“..In trying to bridge that abyss between past and present ..memoirist is obliged to arm himself against sentimentality ..to guard against nostalgia. I was constantly aware of ..desire to idealize that destroyed World ..but I tried to discipline myself to portray Vilna as it was ..without retouching ..without removing ..warts and blotches of historical reality. ..it was indeed possible ..in writing about one’s own people ..for a historian ..to maintain critical objectivity ..to hold fast to an inner perspective ..an empathetic understanding of their trials ..travails ..passions ..ambitions.” Lucy S. Dawidowicz.
The first lesson in writing History is its objectivity and the surety that any bias or precondition does not enter the arena. What Lucy Dawidowicz imparts to us is that very fact, and within the cauldron of The Holocaust legion of atrocity, it is essential we give guidance to those who seek the truth rather than the dismal apology of distortion, which all too often infects this chosen subject. While it is true I have concerned my search to these 6,000,000 Jews who are The Holocaust, I have not forgotten the cost in World War II to 50 or is it 70 million People in the World who lost their lives. But in concentrating my attention upon the scale of atrocity which the Slaughter of 6,000,000 individuals who happen to be Jews, I do so outside the confines of any Ethnical, Religious or even Racial predisposition. Mine is exclusively a human need to identify with an inhuman deed which was enacted by inhuman beings according to ages old hatreds in depriving People of humanity’s right to life and living.
“..Because of my great passion for subjects in ..humanities ..especially literature ..I now wish to devote myself to higher studies at ..University of Warsaw ..as a student in ..humanities section of ..Faculty of Philosophy” Henryka Lazowert.
I am perhaps fortunate to have been borne into a Family whose attitude towards others is a reminder, to not inflict upon others what we do not wish inflicted upon ourselves. I cannot say I have always upheld those principles, but I have steered a course through pages which I was not written but seemed purposely written for me. So here, and for the Jews in The Holocaust, their position as to the sanctity of their lives was roundly ignored or was totally abandoned in favour of the enlisting of an age’s old hatred, indeed it is The Greatest Hatred, antisemitism. From the vantage point of a gentile Europe, there was an eagerness for far too many to simply do nothing to assist these Jewish People. For others there was that demand which would deny them nothing from those certain gains from the plight of the Jewish People. Be that Money, Homes, Businesses, Lands or an accumulation of what had belonged to the Jews for over 5,000 Years.
“..Righteous Among ..Nations ..honoured by Yad Vashem ..are non-Jews who took great risks to save Jews during The Holocaust. Rescue took many forms and ..Righteous came from different nations ..religions and walks of life. What they had in common was that they protected their Jewish neighbours at a time when hostility and indifference prevailed.” Yad-Vashem.
The hereditary right to life has been consistently stolen from the Jewish People, and there were far too many willing to compliment this hatred, which so adorned Hitler’s nazi ideal. In this, it my unswerving demand that there should be no other condition than preserving the truth, so that memory is best bestowed upon all of these 6,000,000 Jewish People. For every single one of these Jews, none of whom have been saved by those who could have done more to save even more of them, I place them before all I have previously studied in that field of historical warfare I assumed was my direction. I hold with the contention here, of Elie Wiesel has stated and in that, while not all victims were Jews, All Jews were Victims. And I would go further still in citing the very fact that, while all of those people in Europe, who did not act in perpetrating the crimes we identify as The Holocaust, we realise that not all of those same people of Europe were innocent when it came to the eventual Slaughter of 6,000,000 Europeans who just happen to be Jews.
“..It is true that not all ..victims were Jews. But All Jews Were Victims.” Elie Wiesel.
With that in mind, and as I leave aside my ever-increasing and dedicated workload of recalling and remembering the loss of these 6,000,000 Jews, and they have become my capacity to remember those who are now my requirement to remember that they will never be forgotten. I seek here though, to pay homage to those all too few who acted with what moral efficacy is demanded by any, and all who profess their own humanity’s concern. For those who acted for the rights of all individuals to coexist as equals, and without prejudice to the very existence of those Jews they sought to save, this is but a small tribute of mine that is in the name of the 6,000,000 Jews who cannot respond. In 1953, when the State of Israel introduced the ‘Martyrs’ and ‘Heroes’ Remembrance Law, which has established the Yad-Vashem Museum, that institution has also been tasked with the creation of a Remembrance Authority.
“..destruction of ..crematorium slowed down ..killing machine at Birkenau and saved many lives. 400 Jewish and non-Jewish prisoners died in ..revolt and its aftermath.” Anna Heilman.
Incorporated into this establishment is a demand that is dedicated to documenting and honouring the sacrifices made and the heroism of those who acted in favour of saving Jewish lives. It is for those human beings who stood against the tide, and in not abandoning the Jews to the fate assigned to them, in The Final Solution, and who resolved to save at least some of them, and that these Human Beings are recognised, is a citation too in honour of 6,000,000 People who were not saved, who were Jews. The term itself, The Righteous Among the Nations, is from the Hebrew Hassidei-Umot-Haolam, and overall depicts those who acted with a pious, and virtuous intention in their act of ethical, judicious and even moral probity. The fact of the term has sourced those who displayed such human instincts, they are picked them out as ‘wiser gentiles’, and given this human honour, set them aside from those who acted with dishonour.
“..attempt to survive in illegality was before anything else a self-assertion and an act of Jewish Resistance against ..Nazi regime. Only few were successful in this resistance.” Wolfgang Benz.
Thus titled, these non-Jews are examined for inclusion as recipients of such an award, and particularly because they acted as non-Jews in saving Jews. From this point I would like to take charge and refer, looking back to some very misguided individuals who are hell bent upon pointing to Jewish Remembrance as a solely Jewish concern. There is also a long fostered, even believed contention, that the Jewish People were only interested in what was perpetrated against the Jews, who are The Holocaust. This is a much-debated format of an incorrect assessment, and toward what then finally emerges as a ritual denial of the truth. While the bitter wounds of the Jewish People, and the new Israeli State, was initially attempting to add wider content to all that was lost, it did not choose to ignore the plight of so many who did not evade death or destruction during World War II. But! The Holocaust has been clearly derived from what was intended as The Final Solution of The Jewish Question.
And, as the Jewish People attempt to resolve any, and even all lack of comprehension, we stand before the mantle of history to add credence to the fact of The Holocaust memory that belongs solely to the Jewish People. For the Jews to even attempt to somewhat come close to absolute terms, which attempt to comprehend with the incomprehensible nature of the Slaughter, they Remember well their immense loss is amongst other significant losses. While Jewish Holocaust Scholars, many Jewish Survivors amongst them, sought out the divided memory for all of those 6,000,000 Jews now deprived of any memory, they were clearly aligned along those specific scientific routes which are realising of all of history. There is an accusation levelled at me also, for ever since writing on The Holocaust, that I act with bias, as I too have been accused of concentrating solely upon the fact that 6,000,000 Jews of Europe were Slaughtered.
“..Who ..in this World ..could reply to .. terrible obstinacy of crime ..if not for ..obstinacy of witnessing.” Albert Camus.
That indeed is the nature of my effort, and I make no apology for doing so, and nor do I contend with other than what is truly and solely a Jewish catastrophe, The Holocaust. This stoic position is for me, a position within The Holocaust, that is an evocation of what is an Historical event of Monumental proportions. This is for a very detailing and disturbing aspect in my own effort to make the presence of The Holocaust more real and appreciated to all of History. But here’s the thing. The earliest writer’s on The Holocaust, Jewish Survivors themselves, and those amongst them who became renowned scholars on the subject, did so while reminding us of the Gypsy, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Homosexuals, and all manner of the Christian Clergy, and the multitude of those others who were deprived of life. The Jewish Scholar too voiced a concern that the ordinary non-Jewish Citizens, those very People who rose highest above the swirl of anti-Jewish rhetoric and hatred, they should be commemorated and remembered, so as best not be forgotten.
“..Each ..memoir adds to our knowledge not only of The Holocaust ..but also of many aspects of ..human condition that are universal and timeless ..power of evil and ..courage of ..oppressed ..cruelty of ..bystanders and ..heroism of those who sought to help ..despite ..risks ..part played by Family and Community ..question of who knew and when ..responsibility of ..wider World for .. destructive behaviour of tyrants and their henchman.” Martin Gilbert.
The wish then was to record, from those others who perished alongside Jews, and amidst the hatred for the Jews, as stand out human beings amongst so many callous, indifferent and even intolerant beings. Even here, and amongst the Jews themselves, these Righteous have always considered as Neighbours, Friends or merely as Human Beings, and there is a tally of such goodness, that it became an act of righteousness itself to act and add their names to a scroll of honour. There are indeed human beings who resist the temptation to sit back and accept the comfortable nature of a complicity which indifference forms. Today though, there are some 28,217 People who shine out from the darkness and are presented to us as Righteous Among Nations. This is clearly a fact which conjures with the huge and immense indifference which betrayed the Jewish People but, and it is for the Jewish Survivor to know also, that they were not totally abandoned by all.
“.. Historians looking at The Holocaust inevitably take ..broad view ..attempting to see ..whole picture .. putting ..catastrophe into context. They analyse ..mechanisms ..logistics of ..destruction of European Jewry ..delve into ..pathological behaviour of ..Nazis in particular and ..German people as a whole ..search in history ..economics ..psychology ..for causes ..remote .. immediate ..which might make sense of ..senseless and explain ..inexplicable.” Gilbert Herbert.
This truth alone stands as a monument in itself and is to heighten and add to our understanding as to humanity’s darkest hours. With this appreciation of good, and even great People, what was clearly established in 1963 was a commission created within Yad-Vashem, that would become a document centre that would detail and record all that was related to the evisceration of 6,000,000 Jewish People. From within The Holocaust itself, the truth would seek to balance the need to know, from all of those who were not persuaded to act against all conscience, or to even begin to act with human intolerance, it lines up alarmingly against those all too many who acted without conscience and with malice toward former neighbours, colleagues, associates, and all because they were Jews. This momentous task of recollection, was headed by a justice of the Supreme Court of Israel, Commission Chairman Justice Moshe Landau, who was charged with ensuring all The Righteous Among the Nations were duly noted and awarded such title as becomes them.
“..And so we must know these good people who helped Jews during The Holocaust. We must learn from them ..and in gratitude and hope ..we must remember them.” Elie Wiesel.
It is but an honorary title bestowed upon these Righteous People, and upon non-Jews specifically, and by a benevolent Israel which has much to respect these People for. What we are to witness with such a process is an acclamation of human beings for acting humanely, and under great pressure not to do so. For what the some sought to achieve, against the very detail of this Hitlerite plan to eliminate all Jews of The Final Solution of The Jewish Question, accuses the many who didn’t do anything. Let us be clear here! The Righteous are not extraordinary People. But given the exacting set of circumstances to face the Jews of Europe, those who stood by their moral principles, advocated their ethical need, delivered toward a compassionate demand, and stood out from the very many who did not act accordingly, theirs is a tale of humanity being sparingly reprieved. The matter of Never Again does not fail them, as they set the seal on what should and could have been achieved by even more of their fellow human beings.
“..antisemitism was to lead Nazi Germany to Sobibor. Among ..personnel of Sobibor ..we find doctors ..musicians ..civil servants ..ordinary workers ..peasants.” Miriam Novitch.
At the commencement to some extraordinarily inhuman days for 6,000,000 Jews, who were ritually Slaughtered, there are a certain number of Human Beings who acted with proper human certainty. While all too many others did not act in this way, or who acted in accordance to greed or hatred, the Righteous defines these others as outside of humanity’s best. While we can sit in judgement upon those who acted against all morality, and we cannot know how we might have acted, we can be certain how we should not have acted. In that very truth there is this one certainty, and for so very many of us, we know exactly what it is we would not have done to act against the Jewish People. When we look to these human beings who acted so monstrously, we recognise people from every profession and walk of life whose bestial acts we record to this day. When I wrote my 2nd Book on the very make up of der Einsatzgruppe, it is a stark reminder of what education can fail in teaching so many.
“..I believe that it was really due to Lorenzo Perrone that I am alive today ..and not so much for his material aid ..as for his having constantly reminded me by his presence ..that there still existed a just World outside our own ..something and someone still pure and whole ..for which it was worth surviving.” Primo Levi.
Here, assembled by Hitler, Himmler, Heydrich, and others, are those with doctorates who led the line of mass killers in dismantling the bedrock of human civilisation. It is clear that hatred is well learned by those with a penchant for learning, and the growing awareness that hatred fills the spaces of the powerful with those who exploit clearly what diversity must more define our uniqueness than any difference. What was the lessons learned by those who emerged into the World to administer to what can be achieved by dismissing the lessons of the past. The very nuances of society were swept aside, and into the pits and ravines of terminal devastation, went the doctorates and thesis of the teachings of civilisation, and society, and alongside 2,000,000 Jewish People the notion of a righteous being was catapulted toward oblivion. We cannot ever begin to console ourselves with such craven acts as Genocide, which we have now become witness to, without recognising the extraordinary nature of ordinary human beings who acted inhumanly.
“..sheltered by Christian Poles without whose help my Family and I would not have survived. At ..end of ..war I resumed my former identity ..determined to put ..past behind me. I wanted to forget ..person I had tried so desperately to become ..to forget that which ..forced me to become someone else ..to forget even ..Christians who had helped me ..stay alive. ..Thirty years later my memories started to stir. They called for attention.” Nechama Tec.
It is without compassion, and certainly without concern that the extraordinary and bitter hatred the Righteous readily witnessed, engulfed them as they acted. That The Holocaust is replete with horror stories, and with the terror which faced ordinary Jewish Men, Women and Their Children, recognises for us that there are at least 6,000,000 of these Jews so impacted by the hatred. As Nechama Tec has proved with her exceptional study, When Light Pierced the Darkness, there were those who were quite able, and better still, so willing to simply point the way to enlightening the path toward some of those who were still whole and even pure. The sad fact is still that all too few did act in human compassion, and so and looked on as their neighbours, even friends, were swept toward oblivion. As of January 1st 2022, and as the Yad-Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum has clearly recognized, there are merely 28,217 Righteous souls who saved Jews from such complacency, indifference and the ignorance of hatred.
“..Time will erase ..traces of ..abandoned objects ..human testimony will remain.” Miriam Novitch.
From among the vastness of those other people, and from states and nations who did not act decisively, these Righteous stand alone, who remain unable to come to their own terms of understanding. For these non-Jewish Men and Women, we recount events from the bleakness of the atrocity, as they emerge from some 51 different and divergent countries to be added to the worth of humanity. Each of these individuals has cooperated with their own consciences, so as to save the many thousands of Jews from the Nazi horrors they managed to. As we list these accounts, from figures that are the individual cases made available to Yad-Vashem, and these do not necessarily represent the actual number of rescuers, which is conceivably far greater, we recognise the gulf that exists between the good and the indifferent. We realise that between the honest and the intolerant and between those whose souls avoided the abyss into which humanity itself has fallen, there is a worth which all of humanity must cherish and embrace.
“..Jews were abandoned by All World governments but not by all individuals.” Jan Karski.
Albania 75 Righteous Amongst All Nations.
Armenia 24 Righteous Amongst All Nations.
Austria 115 Righteous Amongst All Nations.
Belarus 680 Righteous Amongst All Nations.
Belgium 1,787 Righteous Amongst All Nations.
Bosnia 49 Righteous Amongst All Nations.
Brazil 2 Righteous Amongst All Nations.
Britain 22 Righteous Amongst All Nations.
Bulgaria 20 Righteous Amongst All Nations.
Chile 2 Righteous Amongst All Nations.
China 2 Righteous Amongst All Nations.
Croatia 130 Righteous Amongst All Nations.
Cuba 1 Righteous Amongst All Nations.
Czech Republic 125 Righteous Amongst All Nations.
Denmark 22 Individual Righteous Amongst All Nations, and a Nation.
Ecuador 1 Righteous Amongst All Nations.
Egypt 1 Righteous Amongst All Nations.
El Salvador 1 Righteous Amongst All Nations.
Estonia 3 Righteous Amongst All Nations.
France 4,206 Righteous Amongst All Nations.
Georgia 1 Righteous Amongst All Nations.
Germany 651 Righteous Amongst All Nations.
Greece 364 Righteous Amongst All Nations.
Holland 5,982 Righteous Amongst All Nations.
Hungary 876 Righteous Amongst All Nations.
Indonesia 3 Righteous Amongst All Nations.
Ireland 1 Righteous Amongst All Nations.
Marie Elisabeth Jean Elmes, Mary Elmes was added to the List in 2013.
“..I had a fixed point of view and I went on with it. I was not emotional but rather clinical ..like a doctor ..or a soldier ..I suppose. Luckily ..I became hardened. It allowed me to work constantly.” Mary Elmes.
Italy 766 Righteous Amongst All Nations.
Japan 1 Righteous Amongst All Nations.
Latvia 138 Righteous Amongst All Nations.
Lithuania 924 Righteous Amongst All Nations.
Luxembourg 1 Righteous Amongst All Nations.
Macedonia 10 Righteous Amongst All Nations.
Moldova 79 Righteous Amongst All Nations.
Montenegro 1 Righteous Amongst All Nations.
Norway 68 Righteous Amongst All Nations.
Peru 3 Righteous Amongst All Nations.
Poland 7,232 Righteous Amongst All Nations.
Portugal 3 Righteous Amongst All Nations.
Romania 69 Righteous Amongst All Nations.
Russia 217 Righteous Amongst All Nations.
Serbia 139 Righteous Amongst All Nations.
Slovakia 638 Righteous Amongst All Nations.
Slovenia 16 Righteous Amongst All Nations.
Spain 9 Righteous Amongst All Nations.
Sweden 10 Righteous Amongst All Nations.
Switzerland 49 Righteous Amongst All Nations.
Turkey 1 Righteous Amongst All Nations.
Ukraine 2,691 Righteous Amongst All Nations.
USA 5 Righteous Amongst All Nations.
Vietnam 1 Righteous Amongst All Nations.
In Total there are 28,217 Righteous Amongst All Nations Worldwide.
To be clear then, the title of Righteous belongs to, and is awarded to those non-Jewish individuals who acted in saving Jews from Destruction. There is no design to recognise groups who might have acted collectively, but with one exception. Denmark as a whole stood, up against what was arriving for the Danish Jews and removed them, almost all of them, to safety in Sweden. Those members of the Danish resistance also, who acted as one, are now to be recognised as their organisations wished for them to be Remembered, as an entire group leading their individual members in the way of Rescuing Jews out of harm’s way. It is obvious that in teaching and educating, ethical lessons were not equally learned by all of those being taught. This imbalance ended up leaving 6,000,000 Jews completely Slaughtered within Auschwitz, Belzec, Birkenau, Chelmno, Majdanek, Sobibor and Treblinka and within The Killing Sites in the East. With newer lessons to be learned, and by those Survivor’s who would need to relearn how to live amongst a World of people which denied them, it is perhaps fortunate that more than a handful of People acted to defend the Jews of Europe.
“..teachings ..about ..world ..people ..ethics ..faith ..I had to learn ..by myself in ..hell of concentration camps ..without my Mother who was put to death in ..Gas Chambers in Majdanek ..my Father ..put to death and burnt in ..crematorium in Treblinka ..my Brother ..my Sister in law ..so young ..but cared for me like my Mother ..tormented and burnt in Auschwitz.” Halina Birenbaum.
For me here, and this is a rather subjective piece pointing to an Irish Woman, Mary Elmes, who was Irish, and a Woman born in Cork, who acted according to her own conscience. Mary was positioned within such close proximity to the emerging catastrophe for the Jewish People, she acted to save some of them. Mary, who saved hundreds of Jewish Children from deportation to Birkenau during The Holocaust is forever remembered for her moral and ethical standing. It greatly impresses me too that a fellow Irish person saw so clearly the grave wrong being imposed upon the Jewish right to living was being denied. Mary worked in close proximity to the Camp near Perpignan, Rivesaltes, fighting diseases and providing Food, Clothing, and Bedding for the many Jewish Children detained here. By April 1941 there were well over 9,000 Jewish and other Peoples interned here, and the situation gradually deteriorated. Jews from the French Free Zone were detained here, in preparation for their assimilation with all Jews within France being sourced for eventual destruction.
“..Some survivors of The Holocaust cannot bear to read or hear about ..period. I have always been interested ..to see whether it is really impossible to find words to describe adequately ..behaviour of ..people ..heroism and ..bestiality.” Maja Abramowitch.
And it came to fruition that during the summer of 1942, Mary assisted with the identification of Jewish Children, those aged between 6 and 12 years of age who could be found sanctuary in America. This, under a relocation scheme, Mary acquired exit visas, safe conduct papers, and other documentation so as to facilitate the Jewish Children’s escape from Rivesaltes. This would secure them from being put on the resettlement transports going to Birkenau, that was being routed via the Drancy detention Camp. As the Jewish roundups grew in intensity during this period, and throughout occupied France, Mary recognised the need to secretly remove Jewish Children out of harm’s way, and sometimes in the boot of her car. These initial savings were amongst those very first Jewish Children clearly destined for that initial transport toward Birkenau. Between August and October 1942, Mary and her colleagues saved an estimated 427 Jewish Children from the Camp.
Across the Pyrenees and Orientales region way stations for these refugee Jewish Children emerged and Mary filled their spaces with as many Jewish Children as she could extricate from Rivesaltes. On February 5th 1943 Mary Elmes was arrested by the SS and detained on suspicion of espionage, and though not proven, they detained her. Mary was also suspected of providing Jews with forged papers and from her initial incarceration in Toulouse, she was moved to Fresnes prison in Paris. Mary was eventually released from here on July 23rd 1943 after many considerations were delivered by those who interceded on her behalf. It is not known quite how many Jewish Children Mary saved, though those 400’s might well be an underestimation. Mary’s modesty is on display and when she was asked as to why she risked so much during this period, her response was so self-deprecating to say the least. There was a point in time when many, who had looked to the persecution, the abuse of Jews and realised the Germans had crossed the Rubicon, and they stepped into action.
“..we all experienced inconveniences in those days ..didn’t we.” Mary Elmes.
