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Jews Who Saved Jews During the Holocaust

Throughout the Holocaust period, in the shadow of persecution at the hands of the Nazi regime, there were Jews who attempted to save their brethren despite being in mortal danger themselves. They worked in ghettos, camps, in the ranks of the partisans, in resistance groups, acting alone or as part of rescue organizations.  They forged identity documents, hid and smuggled out Jews, and provided them with food, clothing, medicine and more. Sometimes they worked independently, while at other times they were helped by non-Jews who were later recognized as Righteous Among the Nations. Some of their stories are featured here.

The Community of Staszów during the Holocaust

The Community of Staszów during the Holocaust

The Germans bombed Staszów on 5 September 1939. Jews whose homes were damaged in the bombardment sought shelter in cellars or fled to the nearby forest.  The Germans occupied the town after two days, and one month later,...
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Jews Who Saved Jews in Slovakia during the Holocaust

Jews Who Saved Jews in Slovakia during the Holocaust

In the spring of 1942, the deportation of Slovakia’s Jews to Poland began. In view of the deportations, a group of activists – the Working Group - organized an effort to stop them. The Group was headed...
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Jews Who Saved Jews in France during the Holocaust

Jews Who Saved Jews in France during the Holocaust

The activity of the Eclaireurs Israélites - the French Jewish scouting organization founded by Robert Gamzon - was concentrated in the Vichy zone. The Scouts set up agricultural centers for teenagers, where they worked while studying...
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Jews Who Saved Jews in Hungary during the Holocaust

Jews Who Saved Jews in Hungary during the Holocaust

With the German occupation of Hungary in March 1944, the Zionist youth movements in Budapest decided to go underground and to pursue every possible avenue to save Jews. The underground smuggled 7,000-15,000 Jews into Romania (“The...
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Jews Who Saved Jews in Poland during the Holocaust

Jews Who Saved Jews in Poland during the Holocaust

Aviva Blum-Wachs was born in Warsaw in 1932 to Abraham (Abrasha) and Luba Blum. Aviva had a younger brother, Olek. When the Warsaw Ghetto was established in October 1940, Luba secured a building for the nursing school and moved there...
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Jews Who Saved Jews in Belgium during the Holocaust

Jews Who Saved Jews in Belgium during the Holocaust

On April 19, 1943, Youra Georges Livchitz, a young Jewish doctor, and two comrades in his Belgian resistance group, Jean Franklemon and Robert Maistriau, set out for an operation of their very own: to halt a deportation train and attempt...
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Jews Who Saved Jews in Yugoslavia during the Holocaust

Jews Who Saved Jews in Yugoslavia during the Holocaust

Ignac-Eliyahu (Ilia) Weiss, an active member of the Jewish community in Zagreb, Director of the Jewish retirement home, and an installation engineer by profession, lived in Zagreb with his Croatian wife Bariza and their daughter...
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Jews Who Saved Jews in Germany during the Holocaust

Jews Who Saved Jews in Germany during the Holocaust

Dr. Menachem Erich Klibansky was the headmaster of the "Yavne" Jewish gymnasium in Köln, Germany from 1929 until its closure in 1942. Klibansky saved dozens of his students, arranging for their passage to England as part...
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Jews Who Saved Jews in Lithuania during the Holocaust

Jews Who Saved Jews in Lithuania during the Holocaust

Yehuda Beilis was born in Kovno, Lithuania in 1927, the youngest of Eliezer and Chana’s three sons. The Germans occupied Lithuania in 1941, while Yehuda was living in the resort town of Palanga. He was imprisoned in a synagogue...
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The Partisans: Stories of Jews Who Saved Jews

The Partisans: Stories of Jews Who Saved Jews

After the German invasion of the Soviet Union, partisan units began to organize to fight the Nazi occupiers. The partisans, irregular fighters, operated in the forests and marshes and exploited their relative advantage in guerrilla...
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