Conscience and Courage: Rescuers of Jews During the Holocaust

Conscience and courage is about the people who at great risk to themselves and their families helped Jews to escape from the Nazis. It focuses on such courageous individuals as Stefania Podgorska Buzminski , a Polish teenage girl who hid 13 Jews in her home ; Alexander Roslan , a dealer in the black market who kept uprooting his family to shelter three Jewish children in his care , Joop Westerweel who presided over a network in the Netherlands that smuggled Jewish children to safety ; Diplomats such as Sempo Sugihara , Japanese consul based in Kovno , Lithuania , Aristide De Sousa Mendes , the Portuguese Consul General in Bourdieux , France and of course Raoul Wallenberg , whose efforts saved thousands of Jews from extermination. It also covers the stories of such well known rescuers as Oskar Schindler and Miep Gies. This book not only focuses on the stories of these brave individuals, but also explores why they acted as they did , and how their efforts and it's results affected them both during and after the war. Many people chose to help out of moral reasons or out of love for their charges. Others where professionals had the skills and tools to help , and others where children who from an early age where involved in the rescue efforts of their parents. Some rescuers worked alone and others worked in networks. These stories are being re-examined at a time when some , like Iranian Presdient Mahmoud Ahmadinejad deny the holocaust happened-while working to carry out a real holocaust against the Jews , while others forget history and aim to dismantle the Jewish State , built to a large extent by holocaust survivors.

This book is both fascinating and inspirational. Fogelman shares the stories of a number of rescuers of Jews during the Holocaust. She also offers her insight regarding the psychological effects of risking ones life for others and why the individuals (and sometimes groups) chose to do good. This novel offers a little known aspect of the Holocaust and presents a shining light from an era of darkness. - College Student

The book is at once harrowing and uplifting, recounting stories of decent everyday people who risked their lives to shelter their Jewish neighbors. Eva Fogelman delves into the psychology of rescuers while showing us the human beings, warts and all, who struggled bravely through an inhuman time. This is a memorable book indeed.

A brilliant account of those from the non-Jewish community who risked their lives & the lives of their families to save the Jews during the holocaust. Eva Fogelman has combined individual accounts with scientific research to ascertain why some people chose to help whilst others turned a blind eye. Of those who did not help, some commented (when asked many years later) that they 'didn't know'.The stories she recounts are both inspiring & disturbing, describing the fears & hardships that the rescuers faced on a daily basis whilst trying to conceal their precious secret. Propelled to help those in need, many did so, not for material gain or praise & recognition, but from their own sense of morality. Hannah Senesh sums this book up extremely well in the passage:'There are stars whose radiance is visible on Earth though they have long been extinct. There are people whose brilliance continues to light the World though they are no longer among the living. These lights are particularly bright when the night is dark. They light the way for mankind.'You cannot help but read & wonder whether placed in the same situation, you would have been a light for mankind.

Eva Fogelman's book of rescuers of Jews during the holocaust is an inspiring and informative look at why people became rescuers, and why others did not. I was moved to tears by the inspirational stories of the moral and spiritual courage it took to become a rescuer. It also forced me to re-evaluate my righteous indignation at others for not helping. Ms. Fogelman gets to the heart of the atrocious nature of the time, and explains in vivid detail why most people were afraid to help. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in having basic questions anwered about why more people did not help. The angels who did were extraordinary spirits who literally risked their lives and the lives of those they loved to do what was right. Highly recommended reading.