On August 8, 1942 the notorious Riegner Telegram was dispatched. It was the first alarming warning in Jewish circles about the Holocaust that was imminent. Gerhart Moritz Riegner, a Jew from Berlin, and from 1939 the director of the Jewish World Congress (WJC) in Geneva, informed his chairman that he had learned from a well-informed source that at Hitler's headquarters a rigorous solution to 'the Jewish question in Europe' had been discussed in decisive terms. He signaled: ... to exterminate at one fell swoop all Jews in German-controlled countries comprising 3.5 to 4 million after deportation and concentration in the east...'. The telegram was read only a month later. And even then: 'No one believed me, which made me feel horribly lonely,' said Riegner. He did not give up and, managed to interest influential people in the correct information. On 28 November president Roosevelt was involved in the matter. He shared the information with Winston Churchill and measures were taken, through the Red Cross for instance, so that in several cases deportations could be prevented.

The lawyer Dr Riegner (1911-2001) was employed by the same WJC after the war, and he was its secretary general from 1965 to 1983. When needed, he defended the rights of Jewish citizens and was intensively involved in the dialogue between Jews and Christians.

Dr Gerhart M. Riegner was presented with the Freedom of Worship Award 1994 for is long-lasting struggle for human rights in general, and the rights of Jews in particular.

His presenters were Henri Morgenthau III and Stephan Hessel, Ambassador of France.