Rescuer

__OSKAR SCHINDLER__ Elsa Kendrick and Taylor Foreman Born in Austria Died in Germany 1908-1974  At first, Oskar Schindler was a perpetrator. When the war started, he followed the Nazis into Poland and became friends with the Gestapo’s, S.S. and German officers. He bought land pre-owned by Jewish people and made a factory, and then hired Jews because they were the cheapest labor around. Throughout the years though, something changed. In the end, he was a rescuer. He employed Jewish prisoners from a local ghetto to prevent them from being shipped off to camps and ended up spending all his profits on keeping 1300 Jews alive.

Winston Churchill Rescuer Garrett Bond and Katie Williams May, 1940. Britain is at war with Nazi Germany in the conflict known as World War II. Winston Churchill is elected Prime Minister of Britain, succeeding Neville Chamberlain. Churchill will go on to lead Britain and the allies to victory in World War II along with President Franklin Delano Roosevelt of the United States (along with President Truman after April 12, 1945 after Roosevelt’s unexpected death) and Dictator Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union. Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill was born on November 30, 1874. Involved in the government of Britain most of his life, Churchill was elected a Conservative member of parliament in 1900. In 1939, at the outbreak of World War II, Churchill was appointed First Lord of Admiralty, to be elected prime minister in 1940. That same year, Churchill pushed Britain to bomb Berlin, breaking Hitler’s promise to the German people that Germany would never be bombed or invaded, thus lowering morale for the German people. Churchill was the first political leader to actually challenge Hitler. In the winter of 1943, Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin announce that the Nazi leaders will be brought to justice as soon as the war is over. Churchill made the final decision not to bomb Auschwitz, one of the biggest concentration camps during World War II, because if he did, he would have killed hundreds of Jews who’s lives would have been spared if Auschwitz was liberated by regular soldiers instead of a bombing. He is a rescuer because of these decisions. Winston Churchill died on January 24, 1965. Because of his actions, Winston Churchill lowered the morale of the German people significantly because of the bombing, making them believe that they will probably not win this war.

** Varian Fry: rescuer ** Laura Gabriel and Ashley Lavanda The valiant efforts of Varian Fry, ERC's (European Rescue Committee) representative in Marseilles, France, made it possible for about 1000 Jews to escape from being shipped off to concentration camps. Among them were many of Europe's leading cultural figures, including artist Marc Chagall and writers Heinrich Mann and Walter Mehring. For one year, beginning in August 1940, Fry directed the covert escapes of hundreds of refugees. Frustrated by immigration restrictions, Fry set up clandestine operations complete with encrypted codes of communication and secret escape routes. He even established contacts with the underworld to obtain forged papers and boat passages. In one instance, more than 100 refugees, disguised as farm laborers, were smuggled across the French-Spanish border along unpatrolled paths.

__ Rescuer- Raoul Wallenberg __   Jessica Gallo, Mary Victor and Ellie Hardiman Raoul Wallenberg was born August 4th, 1912, in Stockholm, Sweden. Between 1935 and 1936, he worked at a branch office of the Holland Bank in Haifa, Israel. He was recruited by the War Refugee Board in June 1944 to travel to Hungary. Wallenberg was given diplomatic status as first secretary to the Swedish legation in Budapest, Hungary. His mission was to save as many Hungarian Jews as possible. To do so, Wallenberg, working with fellow diplomat Per Anger, prevented deportations to death camps by issuing “protective passports”. These passports were not legally valid, but they looked official and were almost always accepted by German and Hungarian officials, though sometimes officials had to be bribed. The Swedish legation in Budapest also convinced and negotiated with the Germans that people with protective passes would be treated as Swedish citizens and not have to wear the yellow Star of David on their chests. With American money, Wallenberg rented thirty two buildings in Budapest, and protected hem with diplomatic immunity. He put up signs reading “The Swedish Library” and “The Swedish Research Institute” on the doors and hung oversized Swedish flags on the front of the building to avoid being caught. The buildings eventually housed 10,000 rescued Jews. On July 9th, 1944, Wallenberg intercepted a trainload of Jews about to leave for Auschwitz and stopped the transportation of Jews to death camps. Wallenberg started sleeping in a different house each night, to avoid being killed or captured by Arrow Cross party members or Adolf Eichmann, a Nazi leader. Wallenberg was not alone in his recuing efforts; at the height of his program, over three hundred fifty people were involved. On January 13, 1945, Wallenberg contacted the Russians to secure food and supplies for the people under his protection. He and his driver, Vilmos Langfelder, were detained by the Soviet Army on January 17, 1945 when the Soviet Army captured Budapest on suspicion on being a spy for the U.S. On March 8th, 1945, Soviet-controlled Hungarian radio announced that Wallenberg and his driver had been murdered on their way to Debrecen, suggesting they had been killed by Gestapo or the Arrow Cross Party. In 1957, Soviets released a document found in their archives that their prisoner, Wallenberg, died in his cell, “probably as a result of a heart attack”. This document was dated July 17, 1947, and signed by the then head of the Lubyanka prison infirmary. Because of the deliberate destruction of documents by the Soviets, the reason for the arrest and death of Wallenberg may never be known. Raoul Wallenberg performed these selfless acts in order to save over 15,000 lives for this he was a rescuer.

**__Pope Pius XII__**

John Colovito, Patrick Corona, and Andrew Fernandes Pope Pius XII was a very controversial figure from the Holocaust. He was often called ‘the Nazi Pope’ for actions he made before becoming Pope. Pius (then Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli) signed the Reichskonkordat in 1933 as a respondent from the Vatican. This treaty summarily admitted Hitler to full power so long as the Catholic Church could keep its rights and traditions. This was a big step in raising Hitler to power, and soon after it was ratified Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany. He then began his reign of terror over the Jews. Pius was elected and became Pope in 1939. He then did what he could to save as many lives as possible. Although the Church, he said, wished to remain neutral on the topic of Nazism, Jews were quietly hidden away in Catholic monasteries and convents under suggestion by Pius. The Vatican negotiated with foreign countries-including many in the Americas- to issue thousands of ‘emergency passports’ to get Jews out of Europe. In all, the Church under Pius XII saved about 860,000 Jews from Nazi camps. The title ‘The Nazi Pope’ does not at all fit someone who rescued hundreds of thousands of Jews from the Nazis. __** Pope Pius XII **__

Lauren Adams and Shannon Anderson

Pope Pius XII was a very controversial figure from the Holocaust. He was often called ‘the Nazi Pope’ for actions he made before becoming Pope. Pius (then Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli) signed the Reichskonkordat in 1933 as a respondent from the Vatican. This treaty summarily admitted Hitler to full power so long as the Catholic Church could keep its rights and traditions. This was a big step in raising Hitler to power, and soon after it was ratified Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany. He then began his reign of terror over the Jews. Pius was elected and became Pope in 1939. He then did what he could to save as many lives as possible. Although the Church, he said, wished to remain neutral on the topic of Nazism, Jews were quietly hidden away in Catholic monasteries and convents under suggestion by Pius. The Vatican negotiated with foreign countries-including many in the Americas- to issue thousands of ‘emergency passports’ to get Jews out of Europe. In all, the Church under Pius XII saved about 860,000 Jews from Nazi camps. The title ‘The Nazi Pope’ does not at all fit someone who rescued hundreds of thousands of Jews from the Nazis. **__Sempo Sugihara__** Amanda Schneider Sempo Sugihara was a rescuer he was born in Japan in the1900 and died in 1986. He became a rescuer in 1939 when he became Consul in Kovno soon after Germany invaded Poland. Being the Consul, he was called upon to help nearby Jewish refugees to escape. In August of 1940 Sugihara provided exit visas to Jews so they could travel through Japan, many eventually reached Israel or the United States. Sempo Sugihara handed out some 3,500 visas, saving thousands of Jews in the process. By the end of August, Sugihara was expelled from Lithuania; he was then transferred to another Japanese Consulate. When Sempo Sugihara returned to Japan in 1947 he was asked to leave the Foreign Service due to his act of defiance in 1940. Sempo Sugihara is a rescuer because handed out some 3,500 visas to Jewish refugees, and saving as many as 150,000 Jews and refugees in the process. There are now 150,000 people who would not be here today if it wasn’t for Sempo Sugihara.