Official Recognition of Jews Who Saved Jews During the Holocaust

Haim Roth, a Holocaust survivor from the Netherlands, was eight years old when he was rescued by one Jew and two non Jews. In later years, the non Jewish rescuers were recognized and honored by Yad Vashem as “Righteous Among the Nations,” while the Jewish rescuer — whom Haim Roth says “without him I would not be alive” — received no such recognition. Roth sees this as a profound injustice and distortion, stating: “The Jewish people do not recognize their own heroes.”

In an effort to correct this injustice and pursue historical justice, Roth established in 2000 the “Committee for the Recognition and Appreciation of the Heroism of Jews Who Saved Jews During the Holocaust.” The committee’s goal is to expose the historical phenomenon of Jews rescuing fellow Jews during the Holocaust, secure legal recognition for them, and honor their heroism.

In 2014, I, Moshe Gromb, author of this book collection, joined the committee. Since then, I have dedicated all my time to documenting the activities of Jews who saved Jews during the Holocaust and researching this remarkable phenomenon in both world history and Jewish history. Every day I am once again astonished by the historical distortion and injustice inflicted upon the memory and legacy of these Jews.

As part of this work, I met with Holocaust researchers, historians, academics, public figures, and hundreds of Israeli citizens. I met rescuers and survivors, as well as members of their families. I met directors of Holocaust museums in Israel and around the world. Through all of them, I was exposed to hundreds of thousands of documents, books, and records that opened a window for me into the extraordinary phenomenon of Jewish rescue.

Together with my partner Dr. Avraham Huli, filmmaker Shoshi Ben Hamo, and a professional production team, we are producing an international film on the subject. For this purpose, we traveled to Greece, the Netherlands, France, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary, where we met rescuers, their family members, and others connected to the subject.

In January 2018, I established the “Action Committee for the Inclusion in Law of Jews Who Saved Jews During the Holocaust,” a civic initiative whose goal is to achieve recognition in the Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Law for Jews who saved fellow Jews during the Holocaust — despite the persistent opposition of Avner Shalev, Chairman of Yad Vashem.

The Action Committee distributed an online petition in order to gain public support for recognition of this phenomenon. Many people signed the petition, including Holocaust researchers, historians, academics, and Israeli citizens. We established a traveling exhibition documenting rescue efforts carried out by Jews. We present the subject before diverse audiences in communities and are continually amazed to discover how few people have heard of this phenomenon. We also launched a Facebook page and a dedicated website to raise awareness and promote recognition.

We have documented more than 2,100 Jewish rescuers. According to our estimates, between 6,000 and 10,000 Jews operated throughout the world and rescued hundreds of thousands of Jews. We intend to continue researching and documenting thousands more. Through our research and documentation, we identified 37 different rescue methods used by Jews to save their fellow Jews.

We continue this mission and are doing everything in our power to secure recognition of this phenomenon within the Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Law, to correct the historical injustice and distortion, and to ensure the commemoration, appreciation, and documentation of all Jewish rescuers who saved their fellow Jews during the Holocaust.

Every one of these Jewish rescuers is my hero, a hero of the Jewish people, and a source of inspiration on both a personal and national level. Every one of them deserves recognition and appreciation. Every one of them is a story that should be told to young people and to the entire Jewish people for generations to come. Every one of them deserves commemoration. All of these rescuers were ordinary people who performed extraordinary acts, and many of them regretted only that they could not save more Jews.

I hope that cooperation between the Knesset of Israel, the Government of Israel, Yad Vashem, and civil society will lead to an amendment of the law, the pursuit of justice, and the correction of the discrimination and historical injustice done to Jews who saved Jews during the Holocaust.

Moshe Gromb

Chairman of the Action Committee for the Recognition of Jews Who Saved Jews During the Holocaust