Why Do Some Help? Lessons from Eva Fogelman
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Esther Goldberg survived the round-up of Jews in September 1942 by hiding in an attic for three days. After her family, friends and neighbors were shot into pits at the Stoczek Jewish cemetery or taken to the nearby Death Camp – Treblinka – the town fell silent. Esther emerged, starving and scared. She knocked on her Polish neighbor’s doors, asking for help – some food and to hide. But she was turned away, time and again. She went a few kilometers out of town and knocked on Helena Styś’s door and asked for help. Helena did not turn away, afraid or disgusted. She saw a human being in need of help. She said, “yes, I will help you.”
I have often asked myself, what would I do if someone in danger came to my door and asked for help – especially when such behavior would place me and my children in danger. Why did Helena and the other Styś family members help? German propaganda and years of antisemitism in Poland did not make Jews the most appealing victims. But yet, the Styś families allowed Esther, Moishe and Chaim, and later, Sam, to hide in and around their property, brought them food, and even vodka, when they could. The whole family was involved, even the young children, Eugenuisz and Jan. When we had the honor to meet them, we asked them, “how was it you never told anyone the secret of the Jews hiding here?” They looked at us like we were crazy and said – “It was our family secret. We would never tell. It was dangerous.”
[Photos: Left – Eugenuisz Styś; Right – Jan Styś]
After reading articles and books on the subject of rescuers, I have been left with the idea that rescuers simply had a strong moral compass that did not go haywire during the war. But I wanted more. I wanted to understand why – what was it about these people that allowed them to stand up to the evil, when most did not. What would it take for me to be one of those people?
In a stroke of luck, a cousin of mine recently gave me Eva Fogelman’s book Conscience & Courage: Rescuers of Jews During the Holocaust. This 1994 book provides a much deeper understanding of rescuers – who they were and why they did what they did. In a series of blog posts, I will share some of what I have learned. I hope you find it as fascinating as I do.
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Anne Frank and her family hid in the secret attic that we all read about it in her famous diary. The home where she hid is now a museum in Amsterdam. The rescuer, Miep Gies (Miep van Santen in the diary), was interviewed by Fogelman. She echoed what many rescuers say about their actions during the war: “I am not a hero.”
“I stand at the end of the long, long line of good Dutch people who did what I did or more-much more-during those dark and terrible times years ago,” Miep continued, “I have never wanted special attention. I was only willing to do what was asked of me and what seemed necessary at the time.’” (Fogelman 6).
When a Danish fisherman, who ferried Jews to safety, was asked why he did it. He responded: “Someone came who needed help, we did not think about the risk.” (Fogelman 6-7)
Rescuers helped Jews even though they knew that it put themselves and their families in danger. The Germans passed a law on October 15, 1941 that called for the death penalty for Jews who left a ghetto without permission and for any non-Jew “who knowingly provide hiding places for Jews.” (Fogelman 30). The law went one step further – it required any non-Jew, who knew of someone breaking this law, to report it to the authorities or suffer the death penalty. Public executions of non-Jews, hanging alongside the Jews they helped, sent a strong message. The danger was made clear to all Poles, even those in the countryside. “Every Polish farmer was aware,” Fogelman writes, “that if he helped a Jew he risked his life as well as the lives of his wife and children.” (Id.)
Jan Styś told us about some neighbors who were hiding Jews in their attic. A Pole informed on them and the Germans killed the Jews and all the family members that were in the home. Only two family members survived, because they were not home at the time. When Jan told us this story, some 73 years after the event, his body was shaking as if the fear was ever present.
One of the insights that Fogelman provides is a description of Bob Latane and John Darley’s work on bystander intervention. Latane and Darley, social psychologists, describe a five-stage process “by which observers turn into active participants.”
Noticing that something is amiss;
Interpreting the situation as one in which people need help;
Assuming responsibility to offer that help;
Choosing a form of help;
Implementing that help.
In my next few blog post, I will elaborate on these stages and the lessons they can teach us today.
