The Righteous Among the Nations

The Righteous Among the Nations
Author: Arieh L. Bauminger
Publisher: Kernermann Publishing
Total Pages: 212
Release: 1990
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN:

A select list of recipients of Yad Vashem's "Righteous Among the Nations" title and their stories of courage and humanity.

Encyclopedia of the Holocaust

Encyclopedia of the Holocaust
Author: Dr Robert Rozett
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 537
Release: 2013-11-26
Genre: History
ISBN: 1135969507

Encyclopedia of the Holocaust is a comprehensive, authoritative one-volume reference that provides reliable information on this ignoble and frightening episode of modern history. It features eight essays on the history of the Holocaust and its antecedents, as well as coverage of such topics as the history of European Jewry, Jewish contributions to European culture, and the rise of anti-semitism and Nazism. The essays are followed by more than 650 entries on significant aspects of the Holocaust, including people, cities and countries, camps, resistance movements, political actions, and outcomes. More than 300 black-and-white photographs from the archives at Yad Vashem bear witness to the horrors of the Nazi regime and at the same time attest to the invincibility of the human spirit. Best Specialist Reference Work of the Year - Reference Reviews UK

The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust: K-Sered

The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust: K-Sered
Author: Shmuel Spector
Publisher: NYU Press
Total Pages: 596
Release: 2001
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780814793770

This three-volume encyclopedia, abridged from a 30-volume set in Hebrew and with a foreword by Elie Wiesel, chronicles Jewish life before and during the Holocaust. Arranged alphabetically by town, thousands of entries explore centuries of Jewish life. Some entries, particularly for large cities, provide information on Jewish residents as early as the Middle Ages and discuss the fate of Jews during the Black Death persecutions (1348-1349) and various pogroms from the 17th to 20th centuries. Each entry provides information on the town's Jewish inhabitants on the eve of German occupation, gives the dates of Jewish roundups and mass executions and estimates how many Jews from that community survived the war. Includes more than 600 black-and-white photographs.

Gertruda's Oath

Gertruda's Oath
Author: Ram Oren
Publisher: Doubleday Religion
Total Pages: 322
Release: 2010-08-03
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0385527195

Trapped in the horrors of World War II, a woman and a child embark on a journey of survival in this page-turning true story that recalls the power and the poignancy of Schindler’s List. Michael Stolowitzky, the only son of a wealthy Jewish family in Poland, was just three years old when war broke out and the family lost everything. His father, desperate to settle his business affairs, travels to France, leaving Michael in the care of his mother and Gertruda Bablinska, a Catholic nanny devoted to the family. When Michael's mother has a stroke, Gertruda promises the dying woman that she will make her way to Palestine and raise him as her own son. Written with the invaluable assistance of Michael, now seventy-two and living in New York City, GERTRUDA’S OATH re-creates Michael and Gertruda’s amazing journey. Gripping vignettes bring to life the people who helped ensure their survival, including SS officer Karl Rink, who made it his mission to save Jews after his own Jewish wife was murdered; Rink’s daughter, Helga, who escaped to a kibbutz, where she lived until her recent death; and the Jewish physician Dr. Berman, who aided Michael and Gertruda through the worst of times. GERTRUDA’S OATH is a story of extraordinary courage and moral strength in the face of horrific events. Like Schindler’s List, it transcends history and religion to reveal the compassion and hope that miraculously thrives in a world immersed in war without end.

The Courage to Care

The Courage to Care
Author: Carol Rittner
Publisher: NYU Press
Total Pages: 180
Release: 1989-02
Genre: History
ISBN: 0814774067

The extraordinary story of a few non-Jews who risked their lives to rescue and protect Jews from Nazi persecution in Europe during World War II is told in The Courage to Care. It features the first person accounts of rescuers and of survivors whose stories address the basic issue of individual responsibility: the notion that one person can act—and that those actions can make a difference. These rescuers are true heroes, but modest ones. They did a thousand ordinary things—opening doors, hiding and feeding strangers, keeping secrets—in an extraordinary time. For this, they are known as "Righteous Among the Nations of the World." The rescuers and survivors are from many countries in Europe—Italy, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, France, Bulgaria, Poland, Germany—and they tell their stories with simplicity and dignity. Each story is interwoven with old snapshots of rescuers and survivors, their homes, their hiding places, and the communities in which they lived. Noted author, teacher, and human rights activist, Elie Wiesel, helps us to ask: "what made these people different?" He points out how those who helped Jews during the Holocaust "changed history" by their actions. The Courage to Care reminds readers of the power of individual action. This compelling book is the companion volume to the award-winning film, The Courage to Care, and includes the personal narratives of the same persons in the film and many others.

Altruistic Personality

Altruistic Personality
Author: Samuel P. Oliner
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 346
Release: 1992-04-01
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1439105383

An enligtening and powerful exploration of those who risked their lives to help others during the Holocaust—and those who did not—and what we must do to ensure that such a tragedy never occurs again. Why, during the Holocaust, did some ordinary people risk their lives and the lives of their families to help others—even total strangers—while others stood passively by? Samuel Oliner, a Holocaust survivor who has interviewed more than seven hundred European rescuers and nonrescuers, provides some surprising answers in this compelling work. Samuel Oliver delves into the profound acts of altruism that emerged during one of history's darkest periods. Each interview provides a unique insight into the types of personalities that answer a call to action, and those that do not. By comparing these rescuers with bystanders, he provides a nuanced understanding of what drives people to act with extraordinary compassion—or to remain passive in the face of evil. Offering both a historical perspective and a roadmap for a more compassionate future, Altruistic Personality is not just a historical account—it is a call to action and a beacon for moral education. Relevant when it was first published and even more relevant today, Oliver argues that by understanding and fostering the traits of altruism, we can prevent future atrocities and bring out the better aspects of humanity.

A Hero of Our Own

A Hero of Our Own
Author: Sheila Isenberg
Publisher: iUniverse
Total Pages: 385
Release: 2005
Genre: Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
ISBN: 0595348823

"Fry was the American Schindler with desperate exiles, menacing Nazis, forged documents and midnight escapes [think] Casablanca." -New York Times Varian Fry, the only American honored at Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust memorial, was a young New Yorker who rescued more than 1,500 Europeans from the Nazi's including Marc Chagall, Max Ernst, Hannah Arendt, and other intellectuals, political activists, and "degenerative" artists, many of them Jews. This moving Holocaust rescue story is set against the backdrop of American isolationism and anti-Semitism. "The drama here is in the thrill of rescue, the realistic portrait of a complex leader, and the decidedly nonheroic truths about WWII at home." -American Library Association "One of the BEST BOOKS of 2001" -St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Flight and Rescue

Flight and Rescue
Author: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Publisher: University of Washington Press
Total Pages: 248
Release: 2001
Genre: Architecture
ISBN:

The story of more than 2,000 Polish Jewish refugees who fled across the Soviet Union to Japan, where they awaited entrance visas to the United States and elsewhere.