Holocaust Remembrance Month: Righteous Among The Nation: Books

 Corrie ten Boom and her family, devout members of the Dutch Reformed Church, were deeply connected to the Jewish community—her grandfather supported Christian-Jewish relations, and her brother Willem ran a nursing home that sheltered Jewish refugees in the 1930s. During World War II, Corrie, her father Casper, and sister Betsie turned their home and watch shop in Haarlem into a refuge for Jews and a hub for the Dutch resistance, providing hiding places and securing ration books for those in need. In February 1944, they were betrayed, and 30 people, including the ten Booms, were arrested; Casper died shortly after imprisonment, and Corrie and Betsie were sent to Ravensbrück concentration camp, where Betsie later died and Corrie was released in December 1944. After the war, Corrie helped concentration camp survivors, worked on reconciliation efforts, and became a global speaker—her memoir The Hiding Place (1971) became widely known, especially among American evangelicals. In 1967, Yad Vashem recognized Corrie as Righteous Among The Nations (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Corrie ten Boom. Holocaust Encyclopedia, www.ushmm.org).

From 1940 to 1944, the villagers of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon and its surroundings sheltered around 5,000 refugees, including 3,000–3,500 Jews fleeing the Vichy regime and the Nazis. Led by Pastor André Trocmé, his wife Magda, and Pastor Edouard Theis, they hid refugees in homes, farms, and schools, provided forged documents, and helped some escape to Switzerland. Their widespread efforts made this rescue mission unique during the Holocaust.

Raoul Wallenberg (b. 1912, Stockholm) was a Swedish businessman turned diplomat who led one of the most effective rescue efforts during the Holocaust. In 1944, he was recruited by the U.S. War Refugee Board and sent to Hungary as a Swedish diplomat to aid Jews during Nazi occupation.

Though inexperienced, Wallenberg issued Swedish protective passports, set up hospitals, nurseries, soup kitchens, and created over 30 safe houses. He also intervened directly to stop deportations and rescue Jews during forced marches. Thanks to his efforts, over 100,000 Jews survived in Budapest by the time Soviet forces liberated the city in 1945.

Wallenberg was posthumously honored as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem in 1963.

Varian Fry, an American journalist born on October 15, 1907, in New York, played a critical role in assisting anti-Nazi refugees escape from Europe during World War II. After working as a researcher for various magazines in the early 1930s and witnessing firsthand the horrors of Hitler’s regime during a trip to Nazi Germany, Fry became deeply committed to helping those in danger. In response to Germany’s invasion of France, he co-founded the Emergency Rescue Committee in 1940, an organization focused on rescuing Jewish refugees and anti-Nazi intellectuals in Vichy France, many of whom were high-profile artists and thinkers. With the help of Eleanor Roosevelt, who secured emergency visas, Fry volunteered to serve as the committee’s representative in Europe. Once in France, he began sheltering and assisting endangered individuals, ultimately helping nearly 2,000 people escape persecution over the course of a year, despite being repeatedly detained by French authorities. Expelled from France in August 1941, Fry returned to the U.S. and continued to write about the war. His bravery was later recognized with the Croix de Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur, France’s highest decoration of merit, and in 1994, he became the first American to be named Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem.

Oskar Schindler, a German from Czechoslovakia, was a Nazi spy and party member who profited from the German occupation of Poland by taking over Jewish-owned businesses, including a factory in Kraków. Initially driven by profit, Schindler grew sympathetic toward his Jewish workers. As deportations increased, he used his influence and resources to protect them—sheltering some during the Kraków Ghetto’s liquidation and later moving his factory to Brünnlitz to shield 1,000 Jews. He falsified records and secured supplies to ensure their survival. After the war, Schindler fled west and was remembered with deep gratitude by those he saved. Though initially denied, he was awarded the Righteous Among the Nations title by Yad Vashem

Dr. Jan Żabiński, director of the Warsaw Zoo, and his wife Antonina sheltered Jews during the Holocaust. Using his position with the Warsaw Municipality, Jan gained access to the Warsaw Ghetto under the pretense of inspecting flora, eventually helping smuggle people out. The zoo became a refuge, with Jews hidden in empty animal enclosures and the couple’s home. Antonina provided food and care, while Jan also helped forge documents and secure housing. A member of the Polish Home Army, Jan fought in the Warsaw Uprising and was later taken prisoner; Antonina continued their efforts in his absence. Jan also buried parts of the secret Warsaw Ghetto archive on zoo grounds. In 1965, both were honored as Righteous Among the Nations.

Irene Gut Opdyke (1922–2003), a Polish Catholic and former nursing student, risked her life to save Jews during the Holocaust. While working in a hotel for German officers, she smuggled food into the ghetto and later hid 12 Jews in the basement of Major Edward Rugemer’s villa, where she worked as a housekeeper. When Rugemer discovered them, he blackmailed her into a relationship in exchange for their safety. As the war ended, Irene and those she protected fled into the forest.

After the war, she escaped to West Germany and later immigrated to the U.S., where she shared her story in her memoir, In My Hands. She was honored as Righteous Among the Nations and received the Israel Medal of Heroes.