RESOURCE GUIDEBOOK FOR EDUCATORS

Righteous Among the Nations 

Background 

“Righteous Among the Nations” is a title used to describe individuals from all the world's nations who saved  Jewish lives in the Holocaust. One person who belonged to this category of people was Oskar Schindler (1908- 1974) who was an ethnic German Catholic and a wealthy businessman from Czechoslovakia. Schindler was an unlikely wartime rescuer because he was known to be an opportunist businessman and a member of the  Nazi Party. Despite this, he is responsible for rescuing more than 1000 Jews from deportation to Auschwitz,  Nazi Germany's largest “extermination” centre. Schindler would often use his diplomatic skills and even  bribery to ensure that the Jewish workers that worked in his factory were not deported. He was responsible  for ordering lists of up to 1200 Jewish prisoners needed to work in one of his new factories in 1944. These lists came to be known collectively as, “Schindler's List.” Schindler eventually died penniless and almost  unknown in October 1974. Many of the survivors whom he helped save, and the survivors' descendents,  financed the transfer of his body for burial in Israel. In 1993, Yad Vashem awarded Oskar and his wife at  the time of WWII, Emile Schindler, the title of “Righteous Among the Nations.” His story was made into the  1993 award winning film by Steven Spielberg, Schindler's List and was based on the 1983 novel of the same  name by Thomas Keneally. (Source: “Oskar Schindler. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United  States Holocaust Memorial Museum. n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2017)  

There are many individuals - Muslims included - who risked their lives during the Holocaust to save the lives of Jews. This assignment will help you familiarize yourself with some of their acts of bravery, despite the  extremely dangerous time and place in which they lived. It will also illustrate how important it is to be an upstander, as opposed to a bystander, to stand up to injustice and persecution, especially when meted out against people that are part of a group that is different your own. 

Albania was one of the few European Jewish safehouses, where 100% of the Jews that arrived to Albania were  saved. The Albanians credit this act of humanity as the foundation of the cultural precept called besa, which  means “word of honour”. Little is also known about the Turkish contribution where Kemal Ataturk, the  Turkish President, had given instructions to his diplomats to assist Jews during the Holocaust. Ataturk had  initially received a letter in 1933 from Albert Einstein requesting that he admit 40 Jewish scientists to work  in Turkey which prompted the subsequent Turkish response during the Holocaust. According to the late  American researcher Arnold Reisman, Turkey saved a total of about 15,000 Jews in wartime France. This story was told in a recent film, Turkish Passport. The last scene of the film ends with the quote, ”Whoever saves one life, saves the entire world,” quoting the Talmud and the Qur'an. (Source: Kirshner, Sheldon. “Turkish Diplomats Saved Jews During Holocaust.”) 1 

Melissa Chan's Time article “The Forgotten Stories of Muslims Who Saved Jewish People During the  Holocaust” http://time.com/4651298/holocaust-memorial-day-muslims-jews/ is about an exhibit that debuted in the UN headquarters in Geneva called I am Your Protector. It exhibits 15 stories that show how people came to protect one another even during the most extreme instances of violence, hate, and unrest. 

1 The Canadian Jewish News - CJN. Jan. 27, 2012. Web. Apr. 30, 2017. http://www.cjnews.com/news/can ada/turkish-diplomats-saved-jews-holocaust

Medical genetics and genomic medicine in Turkey: a bright future at a new era in life sciences - Scientific Figure on ResearchGate. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Albert-Einsteins-letter-to-the-Turkish-government-in-1933_fig2_319465665 [accessed 1 Jun, 2023]

1   Research one person from the list below and write a short biography about him/ her. (Remember to include some visuals, e.g. photographs, etc.)


2   Research a modern-day upstander, either from your own community or who has done work nationally or internationally, that you admire. Write a short biography about this person. Some points to consider when writing your biography are:

Try to think of at least three courses of action open to the rescuer.


3   Please use reliable sources when researching and include embedded citations and a bibliography. Avoid using Wikipedia. Present your information to the class in an organized manner.


Due Date ______________________________