promote peace

Maria del Carmen “Coca” Maggi

1947 - 1975

The Argentine Dean killed for refusing political interference in her university

Betty Makoni

1971

Champion of women’s rights in Africa

Nadezhda Mandel'shtam

1899 - 1980

Wife of the dissident poet Osip Mandel'shtam

Nelson Mandela

1918 - 2013

The “giant” of the struggle against apartheid

Osip Mandel'shtam

1891 - 1938

Russian poet who clashed with ideological conformism in Soviet society

Zoran Mandlbaum

1946 - 2015

President of the Jewish Community of Mostar, he helped those persecuted to escape

Lazar Manojlovic

1934 - 2016

The headmaster who opposed the ethnic cleansing and lost his job

Anatoly Marchenko

1938 - 1986

Was a Soviet dissident, author, and human rights campaigner

Yusra Mardini

1998

A young swimmer for refugee rights

Emilia Marinelli Valori

1902 - 1988

She risked her own life to organize a secret activity to give hospitality and assistance to many Jews and other people persecuted

Alfreda “Noncia” Markowska

1926 - 2021

The Roma who saved dozens of children of his people and Jews

Francia Márquez

1981

Environmental activist and leader of the African-Colombian communities

Knud Marstrand Christensen

Along with his wife, he managed to save dozens of Jews by hiding them first and then transporting them to Sweden

Piero Martinetti

1872 - 1943

Founder of the Philosophical School of Milan, he was the only philosopher among university professors to refuse to take the oath to the fascist regime in 1931

Maria Mascaretti

1901 - 1979

A courageous employee, she put her life on the line to save dozens of Vogherese Jews from persecution

Tadeusz Masowiecki

1927 - 2013

Solidarność member

​Ghayath Mattar

1987 - 2011

Syrian activist killed because of his struggle for democracy

Giacomo Matteotti

1885 - 1924

The anti-fascist politician who denounced Mussolini’s crimes

Raffaele Mattioli

1895 - 1973

The humanist banker who helped his Jewish coworkers to flee, saving them from the racist laws

Sylvie Maunga Mbanga

1974

Lawyer against rape and for dialogue between ethnic groups

Hasan Mazhar

He was the governor of Ankara. He protected the Ankara-Armenian community by refusing to follow the deportation orders

Majda Mazovec

1920 - 2015

The Slovenian student in Padua, who became a courier of the Resistance to save civilian and military refugees.

Father Primo Mazzolari

1890 - 1959

A brave priest who stood up to the Nazi.

​Melinda McRostie

1965

Owner of The Captain's Table: the restaurant of Lesvos helping the refugees

Chico Mendes

1944 - 1988

Brazilian trade unionist killed for his work on behalf of Amazonian Indians

Lucillo Merci

1899 - 1984

The captain who helped Guelfo Zamboni rescue Jewish lives

Fatima Mernissi

1940

Writer, lecturer in sociology at the Mohammed V University of Rabat, Morocco

Khalida Toumi Messaoudi

1958

Algerian, minister for Communication and Culture in 2001

Adam Michnik

1946

Historian and writer who resisted censorship and soviet repression in Poland

Halina Mikołajska

1925 - 1989

Polish dissident actress

Cardinal Jozsef Mindszenty

1892 - 1975

Primate of Hungary and leading instigator of the revolution

Mirabal sisters

Founders of the 14th June Movement, they led the resistance to Rafael Trujillo’s dictatorship

Ugo Moglia

Displaced in Pedemont, he took away with himself a Jewish family

Hawa Aden Mohamed

1949

Teacher and girls’ rights activist

Narges Mohammadi

1972

Iranian activist and Nobel Peace Prize 2023, has dedicated her life to the battle for human rights in her country

Father Elio Monari

1913 - 1944

The great man behind a rescue network for Jews and antifascists

Henry Morgenthau

1856 - 1946

The US Ambassador who helped the Armenians

Yolande Mukagasana

1954

A survivor and witness from Rwanda

Jacqueline Mukansonera

1963

She rescued Yolande Mukagasana

Godeliève Mukasarasi

1956

Despite her family was killed, she collaborated in Akayesu trial, contributing to the world’s first conviction for genocide

Denis Mukwege

1955

A doctor against rape in the Congo

Fridtjof Nansen

1861 - 1930

He created a special passport to rescue the stateless and the genocide victims

Dana Nemcová

1934

Educator and anti-totalitarian dissenter in Czechoslovakia

Vassili Nesterenko

1934 - 2008

Soviet dissident nuclear physicist

Zandile Nhlengetwa

Campaigner for dialogue and reconciliation

Frode Nilsen

The Norwegian diplomat who helped Chilean prisoners escape

Giorgio Nissim and DELASEM

1908 - 1976

The underground network that successfully saved the lives of over 800 Jews in Tuscany, also with the help of Gino Bartali

Félicité Niyitegeka

1934 - 1994

Lay nun of Hutu origin, during the genocide preferred to die rather than abandon 43 Tutsis who she was safeguarding

Peter Norman

1942 - 2006

An act of solidarity from the Mexico City podium

Hasan Nuhanovic

1968

The accuser of Srebrenica

Josephine Nyankesha

She took care and saved lives of several Tutsis during the 1994 genocide

O.S.C.A.R. (Organizzazione Scout Collocamento Assistenza Ricercati)

An organization that helped prisoners, dissidents and Jews to escapee in Switzerland

Teresio Olivelli

1916 - 1945

The "rebel out of love"

Giorgio Paglia

1922 - 1944

Anti-fascist who saved the lives of Jewish children at the risk of his own

Giuliano Pajetta

1915 - 1988

The leader of the Resistance who took care of his companions in the lager, risking his life.

Jan Palach

1948 - 1969

Hope in the skies of Prague

Giovanni Palatucci

1909 - 1945

The police officer in Fiume who helped several Jews

Orhan Pamuk

1952

Nobel Prize who reported clashes and connections between different cultures

Vasile Paraschiv

1928 - 2011

Romanian trade unionist who rejected unjust behavior in the Romanian Communist Party

Jan Patocka

1907 - 1977

Historian and fundamental dissenter in the Czechoslovakian opposition forces

Slobodan Pejovic

1948

A policeman who refused to hand over to Karadzic's forces the Muslims who fled to Montenegro

Giorgio Perlasca

1910 - 1992

Presenting himself as spanish Ambassador in Hungary he saved 5218 Jews

Latinka Perovic

1933

The first person in Serbia to call Srebrenica a genocide

Lorenzo Perrone

1904 - 1952

A bricklayer at Auschwitz, he helped Primo Levi resist in the concentration camp

Maria Elena Moyano

A “pasionaria” in the fight against poverty

Ubaldo Pesapane

1907 - 1980

The scribe of Flossenburg who helped the Jews

Dimitar Peshev

1894 - 1973

He rescued 48,000 Bulgarian Jews from deportation

Robert Petersen

1911 - 2001

Risking his life, along with his wife he saved several Jewish people by first hiding them and then helping them to reach Sweden

Harald Petersen

? - 1994

In 1943, the farmer Harald Petersen saved the life of a Jewish couple and their one and a half year old son

Giandomenico Picco

1948 - 2024

The “disarmed soldier of diplomacy”

Alina Pienkowska

1952 - 2002

The legend of Solidarność

Witold Pilecki

1901 - 1948

A Polish Army soldier who was interned at Auschwitz to witness the horror

Elizaveta Pilenko-Skobcova (Mother Maria)

1891 - 1945

She helped the Jews by forging baptism certificates

Antonio Pistocchi

1899 - 1965

Railway engineer who rescued the Jews in Cesena during the Shoah

Miomir Mile Plakalovic

1952

The taxi driver who, in Sarajevo, carried wounded and persecuted people of all nationalities

Anna Politkovskaya

1958 - 2006

Murdered in Moscow for reporting atrocities in Chechnya

​Daniela Pompei

1959

Responsible of the Sant'Egidio Community's services for migrants

Father Jerzy Popieluszko

1947 - 1984

Polish priest, martyred in his fight to protect freedom of expression.

Nebojša Popov

1939 - 2016

Human rights activist and creator of the network "To Live in Sarajevo" during the siege of the city

Dith Pran

1942 - 2008

Reporter, photographer and human rights activist

Predrag Matvejevic

1932 - 2017

The dissident writer

Giancarlo Puecher

1923 - 1943

A life dedicated to the homeland, defending the oppressed.

The Village of Pugliano Vecchio

How an entire village sheltered a group of Jews

Father Pino Puglisi

1937 - 1993

The priest killed by the Mafia in 1993

Francesco Quaianni

He worked in favour of antifascists and partisans

Maria Quinto

Coordinator of the humanitarian corridors and of the migrants services promoted by the Sant'Egidio Community

John Rabe

1882 - 1950

The Nazi who saved Chinese lives in Nanking

Radoj Ralin

1923 - 2004

Satirical poet and symbol of Bulgaria's Civil Conscience

Lev Emmanuilovic Razgon

1908 - 1999

Russian writer and victim of Stalinism who published the account of his experiences

The crew of the Transatlantic Rex

From 1933 to 1940 it transported 30,000 to 50,000 persecuted Jews to the United States

Enrico Ricciardi

1925 - 2001

He rescued the Jews by providing them with forged documents

Silvio Rivoir

The register office clerk from Torre Pellice who forged documents to rescue Jews and partisans

Angelo and Caterina Rizzini

They rescued a Jewish woman and her son by hiding them at their home

Beatrice Rohner

1876 - 1947

She protected the Armenian children from genocide

Irena Zofia Romaszewska

1940

And "Radio Solidarność"

Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli

1881 - 1963

Architect of Inter-religious Dialogue

The Women of Rosenstrasse

They saved 2.000 Jews with a bold protest on Berlin's Rosenstrasse

Ada Rossi

1899 - 1993

She helped create and disseminate the Manifesto of Ventotene and set up the European Federalist Movement

Jacques Rossi

1909 - 2004

French spy and victim of Stalin's great purge who published the Gulag Handbook, a testimony of the Gulag experience

Amedeo Ruggi

1920 - 1971

The young antifascist who took into safety to Switzerland a Jewish family from Imola

Arkadiusz Rybicki

1953 - 2010

Striker turned member of parliament, always fighting for worker's rights

Anna Šabatová

1951

Champion of human rights and dissenter against the Czechoslovakian communist regime

Andrei Sakharov

1921 - 1989

He defended peace and human dignity in the Gulag

Ameena Saeed Hasan

Iraqi Yazidi, together with her husband created a massive rescue network, saving many hundreds of Yazidi girls and women from ISIS enslavement

Giuseppe Sala

1886 - 1974

Organized the rescue of the Jews with the Opera San Vincenzo

​Gilberto Bosques Saldívar

1892 - 1995

The Mexican Schindler

Paolo Salvatore

1899 - 1980

The director of the concentration camp of Ferramonti di Tarsia

Sima Samar

1957

Doctor and activist for women’s rights in Afghanistan

Walter Schilling

1930 - 2013

Passionate pastor who preached for acceptance in repressive East Germany

Sophie Scholl

1921 - 1943

The white rose that stood up to Nazism

Christoforos Schuff

1979

The priest "fisher of men"

Naim Sefa Bey

The Turkish official who helped the Armenians during the genocide and testified to the extermination project

Pinar Selek

1971

Turkish sociologist and peace and human rights activist

Irena Sendler

1910 - 2008

The Polish nurse who saved 2500 Jewish children

Sister Leonella Sgorbati

1940 - 2006

Missionary in Kenya and Somalia, for thirty years she engaged in the training of professional nurses

Elif Shafak

1971

Writer against discriminations

Varlam Shalamov

1907 - 1982

Anti-stalinist poet who published the tale of his imprisonment in Siberia

Father Andrey Sheptytskyy

1865 - 1944

Great opponent of the communist and nazi ideologies

Hammo Shero

? - 1932

The chief of Sindjar who defended the Armenians during genocide

Leonilde Simonazzi

1906 - 1992

She saved Jews, with courage and disinterest, by helping them to expatriate to Switzerland

Andrei Sinyavsky

1925 - 1997

He wrote stories, short novels and fiercely satirical essays on the state of affairs in the Soviet Union

Tommie Smith and John Carlos

An act for Human Rights

Kyaw Soe Oo

1990

Reuters journalist, sentenced for reporting on violence against the Rohingya

Ottilia Solt

1944 - 1997

Educator and underground journalist who fought for the rights of the poor in Hungary

Neda Agha Soltan

1983 - 2009

A symbol of Iranian dissent

Aleksandr Isaevich Solzhenitsyn

1918 - 2008

Author of The Gulag Archipelago

The Sopianac family

The family that hid the Jews on the premises of their company. They helped and saved many Jewish families.

Franjo Sopianac

The Croatian oil baron who hid Jews in his factory, but was persecuted by Tito’s regime

Ali Souad Bey

? - 1916

The Turkish official who rescued numerous Armenians during the genocide

Aristides de Sousa Mendes

1885 - 1954

The Portuguese consul who helped the Jews to leave France

Wole Soyinka

1934

Committed intellectual, protagonist of struggle against african dictatorships's violences

Altiero Spinelli

1907 - 1986

Imprisoned by the fascist regime, he was the author of the Ventotene Manifesto, for a free and united Europe

Emanuele Stagnaro

The Schindler of the seas, who saved 1500 Jews on board of his ship Esperia

Sekul Stanic

1943 - 1992

The pediatrician who saved many from the ethnic persecutions

Metropolitan Stephan

One of the most charismatic representatives of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church

Doko Stevanovic

1958 - 1992

Killed by Serbian police for refusing to leave his friend Smail Ribić

Giulia Galletti Stiffoni

Her cunning and charm save the lives of Mrs. Weiss and other fugitives during one of the periodic fascist searches

Oddo Stocco, parish priest at San Zenone degli Ezzelini

1892 - 1958

The priest who saved the lives of 50 Jews with the help of the whole village

Miklós Szabo

1935 - 2000

Strove to unite opposition forces against Hungarian totalitarianism

Carlo Tagliabue

He saved thirty Jewish women from Nazi-fascist persecution

Father Girolamo Tagliaferro

He welcomed and assisted partisans, Jews and political fugitives, procuring false documents for some of them to reach Switzerland

Mother Superior Teresa

She contributed to the rescue of a Jewish child from Nazi persecution

Lodovico Targetti

1902 - 1971

He welcomed fleeing Jews into his home, often accompanying them towards the border with Switzerland

Teng Biao

1973

Chinese lawyer and human rights activist

Keshia Thomas

1978

Activist, humanitarian, community organizer, professional public speaker.

Laszlo Tokes

1952

He is the honorary chairman of the Democratic Rumanian-Hungarian Association

Arturo Toscanini

1867 - 1957

Genius of music, patriot and rebel

The Tosis and the Speranzinos

Two families who hid 8 Jews in Calcinato

Angelo and Teresa Tosi

They hid eight Jews in Calcinato

Vlado Trifunovic

1938 - 2017

The general who refused to fight the Croatian enemy, choosing the path of dialogue

Guido Ucelli di Nemi and Carla Tosi

The couple of enlightened enterpreneurs who risked everything to hide some Jews

The "good people" of Bosnia

The main characters of a book by Svetlana Broz

Maria Urayeneza

1955

She saved many people from the Tutsi genocide in Rwanda

Carlo Urbani

1956 - 2003

He was a Nobel Peace Prize winner and the first physician to diagnose SARS

Stratos Valiamos

1976

Fisher of men in the Isle of Lesbos

Ferdinando Valletti

1921 - 2007

The football player who saved his fellow prisoners and the painter Aldo Carpi

Maria Lucia Vandone (Cicci)

1924

Anti-fascist that saved the lives of Jewish children at the risk of her own

Simone Veil

1927 - 2017

A Holocaust survivor, she was a magistrate, minister, and the first woman President of the European Parliament and also the first to preside over the directly elected European Parliament

​Refik Veseli and his family

Albanians from Kruja

Ion Vianu

1934

Romanian psychiatrist who stood against the use of psychiatry as a political weapon

Azucena Villaflor

1924 - 1977

Founder of the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo

Vitali-Motta

The pastry chefs from Turin who hid a Jewish family

Daphne Vloumidi

1956

The hotel owner from Lesbos who was arrested for driving them to the ferry embarkment to Athens the refugees landed in 2015

Father Emanuel Natalino Vura

1956

The priest that rescues child soldiers

Arminio Wachsberger

1913 - 2002

The interpreter of Auschwitz

Amina Wadud

1952

Professor of Islamic studies in the Philosophy and Religious Studies Department of Virginia Commonwealth University, USA

Anna Walentynowicz

1929 - 2010

The "Mother Courage" of the Danzig shipyards

Lech Wałesa

1943

Polish trade unionist who spearheaded the Opposition forces against the communist regime

Raoul Wallenberg

1912 - 1947

The Swedish diplomat who rescued thousands Jews in Hungary

Rodolfo Walsh

1927 - 1977

The journalist who denounced the Videla regime

Armin T. Wegner

1886 - 1978

He warned the leaders of his time to stop genocide against the Armenians and the Jews

Otto Weidt

1883 - 1947

The entrepreneur who saved his workers in his brush factory

Franz Werfel

1890 - 1945

The writer who wrote "The 40 Days of the Mussa Dagh"

Carl Wilkens

1957

A disobedient American citizen at the service of good in Rwanda

Nicholas Winton

1909 - 2015

The Englishman who successfully evacuated 669 children from Prague

Fernanda Wittgens

1903 - 1957

Inspector of Brera who protected both precious art and the persecuted

Amira Yahyaoui

Symbol of cyber-activism in the Arab world

Zabel Yessayan

1878 - 1943

Feminist and pacifist writer in the Ottoman Empire and the Soviet Empire

Razan Zaitouneh

1977

A human rights advocate in Syria

Guelfo Zamboni

1897 - 1994

He opposed the Nazis in order to rescue Italian and Greek Jews

Ayse Nur (Sarisözen) Zarakoglu

1946 - 2002

She was repeatedly jailed in Turkey for bearing witness to the truth about the Armenian genocide

Ragip Zarakolu

1948

A Turkish writer in defense of ethnic minorities

Emil Zatopek

1922 - 2000

The "human locomotive"

Zelu Zelev

1935 - 2015

Anti-marxist philosopher who led Bulgaria in the fight against Soviet totalitarianism

Maria Vittoria Zeme

1916 - 2005

The red cross volunteer nurse interned in the nazi lager of Zeithain

Zeng Jinyan

1983

Cyber human rights activist

Father Mussie Zerai Yosief

1975

Eritrean priest and activist known as "the angel of refugees"

Youssef Ziadna

The Bedouin who saved 30 Jews during Hamas attack

Father Giovanni Zieja

1897 - 1991

A life dedicated to others, after the World War II he stayed with the wounded soldiers to assist them

Josef Zverina

1913 - 1990

Moravian survivor of Totalitarianism who became one of the most significant theologians of the 20th century