Kara Arvin

Research Skills
Middle College @ EKU

Rescuers Throughout the Holocaust

The Holocaust was the most drastic form of anti-semitism in history. The Nazis used
propaganda as a form of persuasion to convince Germans that Jews were an inferior, foul race.
The Nuremberg Laws were created in 1935 and declared that the Aryan race and non-Aryan race
(targeted towards the Jewish race) be separated, thereby legalizing racial hierarchy (USHMM,
2014). This anti-semitism towards Jews ended the lives of millions of Jews. Across the timespan of the Holocaust, humans from all over the world risked their lives in order to save as many
Jews as possible.
Basic human decency motivated people from several European nations, including Nazi
and German civilians, to defy, in a variety of ways, Hitlers orders for the Final Solution, to save
the lives of Jews. Without the courage of the rescuers, thousands of more lives would have been
taken and destroyed during Hitlers reign.

"Moral rescuers were people who, when asked why they risked their lives
to save Jews often answered, "How else should one react when a human
life is endangered?" Their concept of right and wrong was so much a part
of who they were and are, that it was as if I had asked them why they breathed."
-James McGinley

Introduction
Political Ideologies
Hitler fueled racism into his people in order to work toward and complete his Final
Solution. The Final Solution was to extinguish the Jewish race and build the Aryan race to be
superior. This method was inspired by the writings of Charles Darwin. The Darwinism writings
pointed out the superiority or inferiority of a race or nation. The Jewish race was targeted as
inferior due to the world-wide conspiracy that Jews caused the ruination of the Aryan race
(United States Holocaust Memorial Museum [USHMM], 2014).

Group Mentality
Hitlers vote into chancellor was 33% in 1932 which was 30% more than in the 1924
elections (USHMM, n.d.).

Hitler received more votes than any other candidate and was

appointed chancellor in 1933. The Germans believed that Hitler was to be the savior of their
nation. As Hitlers reign began to flourish, more and more Germans started to follow and believe
in Hitlers plans for the nation. Hitler believed in the importance of the next generation and used
education as a tool to control the minds of children. The Hitler Youth was born from Hitlers
ideals about future generations. The organization desired boys from ages 10 to 18 and by 1936,
there were 4 million members (Trueman, n.d.). The Hitler Youth was aimed to create strong
Nazis and said that, "The weak must be chiselled away. I want young men and women who can
suffer pain. A young German must be as swift as a greyhound, as tough as leather, and as hard
as Krupp's steel." (Trueman, n.d.). The boys were trained in marching, bayonet drill, grenade
throwing, trench digging, map reading, gas defence, use of dugouts, how to get under barbed

wire and pistol shooting. The popularity induced other children to join Hitler Youth (Llewellyn,
n.d.) Hitler succeeded in making the next generation into strong Nazis soldiers who believed in
the Final Solution.

Rescuers in Nazi-Occupied Territory

German Rescuers
Basic human decency pushed some German citizens to act against Hitlers reign and save
the lives of Jews. The Sudeten German industrialist Oskar Schindler and Georg Ferdinand
Duckwitz are two individuals who sacrificed their lives in order to save the lives of Jews. Oskar
Schindler took over an enamelware factory located outside the Krakow ghetto in Germanoccupied Poland (USHMM, 2014). Schindler saved the lives of thousands of his Jewish workers
by hindering the plan to deport the Jews to Auschwitz concentration camp. By spending millions
to bribe the Nazis, Schindler rose to the highest level of humanity to rescue Jews from the fate of
the gas chambers (Blow, 2013). Schindler died penniless and his name is now known as a
household word for courage in a world of brutality (Blow, 2013). Georg Ferdinand Duckwitz
was a Nazi who worked as an envoy in Denmark. In 1943, Denmark Jews were planned to be
deported to the concentration camps. Duckwitz risked his career and took a trip to neutral
Sweden to convince the prime minister to allow the Jews to escape into Sweden (USHMM,
2014). The Jews were accepted and over the next two months, 6,000 Jews ferried by boat to take
refuge in Sweden. Georg Ferdinand Duckwitz was estimated to save 99% of Jews in Denmark
(Blow, 2013).

Non-German Rescuers
France
In June 1940 after Nazi Germany invaded France, France was divided into two parts:
northern France(Nazi-occupied) and the southern France(non-occupied)(Kathryn Berman, n.d.).
Within France, there were over 350,000 Jews taking refuge within the country, including
thousands of children (Kathryn Berman, n.d.).

As Nazis proceeded to send the Jews to

concentration camps, organizations formed and risked their lives to hide and save as many
Jewish children as possible. Once hidden, measures were took to send the children to the United
States or Switzerland (Berman, n.d.).
One of the organizations was the International Children's Health Care and Welfare
Society, which set up an underground children's rescue network known as Circuit Garel
(Berman, n.d.). The society ran multiple orphanages that took care of children whose parents
were killed or deported (Berman, n.d.). The children were schooled and taught survival skills in
case of emergencies. Care was given to around 1,300 children in Southern France (Berman,
n.d.). Once the Nazis moved into South France, the society went underground, but continued to
save as many lives as possible (Berman, n.d.).

Denmark
Denmark was the most successful country in completely saving the Jews in a Germanoccupied area (USHMM, 2014).

In the summer of 1943, due to increasing sabotage and

resistance, the Nazis increased martial law in Denmark while German officials made plans to
deport all Danish Jews (USHMM, 2014). On September 28, 1943, a German businessman
warned Danish authorities of the Nazis plans occurring on October 1st and 2nd (USHMM,

2014). Practically all Danish Jews went into hiding with the help of non-Jewish Danish citizens.
The Danish resistance organized a rescue mission during the following days which successfully
ferried and saved 7,200 Jews into the neutral country of Sweden (USHMM, 2014).

Poland
Poland held the largest amount of Jews that were murdered, which was 3,000,000
(USHMM, 2014). The pre-war population in Poland was 3,300,000, which amounts to only
300,000 surviving the war in Poland (USHMM, 2014). Some Poles provided assistance for the
Jews. Zegota, the Council of Aid for Jews, started in September, 1942 to provide social welfare
needs to Jews (USHMM, 2014). The nationalist Polish Home Army and the communist Polish
People's Army assisted Jewish fighters by attacking German positions during the Warsaw ghetto
uprising even though the Jews had few weapons and scarce ammunition (USHMM, 2014).

Rescuers in Non-Occupied Countries

Japan
Japan obtained one rescuer, Chiune Sugihara. In 1939, Sugihara was the first diplomat posted to
Lithuania due to being fluent in Russian (Listverse, 2008). In Eastern Europe, Hitler was
tightening around the countries, including the Polish Jews in Lithuania. The Polish Jews made a
last chance decision to try and get visas to pass into the Caribbeans to freedom. To do so, the
Jews had to be accepted and signed off by Sugihara. Sugihara was awakened to thousands of
Jews outside his houses gates asking to grant them with Japanese transit visas (Greene, n.d.).
Sugihara went against his orders and signed the visas. The Jews then moved and ended up in
Moscow, China. Sugihara was able to save 6,ooo Jewish lives (Greene, n.d.). Sugihara was
5

fired from being a diplomat due to disobedience to Japans authorities. Sugihara continued life
being a part-time translator and spent the last couple decades being a manager for an export
company with business in Moscow (Listverse, 2008). "Without him, many of the most accomplished
minds of our world would not exist today. His legacy produced doctors, bankers, lawyers, authors,
politicians, even the first Orthodox Jewish Rhodes Scholar," said Richard Salomon, a board member of
the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center.

Spain
Several diplomats helped the lives of Hungarian Jews by taking them to the neutral
Francos Spain (Steven, 2006). The two prominent diplomats were ngel Sanz Briz who saved
the lives of 5,000 Hungarian Jews by providing Spanish passports, and Eduardo Propper de
Callejn, who helped thousands of Jews escape from France to Spain (Steven, 2006).

Outcomes
Outcomes for Rescuers
Rescuers in the Holocaust were well aware of the punishment for aiding Jews. If
discovered, the Nazis would murder not only the rescuer, but the rescuers family as well. Due to
their human decency, rescuers persisted on and aided as many Jews as possible to save lives.
"Thirteen people, and their children and grandchildren, are alive today because a teenager ignored the
fact that she would be killed for harboring Jews; thirteen men, women and children are alive today
because a teenager believed in miracles." -James McGinley

Outcome for Jews

The courage of rescuers or Righteous Among the Nation thousands of Jewish lives.
The determination and overall luck providing Jews either to go in hiding or to find refuge in
other neutral or non-German occupied territories.

The human decency of rescuers saved

thousands of lives that would have been captured and murdered by the hands of Nazis.

References
Blow, L. (2013). Oscar schindler: His list of life. Retrieved October 22, 2014 from
http://www.oskarschindler.com/index.htm.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. (2014). Rescue. Retrieved from
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005185
Listverse.(2008, November 6).
10 People Who Saved Jews During World War Two - Listverse. (2008, November 6).
Retrieved from
http://listverse.com/2008/11/06/10-people-who-saved-jews-during-world-war-two/

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.(n.d.). Hitler Comes to Power. Retrieved from
http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007671
Larsen, B. B., & Vogelsang, P. (n.d.). The Nazi ideology. The Danish Center for Holocaust and
Genocide Studies. Retrieved from
http://www.holocaust-education.dk/baggrund/nazismensideologi.asp
Alpha History: Nazi Germany. (n.d.). Children in Nazi Germany. Retrieved from
http://alphahistory.com/nazigermany/children-in-nazi-germany/
Hitler Youth Movement. (n.d.). Hitler Youth Movement. Retrieved from
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/hitler_youth.htm
The International School for Holocaust Studies. (n.d.). Hidden Children In France During the
Holocaust. Retrieved from
http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/newsletter/24/hidden_children.asp
The Righteous Among The Nations. (n.d.). Statistics. Retrieved from
http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/righteous/statistics.asp
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. (2014, June 20).Antisemitism. Retrieved from
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005175
Wikipedia. (2014, October 24). Individuals and groups assisting Jews during the Holocaust.
Retrieved from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Individuals_and_groups_assisting_Jews_during_the_Holoca
ust
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. (2014, June 20). Rescue. Retrieved from
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005185

Kaleem, J. (2013, January 24). Chiune Sugihara, Japan Diplomat Who Saved 6,000 Jews During
Holocaust, Remembered. The Huffington Post. Retrieved from
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/24/chiune-sugihara-japanese--jewsholocaust_n_2528666.html
Home. (n.d.).Chiune Sugihara. Retrieved from
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/sugihara.html
Holocaust Rescuers. (n.d.). Holocaust Rescuers. Retrieved from
http://holocaustrescuers.blogspot.com/