Catholic Heroes of the Holocaust

Colombia University ^ | Elizabeth Altham

[big'ol_freeper]

Przemysl, Poland, 1944: Two SS men knock at the door of Stefania Podgorska, a Catholic seamstress. Her cottage is wanted for personnel of the field hospital across the street; she and her younger sister, Helena, have two hours to move out, on pain of death. The challenge of finding a new place to live is a bit stiffer than the SS men can imagine: Stefania, seventeen, is sheltering thirteen Jews in her little house.

She spends nearly two hours running from house to ruined house. After occupation by the Germans, the Soviets and the Germans again, there is nothing left that she could even make shift in. She returns home. Her guests beg her to escape with Helena, who is only seven.

Eva Fogelman, a psychotherapist whose father was rescued by Lithuanian Catholics, has written a splendid book about people who saved Jews, Conscience and Courage. In it she reports Stefania's own account of what happened next. Stefania asked her guests to pray with her. She knelt before a picture of Jesus and Mary.

"And I asked God not to let us be killed. Help, somehow. I cannot leave this apartment. I cannot leave thirteen people for a certain death. I will be alive if I go, but thirteen lives will be finished—children too, and young people. I asked God, 'Help, somehow.'

"And…I heard a voice, a woman's voice. It was so beautiful, so nice, so quiet. She said to me, 'Don't worry. Everything will be all right. You will not leave your apartment. You will stay here, and they will take only one room. Everything will be all right. I am with you.' And she told me, 'Be quiet. I'll tell you what to do.'

[Alex Murphy]

Excerpt from the Corrie Ten Boom Museum:

The Ten Boom family were devoted Christians who dedicated their lives in service to their fellow man. Their home was always an "open house" for anyone in need. Through the decades the Ten Booms were very active in social work in Haarlem, and their faith inspired them to serve the religious community and society at large.

During the Second World War, the Ten Boom home became a refuge, a hiding place, for fugitives and those hunted by the Nazis. By protecting these people, Casper and his daughters, Corrie and Betsie, risked their lives. This non-violent resistance against the Nazi-oppressors was the Ten Booms' way of living out their Christian faith. This faith led them to hide Jews, students who refused to cooperate with the Nazis, and members of the Dutch underground resistance movement.

During 1943 and into 1944, there were usually 6-7 people illegally living in this home: 4 Jews and 2 or 3 members of the Dutch underground. Additional refugees would stay with the Ten Booms for a few hours or a few days until another "safe house" could be located for them. Corrie became a ringleader within the network of the Haarlem underground. Corrie and "the Beje group" would search for courageous Dutch families who would take in refugees, and much of Corrie's time was spent caring for these people once they were in hiding. Through these activities, the Ten Boom family and their many friends saved the lives of an estimated 800 Jews, and protected many Dutch underground workers.

[PzLdr]

“The Red and the Black”: Gregory Peck as O’Flaherty, Christopher Plummer as Kappler. O’Flaherty also got Kappler’s family to Switzerland.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Year ago I read "Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed," the story of a Protestant Pastor André Trocmé and his wife Magda, who saved a whole lot of Jews in their little French village. Trocmé made a huge impression on me.

Another great book: The Rescuers, also about "righteous gentiles" who acted quickly --- and paid up personally ---to prevent the Nazis getting their claws into their Jewish neighbors.

One thing that particularly impressed me, is that they seemed to know almost instantly that they had to do something. There wasn't what you'd call a long "discernment process." Within minutes of grasping the peril, they'd decided to risk everything, risk their families even, to help people they knew only casually or, in some cases, total strangers.

That has to have been the fruit of a lifetime of "doing the right thing quickly."

Is this how we habitually act? Is this how we have trained our children?

[andysandmikesmom]

Thank you very much for the link to this very long, and very informative and enlightening article...I have skimmed it, reading bits here and there, and it has greatly aroused my interest...so I have bookmarked the entire article, and do plan to read it at my leisure, when I have some few hours to really read and contemplate and digest it all...

What I can see from my brief skimming of this article, is that there are countless stories of sheer bravery on the part of individuals who put their own safety, and their own lives on the line, to help others...those types of stories are always of great interest to me...

We can always read stories of how governments of different countries try to help others who are in sheer distress, and in constant danger...but it is the individual stories, of the individual people, the ‘ordinary’ people, who risk their lives to help others that interest me more...it is the ‘ordinary’ people, that often dont make it into the history books, they are largely unknown outside of their own area...and yet, the message they bring, is of the greatest importance...and that is, that even just one person, motivated, and acting upon the motivation, can have the greatest affect...often we hear people say, “but what can I do, I am just one person?”...this article you bring us, answers that question...One person, can do much..

Thanks so much for this inspiring article...

[Petronski]

860,000

[OpusatFR]

Corrie Ten Boom is one of my many favorites.

But you see, unlike some non-Catholics, I am able to give justice to rightous not of my faith.

[Mrs. Don-o]

As one who practiced “Ahavat Am Israel” and “Ahavat Torat Israel,” Pius XII is one of the most heroic figures of the 20th century.

[nw_arizona_granny]

Bump.

[mockingbyrd]

It’s actually The Scarlet and the Black, based upon the book The Scarlet Pimpernel of the Vatican.

[PzLdr]

Thanks for the Heads Up. You’re right.