The Holocaust – the systematic annihilation of six million Jews – is a history of enduring horror and sorrow. The charred skeletons, the diabolic experiments, the death camps, the mass graves, the smoke from the chimneys ..
In 1933 nine million Jews lived in the 21 countries of Europe that would be occupied by Germany during the war. By 1945 two out of every three European Jews had been killed by the Nazis.
The Holocaust survivor, the author Elie Wiesel, has dedicated his life to ensuring that none of us forget what happened to the Jews. The Nobel Prize recipient wrote:
“In those times there was darkness everywhere. In heaven and on earth, all the gates of compassion seemed to have been closed. The killer killed and the Jews died and the outside world adopted an attitude either of complicity or of indifference. Only a few had the courage to care.”
These women were inspiring evidence of human nobility:
- Countess Maria von Maltzan – throughout the war she provided a safe haven for more than 60 Jews, arranging for them to escape to safety.
- Irena Sendler – an unfamiliar name to most people, but this remarkable woman defied the Nazis and saved 2,500 Jewish children by smuggling them out of the Warsaw Ghetto.
- Jane Haining – in Auschwitz the missionary refused to reject her children and showed herself to be a saint. She was murdered in the gas chambers.
- Miep Gies – during the Nazi occupation of Holland the Austrian-born Dutch woman risked her life daily to hide Anne Frank and her family from the Nazis.
- Emilie Schindler – not only a strong woman working alongside her husband Oscar Schindler but a heroine in her own right. She worked indefatigably to save the Schindler-Jews.
Yes, there were acts of courage and human decency during the Holocaust – stories to bear witness to goodness, love and compassion. To serve as eulogy to the millions with a yellow star who lived and died during the dark years of the Nazi genocide.