Rescuers: Portraits of Moral Courage in the HolocaustWho are the rescuers, the men and women whose gripping personal narratives make up the core of this remarkable book? Why did they risk everything - their livelihoods, their homes, their lives, and even those of their families - to save Jews marked for death during the Holocaust? Are they ordinary people, as they themselves claim, or truly heroic? Malka Drucker and Gay Block spent three years visiting 105 rescuers from ten countries. Their psychologically revealing interviews and photographs speak directly to us in powerful words and images. Block's full-page color portraits accompany each narrative, inviting us to look at these men and women as they are today, people whose faces resemble our own. Would we act as they did? In their own words, forty-nine of the rescuers present a vivid picture of their lives before, during, and after the war as they grapple with the question of why they acted with humanity in a time of barbarism - and whether they would do it again. Their stories - infused with the deep memory that engages a terrible past - are unforgettable. Louisa Steenstra relives the Nazis' murder of her husband and of the Jews they were hiding in their attic in the Netherlands; Antonin Kalina of Czechoslovakia relates how he deceived the SS to save 1,300 children in Buchenwald. Others recall how they smuggled Jews out of the ghettos; worked in resistance movements; forged passports and baptismal certificates; hid Jews in cellars, barns, and behind false walls; shared their meager food rations; secretly disposed of waste; and raised Jewish children as their own. A landmark volume that includes maps, historic photographs from family collections, and a comprehensive introduction byMalka Drucker, Rescuers makes a vital contribution to our understanding of the Holocaust, of the complex factors that made some people refuse the role of passive bystander, and of the profound psychological and ethical issues that still perplex us. When asked about the prospects for acts of moral courage today, rescuer Liliane Gaffney told the authors: "It's very difficult for a generation raised looking out for Number One to understand it. This is something totally unknown here. But there, if you didn't live for others as well as yourself it wasn't worth living". For Jan Karski, however, the legacy of the rescuers is one of affirmation: "Do not lose hope in humanity". In the end, what is perhaps most striking about the rescuers is their modesty and simple humanness; yet, as Cynthia Ozick concludes in the Prologue, "It is from these undeniably heroic and principled few that we can learn the full resonance of civilization". |
From inside the book
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Page 76
... knew me . " After the war there were ads from parents in the newspapers asking if anyone knew where their child was . I knew those ads were for him . But I think the circumstances brought this out in him . In a normal society he Leger ...
... knew me . " After the war there were ads from parents in the newspapers asking if anyone knew where their child was . I knew those ads were for him . But I think the circumstances brought this out in him . In a normal society he Leger ...
Page 198
... knew about this farm and that the owners were good people who would take them in . Some who were shot but not killed managed to get out of the forest and make their way to the farm . It was a natural thing to do , like when you see a ...
... knew about this farm and that the owners were good people who would take them in . Some who were shot but not killed managed to get out of the forest and make their way to the farm . It was a natural thing to do , like when you see a ...
Page 228
... knew Erna was with her mother , her sister , and her two - year - old baby , and I didn't know what to do , so I offered them my home until I could find something else . My father was already away with the Partisans , and only my mother ...
... knew Erna was with her mother , her sister , and her two - year - old baby , and I didn't know what to do , so I offered them my home until I could find something else . My father was already away with the Partisans , and only my mother ...
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afraid Amsterdam André anti-Semitism apartment arrested asked Auschwitz baby became began Belgium Bert Bochove born brother Bulgaria bystanders Catholic Chambon child Christian church Czechoslovakia dangerous daughter deported Dutch Erna father felt forest France French gave Germans Gertrud Luckner Gestapo ghetto Guth happened helping Jews hiding place Hitler Holland Holocaust human Hungary husband interview Israel Ivan Jacob Jan Karski Jewish children Jewish family Jewish friends Jews Joop killed knew later Le Chambon Libuse live looked married medal Mein Kampf Mela Mickey Montauban months mother Nazis Netherlands never night numbers Orsi parents Peremyshl Poland Polish prison refugees remember rescue rescuers Resistance Russian save Jews sister someone stayed Stefan story survived talk Taquet tell Theresienstadt things thought told took underground village walked wanted Warsaw Westerbork wife woman Yad Vashem