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God's Children During The Holocaust

Decent Essays
God’s Children
The term “Righteous Gentile” or “Righteous among the Nations” is used to name those non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust. The title is used informally as referring to anyone considered to be a savior of Jews, but it has an official role in the Israeli program of Holocaust remembrance, administered by Yad Vashem. The criteria established by Yad Vashem include the following: — “The rescuer ensured the survival of a Jew or Jews by extending aid to them when they were in danger of being killed or sent to a concentration camp; — The rescuer knew that he was risking his own life, freedom, and safety by acting to save the Jewish life; — The rescuer did not receive and did not expect any
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Also included were the host families themselves, who took the frightened children into their homes and showered them with affection, love, and patience. Tens of thousands of children survived the Holocaust by living under new identities for lengthy periods of time with adoptive parents, or in institutions, such as religious orphanages, many of these stories also appeared in the Hidden Child bulletins over the years. In the Eastern side of Europe “the Germans executed not only the people who sheltered Jews, but their entire family as well” (The Holocaust). Western Europe was much more lenient, but many of the righteous individuals were incarcerated in camps or murdered randomly here too. Anyone who assisted in helping Jews “lived under constant fear of being caught; there was always the danger of denunciation by neighbors or collaborators” (The Holocaust). Jews were hidden in rescuers’ homes and property, they were provided false papers and identities, and were smuggled out of ghettos and concentration camps. As the entire race of Jews was being destroyed, a trace of hope and strength arose as the Righteous Gentiles sheltered Jews from the whole world that was against them.
The Holocaust destroyed over six million Jews; half of the Jewish population disappeared. Honestly there is not a human act as brutal and fatal as the Holocaust that has happened in the
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