Most of us know about the work of Oskar Schindler thanks to the film «Schindler's List» . Less well known are the "Righteous Among the Nations." These are non-Jews recognized by Israel as those who risked their lives during the Holocaust to save the Jewish people from the Nazis. Like Schindler, they worked at great personal risk to help men, women, and children escape Nazi-occupied territories to freedom. Some saved a few, some saved thousands, but all are remembered for their bravery and compassion.
10. Morris Sachs took 79 Jewish orphans to Canada.
Georgetown, Ontario, Canada, was far from any fighting during World War II. But it was the place Morris Sachs, a Jewish dairy farmer, called home. He arrived in Canada in 1902 and, by all accounts, was a hard worker. When he learned of what was happening to Jews in Europe in the lead-up to the war, he wanted to help, but a farmer in Canada had very few options. So he turned to the Canadian government—asking it would send 79 Jewish orphans from Poland who had lost their parents during World War I to Canada, on the condition that he would teach them farming skills.
The Canadian government allowed this to happen, and Sachs opened a farm school in 1928, several years before the official start of World War II. The school lasted only two years, apparently due to poor funding and trust issues with its main sponsor, but by then 79 visas had already been issued.
9. Mary Elms carried hundreds of children in her trunk.
Mary Elmes was an Irish Quaker who worked in the London Ambulance Service and later at a children's hospital during the Spanish Civil War. When France was occupied during World War II, Elmes worked with other Quakers to help rescue Jewish children who were being arrested by the French police.
She took children under 16, with their parents' permission, from the Riversalts concentration camp and sent them to the Pyrenees Mountains between France and Spain. She hid them in the trunk of her car.
By 1942, 2,289 Jews had been transported from Riversalt to the Drancy internment camp, from where they were eventually transported to the death camps. It is said that 841 children escaped deportation, largely thanks to Mary Elms. There is no official count, but estimates range in the hundreds.
8. Abdol Hossein Sardari saved thousands of people
Iran declared itself neutral as soon as World War II began and therefore did not participate in the fighting on either side. But this doesn't mean Iran was completely absent. Abdol Hossein Sardari served as Iran's consul general and the only diplomat in Paris after the Iranian ambassador left the city in 1940.
At the time, Iran was declared an Aryan nation by Germany due to the active trade between the two countries. This gave Sardari an opportunity when he fought to declare Iranian and other Middle Eastern Jews ethnically the same as any other Persian, rather than technically Jewish. He argued that these Jews, called Yuguti, might still practice Judaism, but they were not biologically Jewish and therefore exempt from any attempts to restrict their movements, imprison them, or harm them.
It is believed that in this way, Sardari may have saved up to 2,000 Iranian Jews and others in the region by appealing to Nazi officials, using their own language and ideals against them, and convincing them that those he was trying to save were not actually Nazis they were against in the first place.
7. Ho Feng Shan distributed thousands of Chinese visas to Jews in Vienna
We generally think of World War II as a war between several superpowers, and then smaller countries that were allied with one side or the other in a lesser or supporting capacity. One country often overlooked in the history of the war is China, which was an ally of American and British forces primarily against Japan. They officially joined the alliance in December 1941.
Dr. Ho Feng Shan was a Chinese diplomat stationed in Vienna during the war. From 1938 to 1940, Ho issued Chinese visas to Jews attempting to flee Austria, in numbers we may never know. He may have helped tens of thousands of Jews escape, but many records have long been lost, making it impossible to keep a proper record. At least one issued visa had a number above 4,000, so it's safe to say that at least that many were saved thanks to his efforts.
Ho is considered one of the first diplomats in the world to help Jews at a time when many others were still on edge, unwilling to stir up any potential trouble with the Nazi regime. Ho issued visas to anyone who wanted one, regardless of whether they even wanted to go to China. He made no pretense of doing anything other than saving as many people as possible. All this was done against the wishes of his superiors, who did not want visas issued.
Ho never told anyone what he had been doing all his life. He died at the age of 96 in 1997. Even his wife and children didn't know.
6. Chiune Sugihara defied orders to issue Japanese visas to Jews
Despite their military participation in World War II, not everyone in Japan agreed with their country's position. One such person was Chiune Sugihara, a Japanese diplomat in Lithuania during the war. As people fled Germany and other occupied territories, Lithuania was one of the countries that experienced a massive influx of refugees.
Sugihara began issuing visas to Jews that allowed them to stop in Japan en route to other destinations, such as Curaçao. Others wanted to go to the United States, Canada, or Australia. The fact that they didn't actually have visas, of course, didn't matter. The goal was simply to get them out of danger by escaping to safer places. The end result was that in six weeks, Sugihara issued an astonishing 2,139 handwritten visas, potentially saving over 6,000 Jews. All the while, his superiors in Japan were pressuring him to stop, as refugees continued to show up without money or a clear destination.
5. Aristides de Sousa Mendes issued thousands of visas
Portuguese diplomat Aristides de Sousa Mendes was stationed in France during World War II. Portugal was officially neutral during the war, but dictator António de Oliveira Salazar banned Jews from entering the country and offered no assistance. Fortunately, Sousa Mendes didn't feel the same way.
Disobeying the rules established by his superiors, Sousa Mendes began issuing passports to Jews in France. He was in Bordeaux from 1939 to 1940, and his accomplishments did not go unnoticed. But it was his determination to do so that made the difference. He worked tirelessly, issuing literally thousands of passports in a relatively short time, and managed to distribute a staggering 30,000 of them. The refugees were able to flee France to Lisbon, Portugal, before dispersing throughout the world. Many traveled to the United States, as Portugal's neutral status made travel considerably easier.
4. Angel Sanz Briz issued thousands of fake Spanish passports
Diplomat Ángel Sanz Briz played a vital role in saving the lives of at least 5,000 Hungarian Jews during the Holocaust. He forged false passports, claiming they were Spanish citizens. He received permission from the Hungarian government, where he was stationed, to issue passports to just 200 Jews of Spanish descent. He secretly converted this into 200 families. Then, from there, he simply continued to increase the number as long as he could.
Briz was able to pull off his scam by invoking a 1924 law that granted citizenship to Cam-Sephardic Jews expelled from Spain in 1492. It was a farce, of course, but it saved lives.
3. Gertrude Weissmuller-Meyer saved 10,000 Jewish children
Gertrude Wijsmuller-Meyer, sometimes called Aunt Truus, was a Dutch banker who seemed motivated to engage in social work after World War I. Although she had no children of her own, she worked tirelessly to help Jewish orphans and refugees, resettling them in the Netherlands and Great Britain. It is said that she and those who helped her did everything from bribing railway workers to charming Nazis when necessary. At one point, she even personally met with Adolf Eichmann, one of the main architects of the Holocaust, and convinced him to allow her to take 600 Jewish orphans to the Netherlands.
Wijsmuller organized the Kindertransport, transporting children from all Nazi-occupied territories, from Germany to Austria and France, and safely delivering them to Allied territory. Even though borders closed and her capacity to transport them diminished, she continued to bring food and supplies whenever she could. Thanks to her efforts, 10,000 children were saved. .
2. Konstantin Karadzha saved tens of thousands
Constantin Caradja was a Romanian diplomat during the war, when his country was allied with the Germans. He witnessed firsthand how the Nazis treated Jews, including those of Romanian descent, and repeatedly pleaded with officials in Bucharest to do something to help their people. Unfortunately, anti-Semitism was also strong in Romania at the time, and Caradja's pleas often fell on deaf ears.
When Romania decided to include the designation "Jewish" in Romanian passports, he successfully opposed the change, arguing that it would do nothing but worsen the people's situation. While his protests may have had some effect, it was his continued issuance of travel documents that had the greatest impact, leading to approximately 51,000 people being saved from deportation and Nazi death camps.
1. Karl Lutz of Switzerland is credited with saving 62,000 Jews.
It's astonishing that Swiss Karl Lutz is no more famous than he is. Lutz may have single-handedly saved more lives during the Holocaust than any other person, and while it's by no means a competition, his story deserves to be known by more people.
While serving in Hungary as a diplomat, Lutz is credited with leading the largest diplomatic rescue operation of the war. Hungary began deporting Jews to Germany in 1944, and when Lutz's protests failed to produce any changes, he took matters into his own hands. He began by issuing letters of protection, placing Jews in Hungary under Swiss protection.
Now, about Lutz's letters. They were all numbered from 1 to 7800 or 8000 (sources differ on this). They were supposed to be issued one per person. Lutz issued them not to individuals, but to families. And when he ran out, he started again at one o'clock. He hoped the Nazis wouldn't analyze it enough to realize he was reissuing the numbers.
Following this move, Lutz leased 76 buildings, which later became Swiss diplomatic facilities, all built to house more Jews under Swiss protection, where they received food, shelter, and medical care. He and his wife literally walked with Jews during death marches, pulling them out of line and showing Nazi officials papers declaring them under Swiss protection.
Historians believe, partly thanks to his ploy with protective letters, that Lutz may have saved as many as 62,000 Jews.