The Righteous Among the Nations: Rescuers of Jews During the Holocaust, by Mordecai Paldiel, is an extraordinary and poignant historical book.

Out of the over 20,000 individuals who have received the award and honor of being chosen as being deemed “Righteous Among the Nations”, Paldiel has chosen 200 of their biographies for his book.

“Each entry includes description of the contact; the aid extended; dangers and risk faced by the rescuer; motivation (eg, friendship, altruism, religious belief); and evidence from the rescued. These little–known stories offer a picture of the best of humanity in the worst of times.” From the Publisher’s website.

I have read the book, from the front cover to the back cover, and am still emotionally involved with all of the stories that these individuals have to tell. I still continue to peruse through the pages. That these individuals stepped up during the worst of times, and their fight for what they believed was right, their humanism, their own struggles and risks they took in order to help the Jews they rescued is an amazing testament to the courage and strength that each one of them bravely offered to humankind. When asked why, most of them reply that it was because they had to, plain and simple, and for no other reason. They will also often then ask you if you would do the same.

Excerpt:

Abbeloos, Antoine & Flore (Devos)

Belgium

“Majlek Traksbetryger was beside himself. The landlord of the apartment just leased by Majlek Traksbetryger refused to let him in when he found out that he was Jewish. It was August 17, 1942, and Traksbetryger had secretly left his home in Brussels when he received an order to report for deportation, renting the other apartment in Genval, some six miles south of the city. He was now left out on the street with all his possessions in two vans. At this point, the van operator came to the rescue, inviting Traksbetryger and his family into his home. The man was Antoine Abbeloos. His was a spur-of-the-moment decision, made right out there on the sidewalk.

The 50-year-old Traksbetryger and his wife, Esther, along with their three children, were quickly moved to the second floor of the Abbeloos home, then still under construction, in the Anderlecht section of Brussels. There the Traksbetryger family lived in hiding for about a year, after which they were helped to move to several different locations for their continued safety, until the country’s liberation in the fall of 1944. Their three children were sheltered at the home of Mrs. Abbeloos’s mother. All survived, even Georgette, the 16-year-old daughter of Majlek and Esther Traksbetryger, who, disregarding her benefactors’ instructions, slipped out one evening to go to the movies. She was recognized, arrested, and carted off to the Auschwitz concentration camp, which she luckily survived, and was reunited at the end of the war with the rest of her family, who had been saved by the Abbelooses.

Before the war, in the 1930s, Antoine Abbeloos had extended aid to refugees from Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, and with his van had driven the length of France to the Spanish border to convey materials and goods for the International Brigade in their struggle against the Fascist armies in the Spanish Civil War. Then, on June 22, 1941, the day of the German invasion of Russia, he was arrested and held in confinement for five months at the Breendonck prison. Flore, his wife, was also arrested and interrogated by the Gestapo for ten days, then released for lack of evidence. This did not diminish the couple’s resolve to continue helping people in distress, especially Jews on the run, despite the risk of a second arrest and more severe punishment.”

I recommend The Righteous Among the Nations to everyone, teenager, young adult or adult. The historical aspect is incredible, but the humanitarian aspect of the stories is priceless. One can’t put a price on the actions that each individual took to save a life. One can’t set a monetary value on the masterfully told stories and photographs within the pages. My highest praise goes to Mordecai Paldiel for creating such an overwhelming and historical book, filled with the essence of humankind.

I personally own and have read this book.

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Jew Wishes…Peace to you all.
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