Thursday, May 2, 2013

Heroes of the Holocaust

Rescuers see themselves as ordinary everyday people because they do not think that what they had done during the time period was extraordinary. They do not think it was extraordinary because in their mind they knew it was the right thing to do. Rescuing for some meant sneaking an extra ration of bread or soup. It could mean someone was friends with someone of a higher ranking and they let them run free during at a transport. A time when help is needed other than rescue is when something little cannot be done as just one person. Rescue was given to the Jews when some people hid them from the Nazis. Some of the ways that people rescued Jewish people was, hiding them in attics, haystacks, and sheds. Another way to rescue them from was any legal documents saying that they were Jewish was to give them new forged identity papers, Raoul Wallenberg did this. There were many different ways to help and rescue the Jewish population, but that didn't mean that there was always the choice or option to do it. The people that did feel that they could rescue some of the Jewish people are considered heroes to me because heroes rescue people and save their lives and that is what those people did. They saved Jewish people's lives and changed them forever. (Information from the article Rescuing Jews)

3 comments:

  1. Generally, the rescuers did save Jews which changed their lives forever. Although on the contrary, a hero is someone who is idealized for courage, his / her outstanding achievements, or noble qualities. These factors characterize these heros for why they are truly heroic. Basically, saving these Jewish people was an act of courage and an outstanding achievement. In addition, it is true that sometimes rescuers may not notice what they are doing is important because they do it all the time. Raoul Wallenberg was brilliant in the way he had forged identity papers which allowed Jews to escape. However, it is mournful that some people may neglect the option to be able to save them. All Jews have equal rights, it should not be a option, it should be mandatory to save them. Ultimately, the true heros are the ones who were committed to saving the jews no matter what the consequence, conveyed courage, have achieved great honor, and reveal noble qualities.

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  2. I agree with you that most people are heroes no matter how small or big the favor was. As long as they helped someone stay alive and safe even with the little help like giving them food they would still be considered a hero. Many people during the Holocaust did help many Jews and it is a good thing to see other people still care for strangers. At least some people were generous enough to put their life at risk and help these Jews. Once the people took in the Jews their life changed forever since they couldn't go outside and they were worried about their loved ones.

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  3. I agree that these people that rescued the jews were heroes. But a lot of the people that rescued these jews didn't really consider them selves heroes because they just thought that what they were doing what the right thing. By them doing this they also would hope that if they were trying to run away from being killed or put into concentration camps somebody would try to help them, just like how they helped out other people. But I don't think that just ordinary people have the courage to save jews and also put their life on the line. So it also took lots of courage to help out the jews by giving them food, shelther,etc.

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