Saved nothing? He put himself in the line of fire, so to speak (and directly), and tried to make it so others could get free. And many DID get free.
He is a hero for this. You don’t need a weapon or to actually injure someone to be a hero. Sometimes it doesn’t happen that way; sometimes it’s more passive but you still put yourself in harm’s way and saved people.
He knew he had lived a good life and his time was ending, and decided to save 20-30 young people so they could enjoy the same freedoms he did when he escaped the Nazis in WWII