Those Who Risked Their Lives

“Marked by our star and by our faith,
Thus our fate has been ennobled.
The One who saved the lives of thousands
is silent…

I shout in his place.”

When came to power in 1933, Adolph Hitler believed that pure German people were a master race and should rule the world. They believed that Slavic, African, Gypsies, and especially Jewish people interfered with the German’s plan. He called his plan “The Final Solution to the Jewish Question”.

Hitler began a campaign to rid all of Europe of Jews. In 1935 he rid German Jews of their German citizenship. By 1938 over 1000 synagogues were burned, Jewish businesses ruined, and 30,000 Jews arrested. Jews all over Europe were in danger of prosecution. Germans took Jews from their homes and moved them into poor sections of the city enclosed by walls that Jews were forced to build themselves, called ghettos. Living conditions in the ghettos were horrible, as there were too many people living in a small area with not enough food. All Jews in ghettos were forced to wear a yellow star to show that they were Jews.

Some people that were against Antisemitism started rescuing Jews that were not in a ghetto and helping others survive or escape from ghettos. By doing this they put themselves and their family in danger. If someone had found out they would be prosecuted immediately. These people are true heroes of the horrible times of the Holocaust. All people that rescued Jews had received the Righteous Among the Nations medal from Israel, and their names are listed on the wall of remembrance in Israel as well.

Denmark was a small, serene country. In 1940 there were about 8,000 Danish Jews living there. The Dutch laws protected Jews from discrimination of any kind. All this changed on April 9, 1940 when the Nazis attacked Denmark.

Denmark didn’t have too many weapons to fight back the Germans therefore it was conquered almost instantly. All Danish Jews were forced to wear the yellow star to show they were Jewish. The Dutch government protested against this vindictive rule. It was against the laws of Denmark to single out a person or group of people.

The king of Denmark commanded to ship all the Jews to safety out of the Nazi’s reach. Fishermen transported about 7,200 Jews in small boats across the sea to safety in Sweden. Denmark had the highest Jewish survival rate in all of Europe and Asia. It was also the only nation that came together as a union to protect its Jewish population.