In December 2002, Gottfried von Einem was named a "Rightous among the Nations" receiving the highest honor that the State of Israel gives to non-jews.
 
With an announcement on 12/4/2002 from the Embassy of the State of Israel, the Israeli Holocaust Memorial Organization Yad Vashem posthumously honored Gottfried von Einem with the title "Rightous among the Nations".
 
Those so honored belong to a group who, from February 1943 until the end of the war, contributed to helping Konrad Latte survive the period of his persecution. In so doing, these helpers risked their own lives, as well as those of their families. During a ceremony on Friday, December 6th, 2002 at 11:00 AM in the Church of the Justice Department's Tegel Correctional Facility on 39 Seidel Street in Berlin, the Envoy of the State of Israel, Mordechay Lewy, discussed the effect of the honorees and presented their relatives Yad Vashem medals and certificates.
 
The Church of the Tegel Correctional Facility was chosen to host the event as its former Reverend, Harald Poelchau, was also honored by Yad Vashem in 1971. Among others, it was he who was the deciding factor in Konrad Latte's survival. Gertie Siemsen, also an honoree, was at that time his closest co-worker; furthermore, Willy Kranz, similarly honored, leased the Berlin prison's cafeterias. The Yad Vashem memorial service was run under the auspices of the Senate Committee for the Justice of Berlin.
 
Yad Vashem, the agency dedicated to the perpetuation of the remembrance of the martyrs and heroes in Jerusalem is both a memorial organization and simultaneously a center for research, which focuses on the fate of European Jews during the Nazi era. Among the agency's principal tasks is to commemorate and demonstrate its thanks to those people who, of their own accord, tried to save Jews, despite the danger to their lives and to those of their families. Yad Vashem does this with the title of honor "Rightous among the Nations": the title comprises medals and certificates, as well as a permanent inscription of the recipient's name on the memorial wall in the "Garden of the Just" in Yad Vashem. It is the higest honor that Israel confers on non-jews. Nearly 19,000 women and men from all parts of Europe have received the title; among them are 400 Germans.
 
Berlin, December 2002