Yad Vashem has recognised an Egyptian doctor as Righteous Among the Nations.

The late Mohamed Helmy, who helped save a Jewish family at the height of the Holocaust, is the first Egyptian to receive the accolade.

Dr Helmy died in 1982 and Yad Vashem is searching for his next of kin so that they can be presented with the certificate and medal of the Righteous.

Until the ceremony is arranged, the medal will be on display in an exhibition at Yad Vashem titled ‘I am My Brother’s Keeper: 50 Years of Honouring Righteous Among the Nations’.

Dr Helmy rescued 21-year-old Anna Boros by taking her to a cabin he owned in the Berlin neighbourhood of Buch.

She told Yad Vashem: “Dr Helmy hid me in his cabin in Berlin from March 10 until the end of the war”.

Despite being put under investigation by the Gestapo, Dr Helmy also helped Anna’s mother, stepfather and her grandmother, by providing for them and taking care of their medical needs.

“The Gestapo knew that Dr Helmy was our physician, and they knew he owned a cabin in Berlin-Buch,” said Ms Boros.

Thanks to the help of Dr Helmy, the four family members survived the Holocaust.