Longtime JTA correspondent Ruth Ellen Gruber was presented one of Poland’s highest honors awarded to foreigners.
The Knight’s Cross of the Order of Merit was awarded to Gruber last week during a ceremony at the Polish Consulate in New York. It recognizes the contributions she made in covering the Polish struggle for democracy as well as her work to encourage understanding between Poles and Jews.
Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski, who presented the award, was in New York for the United Nations General Assembly. Gruber, however, was in Europe at the time of the ceremony.
Gruber, who covers Eastern and Central Europe for JTA, was the bureau chief of United Press International in 1983 covering the Solidarity surge in Poland when she was deported for “crimes against the state.” — jta