“The admirable story of diplomat Vladimír Vochoč shows that solidarity and the will to help others belong to the Czech soul. In his diplomatic mission in Marseille during World War II, he helped save thousands of people from certain death in concentration camps. Unfortunately, the communist regime punished his bravery with imprisonment, thus breaking another decent human being. That is why Vochoč's bravery must be remembered, it is the story of a hero whose legacy lives on,” said Minister Jan Lipavský on the anniversary of the diplomat's death.

From 1939 to 1941, as Czechoslovak consul in Marseille, despite the threat of arrest, Vochoč issued false passports and other necessary documents to Czechoslovak and foreign refugees in France who were threatened with deportation to Nazi camps. Among those rescued were many prominent intellectuals and artists such as Franz Werfel, Alma Mahler, Lion Feuchtwanger, Heinrich Mann, Adolf Hoffmeister and others.

He also provided social and financial assistance to refugees and Czechoslovak soldiers. In April 1945, Foreign Minister Jan Masaryk appointed him as a legal expert to the Czechoslovak delegation to the founding conference of the United Nations in San Francisco.

He was arrested by the Communist regime in 1953 and subsequently sentenced to 13 years in prison for alleged treason. He died virtually completely forgotten. In 2016, he was listed among the so-called Righteous Among the Nations by Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum for saving hundreds of Jewish refugees.

On January 26, 2024, a plaque was unveiled in his honor in Marseille, and in December 2024, the U.S. Congress approved his inclusion among the sixty so-called Rescuers to be awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.