Book Notes: The Righteous, Unsung Heroes of The Holocaust by Martin Gilbert

The Righteous: The Unsung Heroes of The Holocaust is a profoundly moving, indeed unforgettable book; but also a rather unusual one. Martin Gilbert is a historian of some repute, his studies of The Holocaust being widely lauded and indeed sold at places as important as the Memorial to The Murdered European Jews in central Berlin. His study entitled "Auschwitz and The Allies" is a brilliant work, examining the Nazis attempt to keep their 'final solution' secret, how news was leaked out; in order to answer the questions. "who knew what, when?" and "did they respond appropriately?" He finds that the Allies were hamstrung with lack of reliable information for much of the war, but could have done more to prevent the later deportations especially from Hungary; but that their sole objective at that stage was winning the war. (review here). "The Righteous" is completely different however, not just in terms of subject material - but also in terms of what the book sets out to accomplish. While 'Auschwitz and The Allies' was a book of sustained analysis, reason and argument; The Righteous, is more a collection of stories - more of a select archive than a history book. There is almost no analysis at all, other than some musings in the postscript. The vast bulk of the book is not even arranged chronologically or thematically, but geographically, all the stories from each nation being grouped together.

Describing the book in such terms is not however a criticism. Most of these stories simply stand on their own merits, and require very little explanation, but very careful recording and re-telling. The subject of the book, is the stories of those who helped hide Jews from the Nazis during the early 1940s; both in Germany-Austria. and in the many nations they occupied during WWII. Story after story,  painstakingly collected from survivors and curated at the Yad Vashem, of how ordinary people across Europe risked their lives to save the innocent from deportation to slavery and murder are recounted here.

Some of the images form the book are forever impressed on my mind. The Polish youngsters carrying food through the trees to a Jewish family hiding in the woods, to avoid leaving footprints in the snow which would alert the occupying SS; the Catholic Priest in Galicia forging Baptismal certificates to hide Jewish children in his church and convince the Nazis that they were Catholic orphans; the non-Jewish women marching in Berlin against the deportation of their Jewish husbands, the Dutch family with Jewish people concealed in their houses; the mass resistance to Nazi anti-Semitism in Hungary and Italy.. the British POW buying dead bodies and recycling their identities to Jews who escaped from the death camps. The stories and images go on and on and on; with countless unknowns alongside the Oscar Shindler's risking everything to save the innocent from evil. 

Of course, there are many tales which end happily; "She survived the war, and died in Chicago in 1978", or "now lives in Israel". There are of course many heart-rending stories where some brave, defiant person evaded capture for years; but was  betrayed, "sent to Sobibor and murdered upon arrival". Likewise, there are wonderful stories of Jewish people who survived and were re-united with those who saved them many years later, to recall the tales of digging secret shelters under barns, or concealed rooms in attic spaces. Again, there are dreadful stories of families who were summarily executed by the Nazis for their assistance in sheltering Jews from their 'actions'. Different people explained their motivations in different ways, most of them seeking to live out their core principles despite obvious and ghastly dangers; whether they were Catholics, Calvinists, Humanists, Nationalists, Communists, Lutherans, or in Albania, a Muslim. What united them was an overriding sense that there was no real decision to be made - as it was simply the right thing to do. Many of these have been designated as "Righteous Among the Nations" by the Yad Vashem in Jerusalem.

Reading this book is a painful business. Each chapter details acts of incredible bravery, courage, and ingenuity - all of which was required because of the all pervasive evil of Nazism. Cases of individuals, families, groups, or even huge numbers being saved from the violent murderers of the SS fill every chapter and such rescues are hugely uplifting to read. Yet - each chapter contains sorry statistics revealing what a tiny proportion of the whole were saved by these massive, and risky efforts.

Reading this book is then a doubly painful business. It becomes clear that the Nazi obsession with exterminating Jewish people was what humanity looks like when stripped of all decency, accountability, empathy, normality and is infected with an evil ideology. That we are all part of this species which is capable of such barbarity, that we do not come into this world with some kind of immunity from such darkness is perplexing and disturbing. It was Primo Levi, an Auschwitz survivor who wrote, "It happened, therefore it could happen again". It occurred to me repeatedly a I read the book that the Nazi's were devoid not just of normal humanity, or morality; but also of any sense. The mass of resources and manpower they must have consumed pursuing the Final Solution, which was diverted from their efforts to win WWII, was staggering. That the power of hatred can become so all consuming makes for grim contemplation.

Then this book is trebly disturbing. Every story of a family taking a Jewish refugee in, of lying to the Gestapo, of passing food into ghettos, of smuggling children over borders is both gloriously uplifting, and exciting. That there was some light even in such darkness is liberating. Yet, as Gilbert says in the his afterword, the reader inevitably and constantly asks themselves, "What would I have done in that circumstance?" Would my door have been open? Would I have risked all to do what as right? Would I have asked them to go elsewhere, because I feared for my family? Would I have stood with a few refugees against the sadistic might of the Nazi Empire? Obviously I do not know the answer, as I have never actually been in that position. But I am haunted by the thought that I might have been a coward, might have been simply paralysed with fear and done nothing. Obviously it is foolish to give oneself a guilt-trip over a hypothetical scenario, but I stand somewhat in awe of those who did what was right, what was so hard to do; and saved  many; but worry that if we ever find ourselves in such days again, I might not have the strength they did.