Holocaust Heroes--A short list
85Dr. Fenh Shan Ho
Jan Zwartendjik
Chiune Sugihara
Raoul Wallenberg
Aristides de Sousa Mendes
In the Holocaust, 29 Who Made a Difference (a rather short list)
The book is called Diplomat Heroes of the Holocaust, by Mordecai Paldiel, and perhaps the most telling thing about it is that it is very slim....
Richard C. Holbrooke, former ambassador to the United Nations, made that point during a ceremony, held Jan 24 at Park East Synagogue on Manhattan's East side, to mark the book's publication.
During the years of Nazi persecution and then mass murder of Jews, Mr. Holbrooke noted, Europe's embassies and consulates were filled with thousands of officials, but very few of them proved willing to toss aside protocol and instructions to save the lives of people threatened with death in the camps. The heroes mentioned by Mr. Holbrooke include
Feng Shan Ho, China's consul general in Vienna who earned a reprimand and loss of his post for freely issuing visas to Shanghai;
Jan Zwartendjik, a businessman serving as honorary Dutch consul in Kaunas, Lithuania and Chiune Sugihara, a consul general (and spy) for Japan. The two men issued thousands of documents providing for the entry of Jews into the Dutch-controlled Caribbean island of Curacao and to Japan;
Raoul Wallenberg, the young Swedish envoy who worked night and day distributing passports and providing safe housing, food and medical care while the pro-Nazi Arrow Cross movement committed anti-Semitic outrages and the Red Army closed in on the city;
Aristedes de Sousa Mendes, an aristocratic Portuguese consul general in Bordeaux from 1938 to July 1940, issued visas all day and all night, waived fees and the filling in of names and traveled to the Spanish border to make sure the refugees were able to cross. He confronted Spanish border guards when necessary --and continued to sign visas. For these actions he was stripped of his authority and dismissed from the diplomatic service by his superiors in Lisbon.
Feng Shan Ho
- Jan Zwartendjik
A businessman-diplomat who looked at more than the bottom line.
- Chiune Sugihara
He had no discernable motive other than doing the right thing.
Feng Shan Ho
- Feng Shan Ho
"China's Schindler" saved hundreds, possibly thousands of Jews.
Aristedes de Sousa Mendes
Raul Gustav Wallenberg
Friends of Aristides and Angelina Sousa Mendes
Irene Gut Opdyke
Irene Gut Opdyke
Irene Gut, a young Polish nurse, courageously helped save a dozen Jews from the Holocaust. by hiding them in the basement of the home of a factory boss for whom she worked as a housekeeper. Her story is the subject of a play currently (3-09) at the Walter Kerr Theater on Broadway entitled "Irena's Vow" by Dan Gordon. Tovah Feldshuh plays Irene Gut Opdyke. A review of the play is linked below.
Irene Gut Opdyke
- Irene Gut Opdyke - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Irene Gut was a young Polish nurse who courageously helped a dozen Jews survive the Holocaust.
In Grave Times Exemplary Courage "Irena's Vow"
- Charles Isherwood's Review of "Irena's Vow" NYTimes 3-30-09
A little-known story of heroism is transformed into theatrical hokum in “Irena’s Vow,” a play by Dan Gordon about a young Polish woman who helped a dozen Jews survive the Holocaust.
Miep Gies, Ann Frank Protector Dies at 100
- Protector of Anne Frank, guardian of her diary - The Irish Times - Sat, Jan 16, 2010
Miep Gies : MIEP GIES, who has died aged 100, wrote towards the end of her life: I am not a hero. I stand at the end of the long, long line of good Dutch people who did what I did and much more.
Miep Gies Wikibio
- Miep Gies - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
iep Gies (February 15, 1909 January 11, 2010[3]) was one of the Dutch citizens who hid Anne Frank and her family from the Nazis during World War II. [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] She discovered and preserved Anne Frank's diary after the Franks were arrested.
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ralph, excellent hub.
The Act of Conscience of Aristides de Sousa Mendes serves as a continuing example of courage and altruism in the face of a moral dilema.
See the Amigos de Sousa Mendes
Thanks for the comments. M. Abrantes, I added a link to Amigos de Sousa Mendes.
Irena Gut Opdyke added to short list of Holocaust heroes.
great hub it was outdtanding
outstanding hub it was so good
Tnx for your comments!
and to think that there are people who don't believe this happened.
I am a close friend of a Holocaust survivor, who was beatenand kicked repeatly in the face until he was blinded for life by two S.S. troopers on a forced march to a camp. I send him poetry on the hollow cost that many endured that moves through me like a steady stream of tears for man's inhumanity to others. He travels endlessly and talks to students about what many say never really happened. But I have actual photos from a relative who liberated Dachau, black and white chronicles of the monstrous massive piles of dead babies squashed beneath mothers,and deceased children clinging to fathers long after they were extinguished. So many hundreds, no thousands of corpses pointing to the ugliness of the Nazi regime. And I have run my fingers over several tattooed numbers on the arms of survivors as well. Vintage blue stained marks that no one would inflict on themself for any reason. I admire all the heroes who got involved in this massacre and tired to prevent or salvage some of the poor souls form being slaughtered. Thanks for an informative article~~~MFB III
MFB, thanks much for your comment. You should write a poem about the holocaust if you haven't already. I haven't read all your Hub poems, but I've enjoyed every one I've read so far.
I have written over 50 or so, I just haven't posted them...
Freya von Moltke Obituary (wife of anti-Hitler plotter Count Helmuth James von Moltke)
ANNE FRANK PROTECTOR DIES AT 100 Irishtimes.com
Miep Gies : MIEP GIES, who has died aged 100, wrote towards the end of her life: “I am not a hero. I stand at the end of the long, long line of good Dutch people who did what I did – and much more.”
She was, however, the material from which the truest, most decent, most steadfast heroes are made. She found and, at great personal risk, preserved the diary of Anne Frank for posterity in 1944 after the girl and her family were caught in hiding by Germans.
More than that, she was, earlier, the friend who looked after the Frank family in their now world-famous Amsterdam annexe. She shopped for them, watched out for them, cheered them up and gave the adolescent Anne her first – and only – pair of high-heeled shoes. Without Gies, the family’s two years in hiding would have been impossible.
After their capture, she tried to buy the people of the annexe back from Gestapo officers, only to be called “ schweinehund ” and thrown out. When Anne’s father, Otto, returned from the camps as the Franks’ only survivor, he lived as one of her family for some years.
Thanks for this Hub and for the headsup about Miep Gies. I had heard of her many years ago and found the reading of the diary an incredibly moving experience.
I findit totally horrible that so many people try to deny thye Holocaust. I know people who have said to me that the Diary is a fake. Unbelievable!
Thanks again
Love and peace
Tony
Thanks, lots of information new to me.
Great hub - makes one think
Yes, it does. Thanks for your comment.
A great hub, Ralph. We should continue to shine the spotlight of praise on all of the heroes of the holocaust. The world must never forget the risks that they took, the punishment they endured, nor the supreme sacrifice so many paid saving others. If you ever expand on your list, I hope you include Irena Sendler (1910-2008) another Heroine of the Holocaust who is credited with saving more Jews from the death camps than Oskar Schindler.
Thanks for keeping us aware of all they did for mankind.
Q.
I cant believe people these days. i dont know anyone who says the Holocaust is fake, but i'd love to meet the ones that say that and put them in their place.
p.s. i just wrote a school report about horoes in the holocaust. i think they need to be recognized more.
Thanks for your comment. You should publish your school report on HubPages!
I was encouraged to write about Chiune Sugihara by my Japanese wife. It is good to see all the others you wrote about being immortalised further through your writing. Thank you - you have another follower.
Thanks for your comment. I'm now following you.
This is an outstanding list and hub. These beautiful and wonderful souls shall be remembered for the humanitarian act that they did. More should be have like them, instead of looking the other way! I believed what happened to Raoul Wallengerg after World War II was quite shameful and egregious! He was a saint!
Thanks for your kind comment.
bad stuff happened
I assume you're referring to the Holocaust, not to the heroes.
Great Hub. I'm doing a school report and all of your writings are really helping me. Thanks!
Thanks for your comment.
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jimmythejock Level 4 Commenter 5 years ago
a very interesting hub ralph,i would love to know more will need to look for the book.....jimmy