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The Righteous Among the Nations: Rescuers of Jews During the Holocaust
In the darkest days of World War II, the Nazi German regime reigned supreme over virtually all of Europe. Within these occupied lands, Jews were being rounded up and sent off to extermination camps for execution. Helping them escape was punishable by death.
In this dark and seemingly hopeless situation, hundreds of ordinary people risked all to shelter and smuggle Jews to safety. These were generally not organized efforts, simply moral people who reacted in horror to the fate of innocent neighbors and took action. Thousands of Jews were rescued in this way.
In 1953, the state of Israel established Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority in Jerusalem to commemorate and perpetuate the memory of the heroes and martyrs of the Holocaust. An independent committee reviews and awards the honor of The Righteous Among the Nations to those documented cases of rescue. Over 20,000 people, from all nationalities and religious groups, have received this prestigious awards.
This work selects approximately 200 biographies from among the Righteous, and describes the circumstances of the rescue. Each entry includes description of the contact; the aid extended; dangers and risk faced by the rescuer; motivation (eg, friendship, altruism, religious belief); and evidence from the rescued. These little–known stories offer a picture of the best of humanity in the worst of times.
In this dark and seemingly hopeless situation, hundreds of ordinary people risked all to shelter and smuggle Jews to safety. These were generally not organized efforts, simply moral people who reacted in horror to the fate of innocent neighbors and took action. Thousands of Jews were rescued in this way.
In 1953, the state of Israel established Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority in Jerusalem to commemorate and perpetuate the memory of the heroes and martyrs of the Holocaust. An independent committee reviews and awards the honor of The Righteous Among the Nations to those documented cases of rescue. Over 20,000 people, from all nationalities and religious groups, have received this prestigious awards.
This work selects approximately 200 biographies from among the Righteous, and describes the circumstances of the rescue. Each entry includes description of the contact; the aid extended; dangers and risk faced by the rescuer; motivation (eg, friendship, altruism, religious belief); and evidence from the rescued. These little–known stories offer a picture of the best of humanity in the worst of times.
608 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 27, 2021
Why would someone aide an enemy of the state when the consequences to themselves and their loved ones could be so severe? These non-fiction accounts of the Righteous Among the Nations give 150 answers to the question. In a world throughout which darkness is on the advance, this book shines a beacon of light, encouraging us that we, too, can bring hope, as others have done before us.
For all the evil perpetrated by Nazism and Communism, these people who quietly fought through acts of subversion demonstrate an admirable courage that I hope I can imitate myself and reproduce in my children. If you look at the history of totalitarian regimes, it is these common people who are most feared by those consolidating power. Why? Because…
1) A totalitarian government is always weak in numbers. You do not need to consolidate power if the majority wants you in power. This means totalitarians never have the confidence of the masses, and
2) The little people (be they in positions of power or not) resist in ways that are difficult for the rulers to detect. All the dominant can do is try to make it too horrible for people to oppose them, and
3) Totalitarian governments often underestimate the little people. Perhaps their contempt for the ruled blinds them to the willingness of individuals to act independently of their destructive diktats.
A theme that emerges is the deep personal struggles of the rescuers that arose because of the desperate situation of the fleeing. The Righteous Among the Nations contains numerous stories of people who had been obedient and devoted citizens struggling with deception and disobedience to government dictates. There are also a couple stories of individuals who were criminals. But among those that were previously law abiding, many weighed their personal commitments to Christianity against the destruction of life awaiting Jewish families and concluded that obedience to God in preserving lives superseded obedience to government. The oppressive governments – and freedom loving governments that tolerated or appeased their wickedness – made sure that those who were apprehended paid the price. While some of the rescuers went on to lives of peaceful success others, such as Paul Gruninger of Switzerland, were ruined by their aide to the Jewish people.
After falsifying documents and testimony that aided German and Austrian refugees to cross the border into Switzerland throughout 1938, Paul Gruninger was at the center of what became known as the Gruninger Affair in Switzerland, an injustice that took until 1995 (well after his death in 1972) for the Swiss government to rectify. Convicted of crimes against Switzerland, Gruninger lost his job, his retirement, thousands of francs (in addition to those he and his wife spent aiding refugees), and struggled the remainder of his working life to support his family. For their part, the Swiss government was determined to remain neutral with their expansive neighbor, Germany, and had legitimate fears that a porous border from Germany/ Austria into Switzerland would overrun their country with refugees which was somewhat acceptable to them. What was unacceptable was to bring the German blitzkrieg against them. They felt they had to make an example out of this border commander who – according to their investigation – saved some 3,600 people. Paul Gruninger is one of the people who lived in safety, right across the border from the horror. He could have looked the other way, and obeyed his government, following their orders. But he chose to intervene, to make a way for refugees to escape.
“During all those years, he was heard repeating to all who questioned him about his behavior, ‘I would do it all over again today!’ In 1954, years after his dismissal and a life of hardship, he gave the following explanation of his ‘rebellious’ behaviors in the late 1930s:
‘I am not at all ashamed of the court’s verdict. On the contrary, I am proud to have saved the lives of hundreds of oppressed people. My assistance to Jews was rooted in my Christian world outlook… It was basically a question of saving human lives threatened with death. How could I then seriously consider bureaucratic schemes and calculations? Sure, I intentionally exceeded the limits of my authority and often with my own hands falsified documents and certificates, but it was done solely in order to afford persecuted people access into the country. My personal well-being, measured against the cruel fate of these thousands, was so insignificant and unimportant that I never even took it into consideration.’” (The Righteous Among the Nations, Paldiel, pg 141).
As Gruninger did, some used positions of leadership to leverage saving thousands. Some of these have become well known through twentieth century media (Schindler, the Ten Boom family, Wallenberg, and more recently Irena Sandler). But most acted as simple fellow human beings, saving who they could – sometimes a single child. I found myself more emotional about the myriad of people who made split second decisions to risk their own lives to help others in need, such as the man living in an apartment building with narrow hallways who pulled people from a line of individuals being arrested! And then followed through for months and years. Some just intervened, got people safely connected to family, friends or acquaintances and did not know for decades if their actions were successful. Others literally saw someone on the street or overhead an arrest taking place and immediately stepped up to claim a vulnerable person or smuggle their children away from danger.
This volume presents one of the times that a publisher of the book is an essential part of the book’s character. In this case, the publisher is Yad Vashem, the national Israeli Holocaust Remembrance Museum. The Museum collects both stories of Jews who suffered and died in the Holocaust, as well as remembering Gentile rescuers who saved them. Rescuers, and their biographical information, were identified by Jews who had been saved.
In this case, the author, Mordecai Paldiel is also part of the story. The book jacket states:
“Mordecai Paldiel was born in 1937 in Antwerp, Belgium. During the Holocaust period, his family fled to France, where they wandered from place to place, finally crossing into Switzerland in September 1943 with the assistance of a French priest, Simon Gallay, who has been honored as one of the Righteous Among the Nations… [description of Paldiel’s educational credentials] … Since 1982, he has been director of the Department for the Righteous at Yad Vashem, which researches and honors non-Jewish rescuers of Jews during the Holocaust.”
After collecting testimony from Jewish survivors, Yad Vashem researched information available about each nominated individual/ family to see if additional information could be filled into their biography. Then the individual was considered for the Righteous Among the Nations designation.
If you ever have an opportunity to visit Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, it is a stop worth your time. Touring the museum is not entertaining, but it is soul stretching. Not everyone can get to Jerusalem. This text is a wonderful way of bringing The Righteous Among the Nations program to people beyond the museum, beyond the country of Israel, to share their light with the world. I’m grateful for the illumination for myself and others. This volume will remain in our family library.
For more information on the witness of Yad Vashem, you can start exploration of their web page with this link “What is Yad Vashem?”…
https://www.yadvashem.org/about/yad-v...
For all the evil perpetrated by Nazism and Communism, these people who quietly fought through acts of subversion demonstrate an admirable courage that I hope I can imitate myself and reproduce in my children. If you look at the history of totalitarian regimes, it is these common people who are most feared by those consolidating power. Why? Because…
1) A totalitarian government is always weak in numbers. You do not need to consolidate power if the majority wants you in power. This means totalitarians never have the confidence of the masses, and
2) The little people (be they in positions of power or not) resist in ways that are difficult for the rulers to detect. All the dominant can do is try to make it too horrible for people to oppose them, and
3) Totalitarian governments often underestimate the little people. Perhaps their contempt for the ruled blinds them to the willingness of individuals to act independently of their destructive diktats.
A theme that emerges is the deep personal struggles of the rescuers that arose because of the desperate situation of the fleeing. The Righteous Among the Nations contains numerous stories of people who had been obedient and devoted citizens struggling with deception and disobedience to government dictates. There are also a couple stories of individuals who were criminals. But among those that were previously law abiding, many weighed their personal commitments to Christianity against the destruction of life awaiting Jewish families and concluded that obedience to God in preserving lives superseded obedience to government. The oppressive governments – and freedom loving governments that tolerated or appeased their wickedness – made sure that those who were apprehended paid the price. While some of the rescuers went on to lives of peaceful success others, such as Paul Gruninger of Switzerland, were ruined by their aide to the Jewish people.
After falsifying documents and testimony that aided German and Austrian refugees to cross the border into Switzerland throughout 1938, Paul Gruninger was at the center of what became known as the Gruninger Affair in Switzerland, an injustice that took until 1995 (well after his death in 1972) for the Swiss government to rectify. Convicted of crimes against Switzerland, Gruninger lost his job, his retirement, thousands of francs (in addition to those he and his wife spent aiding refugees), and struggled the remainder of his working life to support his family. For their part, the Swiss government was determined to remain neutral with their expansive neighbor, Germany, and had legitimate fears that a porous border from Germany/ Austria into Switzerland would overrun their country with refugees which was somewhat acceptable to them. What was unacceptable was to bring the German blitzkrieg against them. They felt they had to make an example out of this border commander who – according to their investigation – saved some 3,600 people. Paul Gruninger is one of the people who lived in safety, right across the border from the horror. He could have looked the other way, and obeyed his government, following their orders. But he chose to intervene, to make a way for refugees to escape.
“During all those years, he was heard repeating to all who questioned him about his behavior, ‘I would do it all over again today!’ In 1954, years after his dismissal and a life of hardship, he gave the following explanation of his ‘rebellious’ behaviors in the late 1930s:
‘I am not at all ashamed of the court’s verdict. On the contrary, I am proud to have saved the lives of hundreds of oppressed people. My assistance to Jews was rooted in my Christian world outlook… It was basically a question of saving human lives threatened with death. How could I then seriously consider bureaucratic schemes and calculations? Sure, I intentionally exceeded the limits of my authority and often with my own hands falsified documents and certificates, but it was done solely in order to afford persecuted people access into the country. My personal well-being, measured against the cruel fate of these thousands, was so insignificant and unimportant that I never even took it into consideration.’” (The Righteous Among the Nations, Paldiel, pg 141).
As Gruninger did, some used positions of leadership to leverage saving thousands. Some of these have become well known through twentieth century media (Schindler, the Ten Boom family, Wallenberg, and more recently Irena Sandler). But most acted as simple fellow human beings, saving who they could – sometimes a single child. I found myself more emotional about the myriad of people who made split second decisions to risk their own lives to help others in need, such as the man living in an apartment building with narrow hallways who pulled people from a line of individuals being arrested! And then followed through for months and years. Some just intervened, got people safely connected to family, friends or acquaintances and did not know for decades if their actions were successful. Others literally saw someone on the street or overhead an arrest taking place and immediately stepped up to claim a vulnerable person or smuggle their children away from danger.
This volume presents one of the times that a publisher of the book is an essential part of the book’s character. In this case, the publisher is Yad Vashem, the national Israeli Holocaust Remembrance Museum. The Museum collects both stories of Jews who suffered and died in the Holocaust, as well as remembering Gentile rescuers who saved them. Rescuers, and their biographical information, were identified by Jews who had been saved.
In this case, the author, Mordecai Paldiel is also part of the story. The book jacket states:
“Mordecai Paldiel was born in 1937 in Antwerp, Belgium. During the Holocaust period, his family fled to France, where they wandered from place to place, finally crossing into Switzerland in September 1943 with the assistance of a French priest, Simon Gallay, who has been honored as one of the Righteous Among the Nations… [description of Paldiel’s educational credentials] … Since 1982, he has been director of the Department for the Righteous at Yad Vashem, which researches and honors non-Jewish rescuers of Jews during the Holocaust.”
After collecting testimony from Jewish survivors, Yad Vashem researched information available about each nominated individual/ family to see if additional information could be filled into their biography. Then the individual was considered for the Righteous Among the Nations designation.
If you ever have an opportunity to visit Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, it is a stop worth your time. Touring the museum is not entertaining, but it is soul stretching. Not everyone can get to Jerusalem. This text is a wonderful way of bringing The Righteous Among the Nations program to people beyond the museum, beyond the country of Israel, to share their light with the world. I’m grateful for the illumination for myself and others. This volume will remain in our family library.
For more information on the witness of Yad Vashem, you can start exploration of their web page with this link “What is Yad Vashem?”…
https://www.yadvashem.org/about/yad-v...
April 3, 2011
150 astonishing tales of incredible courage and humanity during a time of violence, cowardice and hate. The stories, which are a few pages long each, cover countries from all over the world and provide a good representation of what sort of people the Righteous Gentiles were and how they saved Jews. The author was himself rescued by a Righteous Gentile with his family when he was a child, and is story is included in this volume. There are pictures too. Although the book is 600 pages long, in my opinion it's well worth the time it takes to read it.
Unfortunately I had to knock off a star because the book seriously needed a good copyeditor. I noticed a lot of errors, mainly with punctuation and syntax.
Unfortunately I had to knock off a star because the book seriously needed a good copyeditor. I noticed a lot of errors, mainly with punctuation and syntax.
August 21, 2008
It make you think about things when you read this book.
August 11, 2010
A huge, pwerful book which celebrates the many, many people who risked everything to help those pursued by the Nazi's in occupied Europe during WWII. These individuals were given the title Righteous Among Nations for their efforts to preserve the lives of Jews and Political Enemies under the most extreme conditions. It is heartening and uplifting, despite the many sad tales of persecution.
April 1, 2013
This is a five star book for many reasons. I am an avid reader of all things holocaust and this book did not disappoint. It is filled with a collection of stories of the rescues and hiding of Jews in Europe during the holocaust. It was expensive and is quite large but it is one of my favorites.
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September 8, 2010Click here to find it in the catalogue.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews