Attitudes towards the Jews during the Holocaust mostly ranged from indifference to hostility. The mainstream watched as their former neighbors were rounded up and killed; some worked together with the perpetrators; many benefited by taking over the Jews' property and keeping it for themselves.
In a world of total moral collapse, there was a small minority who mustered extraordinary courage to uphold human values. These were the Righteous Among the Nations. They stand in stark contrast to the mainstream of indifference and hostility that prevailed during the Holocaust. Contrary to the attitude of the majority, these rescuers regarded the Jews as fellow human beings whose dignity it was worth fighting for, and risking their own lives for. Yad Vashem honors these individuals.
Most rescuers started off as bystanders...
Are you a bystander? What do you do when someone is being picked on or gossiped about?
Are you a bystander? What do you do when someone is being picked on or gossiped about?
In Israel, there is a place called "Yad Vashem"--a museum which honors the memory of the millions of deceased Jews killed by the Nazis. The remnants of those exterminated include mountains of personal items left behind, including shoes, even those from little toddlers....it is hard to comprehend this atrocity in our world's history.
But, the museum also honors the people who risked their lives to help save Jews in their darkest hour. Trees are planted in their honor, with their names engraved on plaques. From hiding forged documents in bicycle handlebars, to a 15 year old boy who smuggled food INTO the Warsaw ghetto...find out the stories of those who chose NOT to just stand by and watch injustice and evil reign...
But, the museum also honors the people who risked their lives to help save Jews in their darkest hour. Trees are planted in their honor, with their names engraved on plaques. From hiding forged documents in bicycle handlebars, to a 15 year old boy who smuggled food INTO the Warsaw ghetto...find out the stories of those who chose NOT to just stand by and watch injustice and evil reign...
IN THE COMMENT SECTION BELOW, TELL US ABOUT ONE STORY FROM THE "RIGHTEOUS" DATABASE. TELL US THEIR NAME, WHERE THEY WERE FROM, AND HOW THEY HELPED SAVE THEIR FELLOW MAN.
Jan and Antonina Zabinski were from England and were the supervisors of the top zoo in England called the Warsaw zoo. When the war broke out most of the zoo was destroyed but there was some still left. The couple ended up providing shelter and food for Jewish people in the Ghetto.
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ReplyDeleteVasiuta Wegrzynowska. Kołomyja. Vasiuta was hired to help someone work on their farm and her employers were very nice to her, so when the Holocaust happened and the Jewish family needed a home they so they hid them in their shed for 18 months and provided them with food and water
ReplyDeleteFeng-Shan Ho is from China. He issued Chinese visas to Jews in Vienna and other places. He disobeyed direct orders not to.
ReplyDeleteMykolas Šimelis lived in a town called Tarpumiškis. He risked his life hiding 14 Jewish people under the floor of his house that he lived in with his 3 kids and wife. He was later killed for helping save these 14 people.
ReplyDeleteLeopold and Magdalena Socha, they were from Poland. What happened was there were Jewish people walking through the sewer where they worked, and they knew that there were large numbers of police at the end of the sewer, so they stopped them and hid them in the sewers to help them survive
ReplyDeleteAracy Carvalho de Guimaraes Rosa was from Brazil. She was in charge of the visa section in the Brazillan Consulate in Germany. She helped Jews get visas and than she would help bring up their financhal status then send them to safe Brazil. She helped them with all of the arangements such as making sure they have a safe departure and making sure they got all of their belongings on board.
ReplyDeleteLeopold Socha is from Lwow, Germany and saved saved over 40 jews by escaping through the sewers. He also hid many jews in the sewers from the German soldiers
ReplyDeleteTadeusz Gebethner was from Warsaw, Poland, and he housed Solomon and Ludwika Abrahamer, and their 12-year old daughter and also helped them get medical help after the husband escaped a Skawina camp. Once, the gestapo (police) found the family and tried to take them away, but Tadeusz gave the gestapo a large sum of money.
ReplyDeleteVasiuta Wegrzynowska and her three children, Jan, Mikhal, and Docia, live in Ukraine working on the farm of the Jewish Helper family. The Helpers treated their workers very well.They were hidden in a bunker under the floor of a cowshed that was very dark, damp, and narrow. There was no room to stand they could only sit or lie down. For 18 months, they never left that bunker, and Vasiuta and her children brought them food and cared for them. They also made sure that no one else found them. The police searched their house many times but Vasiuta made sure they never found the bunker. After the war, Vasiuta and her children were all murdered by a gang that was getting revenge on people who helped the Jews.
ReplyDeleteManko Swierszczak was from Poland. He was a grave digger that had become friends with Jewish boys. When the Nazis were executing Jews he dug a hole for them to stay in. He risked his life to save theirs.
ReplyDeleteThe Gebethner family was well known in Poland. The father joined the army on the day that Germany invaded Poland. He joined that Populations Registration Office where he got an identity card to change his name. One day his best friend was arrested and Gebethner got them a release by paying the police a large amount of money.
ReplyDeleteLeokadia Jaromiska was a woman who in the Warsaw suburb of Bialoleka. One day her and her friend were walking and heard cries of kids. There was a little girl and a baby and they ran over to help. Someone claimed the older child and Leokadia took the baby home with her and eventually adopted her. Her husband had gone to jail and she was childless so this was perfect. The Russians were coming and she had to find someplace to go. They were searching for food and found very little. After the war her husband returned home and they were a happy little family. Three years after the war ended the baby's father found its way back to her and took the baby away from Leokadia. She was heartbroken and had never felt the same way about anyone.
ReplyDeletePrincess Alice from Greece. She saved a Jewish family who was in Parliament from going to a concentration camp by providing them shelter and lying that she was deaf to the police so she could save the family.
ReplyDeleteDonia Rozen was a girl in Kosow(what is today Ivano-Frankivsk in Ukraine) and when she was two years old her father sent her to live with her maternal grandparents in the country. But when the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, their neighbors attacked the family and plundered their home. They moved to the uncle's home in Kosow but soon the killings their began. During the 16-17 October 1941 massacre Donia and her grandmother got away but had to hear the grandfather get executed. Soon the remaining Jews of Kosow were liquidated and 12 year old Donia had to wonder from place to place and eventually found one. But then she and and old woman got kicked out and they had to roam together until the war ended.
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