Did anyone help the Jews?
Photo: Paulette Feiler, a French Jewish girl takes her first communion while in hiding. 1943, Maine-et-Loire, France.
Photo credit: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Denise Bensaid.
Some countries assisted their Jewish citizens during the Holocaust. The Italian police did not gather Italian Jews, even though there were ordered to by Nazi forces. The Danish people smuggled the majority of Danish Jews to Sweden by boat. Great Britain allowed thousands of Jewish children to immigrate. Churches and monasteries throughout Europe hid Jewish children. Leaders and diplomats from various countries gave passports to many Jews. Many people throughout Nazi-occupied Europe risked their own lives hiding Jews in their homes, barns, or stores.
The State of Israel uses the honorific, “Rightous Among Nations” to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to save Jews from extermination by the Nazis.