Rescue: Was it Possible to Save the Jews?
A rescue is effected when a danger to life is perceived
When was danger to life perceived?
Prior to 1938: there was no explicit danger to life
1930s rescue: property, community, future?
German Jews and their Christian Wives
Protested outside Gestapo headquarters for a week, husbands are returned home
Immigration? Where to go?
Jewish nationals outside Germany – regulated, limited, or prevented
“Our” Jews vs. “Foreign” Jews – esp. France, Fr. Jews seen as not as bad as other Jews
Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Latin America, Asia, U.S.
Antisemitism and the Jewish problem is a minor issue compared to THE WAR
Types of covert rescue
Supplying identity/ration cards, finding employment, smuggling people, food, shelter
Why? – humanitarian views, religious conviction, political ideology, personal friendships
Types of overt rescue
Polish Social Aid Committee, Zegota, Catholic Scouts – gave money, food, jobs, hid Jews, spoke out against Nazis
Old Bulgaria – Nazi satellite nation, fascist government – took Jews property and rights, but did not deport their own Jews
Soviet Union
Disregard for the murder of the Jews, but no official antisemitic policy (250,000 flee to the interior)
Denmark, conquered April 9, 1940
“Aryan” = “Nordic” to Germans
Government is allowed to function
Resistance to the Nazis – military rule by August 1943
Decision to deport the Jews – synagogue index card registry
October 1-2: 7229 Jews and 686 Non Jews smuggled to Sweden
Jewish property and synagogues protected by Danes
Food to Theresienstadt and questions about welfare
Attack on the Jews is seen as an attack on Danish national integrity
France, conquered June 1940
Vichy region seen as safe
Contradictory information (dead children v. leading a decent life) – again postcards (Nazi propaganda)
June 1942: deportation and the hidden children (108)
Passeurs – (border smugglers)
2/3 French Jews were saved including 7000 children
Le Chambon Sur Lignon – village with population of 5000
Pastor Andre and Magda Trocme
3000 children saved
Great Britain
Struggle to save Britain
Palestine (denied refugees), enemy nationals (German) and Nazi agents
Avenue of the Righteous – Yad Vashem
Less than ½ % of the European population were rescuers
Ex. Otto Busse – German factory owner – helped in the ghettos
Paul Grinninger – Swiss border policeman- let the Jews through the border
Anna Masczewska – Polish woman, saved children in orphanages
Sempo Sugihara – Japanese consul in Lithuania – gave passes to Jews to go to Japan
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