25 July 2023
Dr. Mod Helmy's 122nd Birthday
Today’s Doodle honors Dr. Mod Helmy, an Egyptian-German medical doctor who risked his life to rescue Jewish people during the Holocaust. The artwork, illustrated by Berlin-based guest artist Noa Snir, represents his Egyptian and German background and captures his open-hearted nature with his arms outreached around the community.
Dr. Helmy was born in Khartoum, Sudan, on this day in 1901 to an Egyptian father and a German mother. He moved to Germany in 1922 to study medicine. After completing his university studies, he completed his specialized training at the Robert Koch Hospital [now known as Krankenhaus Moabit] in Berlin. Soon after, as a talented physician, Dr. Helmy was appointed head of the urology department, but his good fortune was short-lived.
Adolf Hitler's rise to power in 1933 upended life in Germany. The hospital soon fired all of its Jewish staff, and a few years later, and eventually Helmy, a North African, was subjected to discrimination and persecution by the Nazis and lost his position as well.
Dr. Helmy was arrested in 1939 and again in 1940 along with other Egyptian nationals. They released him when he became gravely ill, but he was under strict ruling to report to the police twice a day and as proof that he was unfit for internment.
The Nazis further discriminated against Dr. Helmy by barring him from marrying his German fiancée and forcing him to become another doctor’s assistant. Helmy made the most of his limited position to write sick notes that helped innocent people escape hard labor.
Although Dr. Helmy was targeted by the Nazis himself, he put his life in even more danger by hiding his Jewish patient, Anna Boros, who would have been deported to a concentration camp. Helmy managed to keep her safely hidden even when he fell under direct police investigation.
Dr. Helmy also helped protect Boros’ mother, Julianna; her stepfather, Georg Wehr; and her grandmother, Cecilie Rudnik. Thanks to Dr. Helmy’s bravery, every one of them survived the Holocaust.
The Yad Vashem [also known as the World Holocaust Remembrance Center] honored Dr. Helmy with the Righteous Among the Nations award in 2013.
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