In Slovakia, the deportation trains stopped in 1942 due to inspired negotiation with the Nazis by the Bratislava Working Group under leadership of Rabbi Michael Weissmandl and Gisi Fleischmann. The deportation trains from Hungary stopped in mid-1944 when a Romanian-Hungarian Jew, George Mandel Mantello, publicized the atrocities of Auschwitz and thereby ignited the conscience of the free world, which led to the first major public protest against the Holocaust. Thousands of young Jewish Zionists rescued their fellow Jews throughout Europe. Tens of thousands of Jews were spirited out of Europe by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, who expended millions of dollars and sent agents all over Europe to rescue Jews.
The rescue of Jews by Jews in Nazi occupied territory was extremely perilous. Jewish rescuers were in constant danger. Their actions made them conspicuous and extraordinarily vulnerable. Some Jews came out of hiding to rescue fellow Jews. Others delayed their own opportunity to escape the Nazis in order to remain to help their fellow Jews.
Thousands of Jewish rescuers have been identified as having rescued their fellow Jews. Many of these Jews risked their lives to do so. Many Jewish rescuers were deported to the concentration or death camps and were murdered.
More than 500 Jewish organizations were involved in rescuing their fellow Jews during the Shoah.
Organized and individual rescue of Jews by Jews took place in virtually every country and under every circumstance during the Nazi occupation of major parts of Europe.
The purpose of this website is to provide information about these heroes.
Prepared by Eric Saul, Executive Director, Institute for the Study of Rescue and Altruism in the Holocaust, a nonprofit corporation. Eric Saul's biography is available here.
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Copyright © 2012 by Eric A. Saul. All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this website may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the website publisher.
All of the material on this website is copyrighted. This website represents more than five years of intensive research and preparation. You may quote small portions of this website. For any other use, please contact us for permission. Downloading and use of photographs only with written permission.
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We welcome your comments and suggestions. In addition, if you have the names of Jewish rescuers or organizations, please contact us at: VisasForLife@cs.com.
