Plan your Visit to Yad Vashem
test
Icon arrow right

Yad Vashem is open to the general public, free of charge. All visits to Yad Vashem must be reserved in advance.

Icon arrow right

New at Yad Vashem:
Sound-and-Light Show in the Valley of the Communities

Facebook Instagram X YouTube Pinterst Blog
  1. Home
  2. Education & E-Learning
  3. Educational Materials
  4. Center Question
  5. How can one explain collaboration of local population with the Nazi regime in the persecution of the Jews? What motivated people to risk their lives to save Jews? How can the passivity of the bystanders to Nazi crimes be explained?

How can one explain collaboration of local population with the Nazi regime in the persecution of the Jews? What motivated people to risk their lives to save Jews? How can the passivity of the bystanders to Nazi crimes be explained?

Share

During the Holocaust, the vast majority of the local population neither took part in the murder nor attempted to save the Jews. They were bystanders who witnessed the crimes of the Nazis. Some of the locals directly participated in the crimes of the Holocaust, and a small part tried to save the Jews.

Lev Rubinstein, poet, literary critic, publicist, Russia

Lev Rubinstein, poet, literary critic, publicist, Russia

Lyudmila Ulitskaya, writer, public figure, Russia

Lyudmila Ulitskaya, writer, public figure, Russia

Borukh Gorin, Rabbi, Head of the Department of Public Relations of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia

Borukh Gorin, Rabbi, Head of the Department of Public Relations of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia

Nikolai Svanidze, TV journalist, historian, Head of the Journalism Department of the Institute of Mass Media of the Russian State Humanitarian University, Russia

Nikolai Svanidze, TV journalist, historian, Head of the Journalism Department of the Institute of Mass Media of the Russian State Humanitarian University, Russia

Oleg Budnitsky, historian, Director of the International Center for the History and Sociology of World War II and its Consequences, Russia

Oleg Budnitsky, historian, Director of the International Center for the History and Sociology of World War II and its Consequences, Russia