“Righteous Persons”

Of the 8.86 million Jews who lived in Europe before the Holocaust, it is generally believed that six million perished as a result of Nazi genocide. Hundreds of thousands of others would have joined them were it not for the courageous intervention of a few world leaders and thousands of individuals who risked their lives in order to save Jews from the gas chambers. Many of these men and women paid for their heroic efforts with their lives.

The Gestapo routinely offered a bounty for those who turned in Jews who were hiding. This bounty consisted of a quart of liquor, four pounds of sugar, a carton of cigarettes, or, at times, small cash payments. For many civilians, these commodities were unobtainable through normal channels, and thus they were provided with a powerful incentive to cooperate with the Gestapo above and beyond any hatred they may have harbored against the Jews.

Those who resisted the Gestapo and hid Jews did so at grave personal peril. Any person caught hiding a Jew was immediately shot on the spot or taken out to be publicly hanged by the SS. At a time when living space, food, sanitation facilities, and medicine were at a premium, those who hid Jews from the Nazis sacrificed a great deal, including the risk to their lives.

Those non-Jews who worked at great risk to their personal safety to save Jews became known as the “Righteous Persons” (or sometimes Righteous Gentiles). There are thousands of stories of great valor which will never be told because the Nazis executed many of these Righteous Persons. Among those whose stories are the most celebrated are:

Raoul Wallenberg — He was a Swedish diplomat who made it a special, personal mission to help save the Jews of Hungary. More than 30,000 Jews received special Swedish passports from Wallenberg. He set up "safe houses," distributed food and medical supplies, and virtually single-handedly set up a bureaucracy in Budapest, Hungary's capital, designed to protect Jews. More than 90,000 Budapest Jews were deported to the death camps and murdered, and Wallenberg's efforts may have reduced the number of those murdered by half. As a diplomat, he successfully confronted the Nazis at great risk to his own safety. Following the "liberation" of Budapest by the Soviets, he was arrested by them, thrown in prison, and never heard from again. Reports often surface, unconfirmed, that he is still alive, although the Soviets announced his death two years after his arrest.

Dr. Jan Karski — He was the contact between the Polish resistance and the Polish government in exile. He was smuggled into the Warsaw ghetto to hear what was occurring there. Asked to tell the story to the rest of the world, he reported on his experience to other world leaders, including President Roosevelt.

Cardinal Archbishop of Lwow (Count Andreas Szeptycki) — He was a member of the Polish Catholic hierarchy who ordered that the clergy reporting to him act to save Jews.

Wladyslaw Bartoszewski — He was a founder of the Polish resistance who organized an underground organization, comprised mostly of Catholics, to save Jews. He worked to provide false documents to Jews living outside the Warsaw ghetto. In the fall of 1942, he helped found an organization (Council for Aid to Jews) which successfully saved many Jews from the gas chambers.

Pastor Andre Trocme and Daniel Trocme — Pastor Trocm was the religious leader of the Huguenot village of LeChambon-sur-Lignon, France, which hid and saved 5,000 Jews. Teacher Daniel Trocm was deported with his students in the only successful Gestapo raid and died in Maidanek.

Why did Gentiles risk their lives to save the Jews?

  • religious beliefs and humanitarian concerns
  • resistance against the Nazis regardless of feelings about the Jews
  • payment provided by Jews who were hidden

Why did people not help the Jews?

  • anti-Semitism
  • fear of reprisals
  • didn't want to get involved in the problems of others

Why governments got involved:

  • public pressure from the world community
  • humanitarian concerns

Why governments refused to get involved:

  • did not believe the Holocaust was occurring
  • had leaders which were anti-Semitic
  • did not feel saving Jews would have any benefit to the war effort
  • felt that all war efforts to defeat the Germans would be the best response to stopping German atrocities against the Jews

Yad Vashem

There is a museum in Israel, called Yad Vashem, devoted exclusively to the history of the Holocaust. The walkway which terminates at the museum entrance is lined with carob trees, each dedicated to the memory of a “Righteous Person.” Now, because of lack of space, Righteous Persons have their name put on a the Wall of Honor in the Garden of the Righteous instead of having a tree planted. To date, nearly 20,000 people have been recognized as Righteious Persons. A special committee considers cases of additions to this arbor, and there are more than 2,000 cases pending. Those who are added to the list receive a certificate and a medal (or the presentation is made to that person's representative) with the Talmudic inscription "Whoever saves a single soul, it is as if he had saved the entire world."

Source: The Holocaust—A Guide for Teachers. Copyright 1990 by Gary M. Grobman. All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form, or by any means, mechanical or electronic, or by any information storage and retrieval system or other method, for any use, without the written permission of Gary M. Grobman, except that use, copying, and distribution of the information in this electronic version of this book is permitted provided that no fees or compensation is charged for use, copies, or access to such information and the copyright notice is included intact.