During the time of the Holocaust, there were many Jews who were being persecuted because of their religious beliefs. Although many individuals and groups were involved with the persecuting, many brave people stood up for the Jewish people and decided to save their lives. They did this by rescuing the Jews from the Nazis or other groups who were putting them in danger. These types of people were known as rescuers. The people who rescued the Jews from the Nazis including Corrie ten Boom and her family, the rescue operations, and a group of non-Jews called the Righteous Among the Nations, risked their lives to save the Jews. First, Corrie ten Boom and her family were a group of brave rescuers who saved many Jews from the Nazis. Corrie was born …show more content…
There were many rescue operations all over the world during the time of the Holocaust. Operations often found homes for children, provided the necessary funds, food and medication, and made sure that the children were well cared for. One of the operations that started in September of 1942 was located in Poland. The operation was known as the Zegota. The Zegota was a Polish underground organization who provided for the social needs of the Jews. ”...The Zegota operation gave a little amount of weapons and ammunition to the fighters who were fighting to save the Jews from the Germans, in Warsaw …” (www.ushmn.org). Several fighters left their families and risked their lives to save the Jews’ lives and families. After a little over a year later, the up-rise was over and as many as 20,000 Jews were in hiding in Warsaw, the capital of Poland, with the help of Polish civilians and operations. The Zegota operation was one of many rescue operations who saved the Jews from the …show more content…
Many people including them went out of their way to help Jews that they felt needed to stay safe. Most rescuers did all that they could to help save the Jews from the many dangers that they were each in. Even when some rescuers were caught, they each helped save a life of a Jew in some way or another. These courageous and strong-hearted individuals or groups including others each risked their lives to make an impact on the Jews’
During the Holocaust, over six million Jews were killed, but there are only twenty thousand known rescuers. These rescuers are known as the “Righteous Among the Nations.”
I decided to watch the testimony of Sally Roisman, a holocaust survivor. Sally had a strictly orthodox family, with a mother, father, and 10 siblings. Their family owned a textile mill which made dresses and suits. Sally attended a Jewish girls school but didn’t get the chance to finish her education before her school was closed down. Her teachers said very good things about her and that made her and her mother happy. Sally later returned and studied to finish school after the war. She still studies to make up for her loss today. Her family lived in an apartment complex were 15 families lived. 50% of the families were Jews in the complex.
Starting in 1939 during the Holocaust, many Jews were deported to concentration camps by the Nazis where they will meet their end, but how did some of them survive? Even though most of them died, some lives were saved by the very few people with moral courage. One of the people with moral courage was Carl Lutz. Moral courage is the actions a person takes because of his/her belief of what is right or wrong, even though it may risk his/her life. Lutz was born in Switzerland in 1895 and he emigrated to the United States at the age of 18. During more than 20 years of temporarily staying in the United States, he worked at the Swiss Legislation in Washington and became chancellor of Swiss Consulates in Philadelphia. These events lead him to be appointed as Swiss vice-consul in Budapest, Hungary. During his life as a Swiss vice-consul, he decided to save the Jews because of his belief. By the time of his death in Bern, Switzerland in 1975, Lutz earned the title of Righteous Among the Nations
The brutality started close to home when fellow Hungarians, in a combined effort with the city government, railroad officials, and law-enforcement agencies coordinated a swift transport of 400,000 Jews to their almost certain death. “In March 1944, the Germans occupied Hungary and in April, they forced the Jews into ghettos. Between May and July, they deported most of Hungarian Jewry to Auschwitz-Birkenau.” German SS Colonel Adolf Eichmann was named chief of the team of deportation experts. “One of the salient points about the deportation of the Jews of Hungary is the extent of the involvement of the local authorities. Eichmann was impressed by the eagerness and zeal of the local auxiliaries.”
Everyone who has heard of the Holocaust most likely knows of the famous Anne Frank. Anne Frank was a young Jewish girl who managed to go into hiding from the Nazis in the 1940s. She wrote down her experiences in a journal until she was found, and is generally the best-remembered of the Holocaust victims, but how did she survive? Who helped the Frank family hide, and kept them alive when they were in hiding? The Jews who were sent to concentration camps were not the only brave and suffering people. There were the rescuers, and the defenders of these persecuted people. One such person was Miep Gies.
"There can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way in which it treats its children" (Nelson Mandela). If this statement is considered true, then it's fair to say that during times of the Holocaust, the German society was at an all time low. Children during the Holocaust did not have a carefree childhood, like they should have, but instead were placed under strenuous conditions. They had to go through being separated from all family and friends, being chosen the first to go to, and in most cases a permanent loss of family members. The Holocaust was undoubtedly a horrific experience for everyone involved but for children it must have been traumatizing.
“Whosoever saves a single life, saves an entire universe,” is the quote that is engraved on every heroic medal handed out by an organization called the Yad Vashem. But this is not just any ordinary medal; it is called The Medal of the Righteous. The Medal of the Righteous is a medal handed out by Yad Vashem in Israel to the courageous people who put their lives on the line to save a Jewish person or at least help them, during the Holocaust. There have been a total of 25,271 medals awarded. But why were these rescuers jeopardize their own safety? All of these Righteous helped the Jewish for a number of reasons: they became aware of the dangerous situation for the Jews, they loved and/or respected the Jews, or they were called by their profession
Should you risk everything you have to help others? Everyone agrees that many Jews were killed during WWII, but some say that people should not have helped them, while others believed that they should have.
. Eventually, the Germans found out about her activities and she was arrested, tortured, and sentenced to death, but managed to evade execution and survive the rest of the war. The Konrad Zegota Committee was a code name for the Polish Council to Aid Jews and was an underground organization of Polish resistance in German occupied Poland, which was active from 1942 to 1945 ( Jewish Virtual Library, 2015 ). Zegota helped Jewish Poles find safe places for them in Poland.
worked tirelessly, while at the same time in hiding, to begin the preparation for their revolt against the Germans. The Jews of Warsaw, who were not part of the resistance organization, were also busy preparing a multitude of hiding places and safe houses for themselves and for as many people in the ghetto as possible. The Z.O.B.’s leader, Anielewicz, stated, “no one considered going to Treblinka willingly,” and the Jews were doing whatever was necessary to remain hidden from the Nazis when they walked through the ghetto for the round up. Being resourceful was an imperative quality to carry out while the bunkers were being prepared for a potentially long stand of time, which meant they needed to have stock of food, water, and medical supplies. Some of these hiding places even had connections to sewage and electrical systems, which would make these living conditions a bit more bearable for the Jews who would live to reside in them. In the event of the mass deportation being carried out, the Jews would need to be able to flee quickly and quietly and have resources to continue living. This would make the success of the construction of these safe houses even more
“If you save one life it is as if you have saved the world” ( zmdhfgcsmjv ). Heroism is not defined by the number of people who know your name or the numbers of awards you have received. However, heroism is defined by the impact an individual or a group of individuals makes on other’s lives. The Bielski Brothers were three men who made it their mission to save Jewish men, women, and children during the Holocaust. Not only did they save lives on a daily basis, but they were able to stop Nazi efforts. The impact they have made is monumental; today tens of thousands are alive because they decided not to give up. Even though the brothers risked their lives on a daily basis, they did not view themselves as heroes.
Many Holocaust survivors had to suffer through concentration camps and endure the pain of never seeing their loved ones ever again. There are survivors that never went through any concentration camps. Some of the survivors were known as hidden children because they were taken into homes were Nazis could not find them. Others were put into labor camps were strictly put to work, and if you couldn’t work anymore, you were killed. There were also death trains that some jumped out of and escaped from because if you stayed on the train,you were not going to survive. Some people joined armies of various countries that Hitler planned to invade and when they surrendered to Hitler’s army they were taken to prisoner of war camps. Survivors have put their story on TV and the internet so they can share with everybody what not only them but most Jewish people during the Holocaust went through.
Regine Donner, a famous Holocaust survivor, once said, “I had to keep my Jewishness hidden, secret, and never to be revealed on penalty of death. I missed out on my childhood and the best of my adolescent years. I was robbed of my name, my religion, and my Zionist idealism” (“Hidden Children”). Jewish children went through a lot throughout the Holocaust- physically, mentally, and emotionally. Life was frightening and difficult for children who were in hiding during the rule of Adolf Hitler.
Who survived the holocaust? What are their lives like today? What has been the government's response towards those who survived after World War II? Have the survivors kept their faith? How has the survivors next generation been affected? The survivors of the holocaust were deeply effected by the trauma they encountered. This unforgettable experience influenced their lives, those around them, and even their descendants.
The Heart Has Reasons: Holocaust Rescuers and Their Stories of Courage. Cleveland, OH: Pilgrim, 2006. Print. The. Monroe, Kristen Renwick.