The Righteous: The Unsung Heroes of the Holocaust

by Gilbert, Martin

  ‘US Soldier Finds Father in Holland’, New York Times, 3 June 1945.

  ‘Yad Vashem Honour for Dutch Couple’, Jerusalem Post, 3 February 1978. (On Dr and Mrs Brillenburg-Wurth.)

  Unpublished Manuscripts

  Walter Absil, ‘Miracle at Avenue Louise’.

  Lorraine Beitler, ‘Lucie Dreyfus, the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, and the Holocaust’.

  Jack Brauns, ‘Memoirs’.

  Professor Amos Dreyfus, ‘A Young Widow with Three Children’.

  Pearl Good, ‘Life Story of Perela Esterowicz—Pearl Good’.

  International Catholic-Jewish Historical Commission, ‘The Vatican and the Holocaust: A Preliminary Report’, October 2000.

  Margaret Kagan (Lady Kagan), recollections.

  Luisa Naor, ‘Italian Jews at Risk during WWII’.

  Robin O’Neil, ‘The Belzec Death Camp and the Origins of Jewish Genocide in Galicia’, doctoral thesis, University College, London, Department of Hebrew and Jewish Studies, London, 2002.

  Shimon Redlich, ‘Together and Apart in Brzezany: Poles, Jews and Ukrainians, 1919–1945’.

  Michel Reynders, ‘Father Bruno (Henry Reynders), His Life, His Work, Biography of a Righteous’.

  Ursula Korn Selig, ‘My name Is Ursula Korn Selig…’.

  ‘Testimonianze dell’Olocausto: Documentary Evidence of the Holocaust’, Italian Immigrants Association, Israel, factsheet.

  ‘Testimony of Ad Vitale’.

  ‘Translation of Transcript of the Denazification File of Karl Plagge’ (testimonies of Major Plagge’s German employees), State Archive, Hesse.

  Joseph Wisnicki, ‘My Fight for Survival’.

  Marina Löwi Zinn, ‘To Whom It May Concern: Material Submitted to Yad Vashem’.

  Exhibitions

  ‘No Child’s Play: Children in the Holocaust—Creativity and Play’, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, opened 13 October 1997.

  ‘Visas for Life’, Eric Saul, travelling exhibition, 2000–.

  Books by Martin Gilbert

  The Churchill Biography

  Volume III: 1914–1916

  Document Volume III: (in two parts)

  Volume IV: 1917–1922

  Document Volume IV: (in two parts)

  Volume V: 1922–1939

  Document Volume V: “The Exchequer Years” 1922–1929

  Document Volume V: “The Wilderness Years” 1929–1935

  Document Volume V: “The Coming of War” 1936–1939

  Volume VI: “Finest Hour” 1939–1941

  Churchill War Papers I: “At the Admiralty” September 1939–May 1940

  Churchill War Papers II: “Never Surrender” May–December 1940

  Churchill War Papers III: “1941: The Ever-Widening War”

  Volume VII: “Road to Victory” 1941–1945

  Volume VIII: “Never Despair” 1945–1965

  Churchill: A Photographic Portrait

  Churchill: A Life

  Other Books

  The Appeaser (with Richard Gott)

  The European Powers 1900–1945

  The Roots of Appeasement

  Children’s Illustrated Bible Atlas

  Atlas of British Charities

  Atlas of American History

  Atlas of the Arab–Israeli Conflict

  Atlas of British History

  Atlas of the First World War

  Atlas of the Holocaust

  The Holocaust: Maps and Photographs

  Atlas of Jewish History

  Atlas of Russian History

  The Jews of Arab Lands: Their History in Maps

  The Jews of Russia: Their History in Maps

  Jerusalem Illustrated History Atlas

  Sir Horace Rumbold: Portrait of a Diplomat

  Jerusalem: Rebirth of a City

  Jerusalem in the Twentieth Century

  Exile and Return: The Struggle for Jewish Statehood

  Israel: A History

  Auschwitz and the Allies

  The Jews of Hope: The Plight of Soviet Jewry Today

  Shcharansky: Hero of Our Time

  The Holocaust: The Jewish Tragedy

  The Boys: Triumph over Adversity

  The First World War

  The Second World War

  The Day the War Ended

  In Search of Churchill

  Empires in Conflict: A History of the Twentieth Century 1900–1933

  Descent into Barbarism: A History of the Twentieth Century 1934–1951

  Challenge to Civilization: A History of the Twentieth Century 1952–1999

  Never Again: A History of the Holocaust

  The Jews in the Twentieth Century

  Letters to Auntie Fori: The 5,000-Year History of the Jewish People and Their Faith

  Editions of Documents

  Britain and Germany Between the Wars

  Plough My Own Furrow: The Life of Lord Allen of Hurtwood

  Servant of India: Diaries of the Viceroy’s Private Secretary 1905–1910

  Acknowledgements

  I AM GRATEFUL to all those who wrote to me about their personal experiences, or gave me access to information. At Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum, archive and research centre in Jerusalem, Mordecai Paldiel, head of the Department of the Righteous for more than twenty years, helped me from the breadth of his knowledge. I was also helped at Yad Vashem in the 1970s by Yitzhak Arad, the late Dr Joseph Kermisz and the late Chaim Pazner; and more recently by Shmuel Krakowsky, Dan Michman, Elliot Nidam and Sari Reuveni. Judge Moshe Bejski gave me the benefit of his experience both as one who was saved (by Oskar Schindler) and as the judge who, at Yad Vashem, had the primary responsibility over many years in honouring the Righteous Among the Nations.

  At the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington DC, I was helped in the Photo Archive both with photographic and archival material, and would like to thank Genya Markon, Sharon Muller, Judith Cohen and Leslie Swift; at the Hidden Child Foundation, New York, I was assisted by its President, Ann Shore, as well as by Lore Baer, Rachelle Goldstein, Carla Lessing and Marion Wolff. Harvey Sarner gave me access to his personal archive regarding Righteous whose visits to Israel he made possible. The Holocaust Memoir Digest has been a valuable source, and its Project Director, Esther Poznansky, a font of good guidance. I am also grateful to the archivists and staff of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Geneva; of the Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum, London; and of the Polish Library, London.

  The rescuers remain to this day almost universally modest about their actions. Those who sent me details of their work included Jeannette Brousse, Pierre Golliet, Dr Michel Reynders and Dr Tina Strobos. Among those who were rescued, who wrote to me with their recollections and answered my queries, I am most grateful to the following, listed under the countries in which they were saved:

  Belarus: Richard Vanger.

  Belgium: Walter Absil, Nicole David, Rachelle Goldstein, Flora M. Singer, Bronia Veitch.

  Czechoslovakia: Frank Bright, Hana Greenfield, David Korn, Jana Tanner, Henry Wilde.

  France: Professor Amos Dreyfus, Betty Eppel, Gisele Feldman, Carl Hausman, Greta Herensztat, Lady Lipworth, Walter W. Reed, Helen Resnick, Anne Schwab, Felice Zimmern Stokes, Ines Vromen.

  Germany: Professor Edgar Gold, Charles C. Milford, Evy Woods.

  Greece: Jeff M. Levis.

  Holland: Lore Baer, Ilana Drukker-Tikotin, Cecile Kahn-Kanner, Levie Kanes, Dr Robert Krell, Edna Heruthy, Donya Meijer, Steffi Robertson, L. I. Troostwijk, Dr Maurits Eduard de Vries.

  Hungary: Pal Foti, Tibor Hegedus, David Peleg, Professor Gabor Vermes.

  Italy: Marek Herman, Ursula Korn, Mario Lattes, Dora Herczog Levi, Elia Levi, Pia Levi, Adriana Bassani Luzzati, Dr Marcello Morpurgo, Luisa Naor, Ada Vitale, Marina Lowi Zinn.

  Latvia: Maja Abramowitch.

  Lithuania: Margaret Kagan (Lady Kagan).

  Poland (pre-1939 borders): Ella Adler, Lydia Aran, Zwi Barnea, Benjamin Bender, Dora Bernstein, Alexandre Blumstein, Dr Leon Chame
ides, Ilana Feldblum, Lisa Garbus, Rachel Garfunkel, Halina Gartenberg, Myra Genn, Pearl Good, Helen Garfinkel Greenspun, Henry Herzog, Helena Horowitz, Marcel Jarvin, Lorraine Justman-Wisnicki, Jack Kagan, Michael Katz, Bianka Kraszewski, Jerzy Lando, Ben Meed, Vladka Meed, Betty Piechotka, Selma Rossen, Mania Salinger, Eugenia Schenker, Dana Schwartz, Ilana Turner, Dr Norris N. Wallach, Jane Weber, Bracha Weisbarth, Shewach Weiss, Joseph Wisnicki, Eli Zborowski, Harry Zeimer.

  Slovakia: Professor Gerta Vrbova.

  Concentration camps, slave labour camps, death marches and the last months of the war: Judge Moshe Bejski, Jack Brauns, Zvi Gill, Lea Goodman, Roman Halter, Lorraine Justman-Wisnicki, Jakub Lichterman, Anna Ostrowiak, Ilana Turner, Henry Wiener, Henry Wilde, Abraham Zuckerman.

  Many other people have responded to my requests for material. I thank them all:

  Roy Abrams, Jeffrey Adler, Ian W. Alexander (The Church of Scotland World Mission), Krik Ariens, Valerie Arnon, Aryeh Assan.

  Professor Yehuda Bauer, Lorraine Beitler (Beitler Family Foundation), the late Arieh Ben-Tov, Leslie Blau.

  Susan Caine, Daniel Chameides, M. Donald Coleman, Dr Kenneth Collins, Grazyna Cooper, Mel Cooper.

  Dan Danieli, Yohanan ben David, Margit A. Diamond, William A. Donohue (President, Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights).

  His Excellency Giulio Einaudi, Apostolic Nuncio, Croatia.

  Pearl Fichman, Alice Fink, Eitan Finkelstein, Sandy Flitterman-Lewis, Eddy Florentin, Frank Fox, Si Frumkin.

  Ben Gale, Professor John Garrard, Nicky Gavron, Ben Giladi (The Voice of Piotrkow Survivors), Professor Edgar Gold, Helen Goldberg, Alain Goldschläger, Michael Good, Professor Richard Griffiths, Dr Andras Gröbler, Ruth Gruber.

  Suzan E. Hagstrom, David and Dorothy Harman, Marilyn J. Harran, Marek Herman, Herbert Herz (representative in Switzerland and Savoie of the Yad Vashem Righteous Among the Nations Department), Agnes Hirschi, Jan Hoser, Michael D. Hull, Professor Otto Hutter.

  Leonid Kelbert, Brother James M. Kelly (President, Mount Saint Joseph Xaverian Brothers Sponsored Schools), Roman Kent, Peter Kessler, Serge Klarsfeld, Rachel Kostanian (the Vilna Gaon Jewish State Museum of Lithuania, Vilnius).

  Laya Labi, Sinai Leichter, Alexander Levy.

  Mira Marody, Dr Elisabeth Maxwell, Leif Arne Mendelsohn, Professor Eric Mendoza, Ruben and Sandra Montefiore (Italian Immigrants Association, Israel), Keith Morgan, Francis J. Murphy.

  Ambassador Dr Istvan Nathon (Budapest), Robin O’Neil.

  Gottfried Paasche, Dr David A. Patterson, Aldo Perosino, Iris Posner (President, One Thousand Children, Inc.).

  Uriel Reingold, Glenn Richter, Clive Rosen (Israel–Judaica Stamp Club), Lawrence M. Rothbaum.

  Leonid Saharovici, Sister Brenda St Lawrence (Sisters of Sion), Professor Marc Saperstein, Bat-Sheva Savaldi-Kohlberg, Ruth Schijveschuurder, Henry Schwab, Per Kristian Sebak, Baruch Sharoni, Jay Shir, Stanley J. Stahl (The Jewish Foundation for the Righteous), Dr Ernest Stock, Judy Stoffman.

  Aba Taratuta, Ida Taratuta.

  Ricardo Vargas, Professor Irena Vesaite, Hugo Vickers.

  Janek Weber, Roman Weingarten (Cracow Friendship), Leon W. Wells, Dr Simon Wessely, Dr Wendy Whitworth (Remembering for the Future 2000), Barbara Wind (United Federation of Metro West Holocaust Remembrance and Education Council), Dr Bob Wolf, Myriam Wolf, Dr David F. Wright.

  George P. Young.

  Harry Zeimer, Mark Zingeris, Dr Anna Zsigmond, Ronald Zweig.

  Ben Helfgott gave me as always the benefit of his wise advice. My publishers, Marianne Velmans at Doubleday and Liz Stein at Holt, have been supportive throughout. Gillian Bromley provided essential editorial support; proofreading was undertaken by Ashok Nehru, and by Chris O’Connell, Judy Collins, Ruth Carim, Deborah Adams and Mari Roberts. Katrina Whone co-ordinated the editorial process. Alice Corrie assisted me with the index. The maps were expertly crafted by Tim Aspden on the basis of my rough drafts. Arthur Wadsworth helped with filing and sorting. Translations have been provided by Deborah S. Jacobs, Carine Kennedy, Sara Rosen, Taffy Sassoon, Ilana Turner and Aliza Wurtman, as well as by Enid Wurtman, who also helped me throughout my researches at Yad Vashem. Kay Thomson made important suggestions of presentation and content, and helped organize the considerable mass of correspondence.

  Index

  The index that appeared in the print version of this title does not match the pages in your eBook. Please use the search function on your eReading device to search for terms of interest. For your reference, the terms that appear in the print index are listed below.

  Aalten (Holland): fifty-one Jews hidden in

  Abegg, Dr Elisabeth: a rescuer, in Berlin

  Abrahams-Emden, S.: recalls her rescuer

  Abrahamsen, Samuel: recounts acts of support and rescue in Norway

  Abramovich, Ariela: saved

  Abramowicz-Wolska, Maryla and Feliks: help Jews to survive

  Abramowitch, Maja: see Zarch, Maja

  Abresch, Father Pio: see Father Pio

  Absil, Walter: and the rescue of his cousin

  Achille, Father: helps an Italian Jewish family escape

  ‘actions’ (organized SS killings):; Jews saved during and after

  Adama (Poland): an execution at

  Adler, Ella: recalls no kindnesses, xviii

  Adnet, Jules and Marie: save a Jew

  Adolph, Krystyna: a rescuer

  Adriatic Sea: Jews helped to escape across

  Adventists’ Seminary (France): Jews sent for refuge to

  Aerdenhout (Holland): a young Jewish boy finds sanctuary in

  Agarici, Viorica: saves Jews

  Ahlfeld, Eva: given sanctuary; with her rescuers’ two children, Photo

  Ainsztein, Reuben: writes about Righteous Germans in Bialystok

  Albania: Jews saved in, xvi; and the Albanian ‘moral code’

  Alechinsky, Drs: shelter two Jewish boys

  Alice, Princess Andrew of Greece: saves Jews

  Alkmaar (Holland): rescuers in; a ‘health vacation’ in

  All Saints Church (Warsaw): rescue in

  Alpes Maritimes (Italian-occupied France): Italians refuse to enforce anti-Jewish measures in

  Alsace: a priest from, provides false papers; an SS man from, betrays

  Alsace-Lorraine: help for Jewish refugees from

  Alsedziai (Lithuania): a priest in, saves Jews

  Altara, Rahela: saved, with her family

  Althoff, Adolf: helps three Jews

  Amarant, Oded (‘Dorko’): in hiding

  Amato, Albert; recalls a Righteous Italian on the island of Rhodes

  Amato, Lina: saved

  Amelia, Sister: gives sanctuary

  American Emergency Rescue Committee: helps Jews

  American Friends Service Committee (Quakers): help Jewish children to leave France

  American $20 gold coin: averts a betrayal

  Amersfoort (Holland): protesters imprisoned in; a rescuer in

  ‘Amira’: an assumed name

  Amsterdam (Holland): Jewish self-defence in; Dutch protests in; arrest of Jews in; acts of rescue in; rescuers honoured in; deportation from; Jews from, smuggled out of Holland; a ‘health vacation’ from; Jewish children from, found hiding places in a distant village

  Ancely, Captain Edmond: and a French rescuer

  Anciaux, Mimi: with two Jewish children in hiding, Photo

  Anderlecht (Belgium): sanctuary in

  André, Father Joseph: a Belgian rescuer

  Andriolo family: give sanctuary

  ‘Angel of Majdanek’: a Pole

  Anger, Per (a Swedish diplomat): helps Jews in Budapest

  ‘Anne-Marie’: an assumed identity

  Annemasse (France): a rescuer at

  Anti-Defamation League: its head, a ‘Hidden Child’

  anti-Semitism: animates, xvii; poisons, xix; and a Ukrainian’s curse; and a ‘terrible place’ ‘deep effects’ of; and a mother’s curse; and murder; ‘I am an anti-Semite’ and rescuers; repelled by Na
zi savagery; rebuffed; in Austria; in Romania; lacking, in Bulgaria; weak, in Belgium; in Holland; known in Italy as ‘the German disease’ ‘nowhere to be seen’ in Italy

  Antonescu, Marshal Ion: Romania’s dictator

  Antonowka (Poland): an escape from

  Antwerp (Belgium): a Jew rescued from, xx; Jews from, given sanctuary in the Ardennes; Dutch Jews smuggled through

  Arad, Yitzhak: and Vilna, xvii

  Aran, Lydia (formerly Lydia Gluskin): saved

  Arczynksi, Ferdynand: and the Council for Assistance to the Jews

  Ardennes Forest: village rescuers in

  Arendonk (Belgium): a Jewish child in hiding in

  Armavir (North Caucasus): two Jews given shelter in

  Armenians: rescuers

  Arndt, Ellen: rescued

  Arndt, Erich: a rescuer, in Berlin

  Arnhem (Holland): an act of rescue in

  Arnskov, Fanny: helps Danish Jews

  Arrow Cross: seize power in Budapest; honour ‘protected’ houses; kill Jews in the streets; discover Jewish children, and kill them; a refuge near headquarters of; an SS man protects Jews from; execute a Roman Catholic rescuer; seize Jews; question a pastor; and a Death March; Jews rescued from; and a ‘miracle’ execute two Christian rescuers; a writer wanted by, in hiding; final attacks by; a massacre by, averted

  ‘Artymowicz, Alexander’: an assumed name

  Aryan identity cards (and other forged documents):

  ‘Aryan’ Warsaw: Jews given sanctuary in

  Ashkenazys (a Jewish couple): in hiding

  Asse (Belgium): a final act of rescue in

  Assisi (Italy): Jews hidden and rescued in

  Asti (Italy): a Jewish family in hiding near

  Athens (Greece): rescue of Jews in; a protective journey to

  Atlantic Wall: defences of, and a rescue scheme

  Au Revoir les Enfants (film): a tribute to a rescuer

  Aubazine (France): Jewish girls in hiding at

  ‘Auntie Maria’: a rescuer

  Auschwitz (Auschwitz-Birkenau): views of a survivor of, xix; a survivor of, finds her daughter; a suicide before deportation to; a rescuer deported to, for resistance activities; a future leader of rescue efforts imprisoned at; a rescuer’s father sent to; one of the first victims at; an Austrian rescuer deported to; Oskar Schindler extracts 300 women from; Schindler rescues a further 100 deportees from; eight Jewish women saved from deportation to; deportations to (from Poland); (from Germany); (from Central Europe and the Balkans); (from Norway); (from France); (from Belgium); (from Holland); a deportation to, averted; (from Italy); (from Hungary); two Jewish girls in, helped by a Polish prisoner; Jewish women in, helped by a Hungarian fellow-prisoner; a British sergeant’s quest in