Christian Rescue of Jews in Nazi-Occupied Poland  - Overview written by James Lehman

            Many people know the name Anne Frank, and many remember her story.  Fewer people know or remember anything about the Christian rescuers that protected and hid her.  In this text, Nechama Tec provides a framework for understanding the motivations of Christian rescuers in Poland during the Holocaust.  Mrs. Tec was one of the few fortunate Jews who survived World War II in Poland by passing as a Christian.  She is currently a professor of sociology at the University of Connecticut and is the winner of the 1990 Christopher Award.   The text is divided into two sections, the first part provides a detailed account of the rise of anti-Semitism in Poland and the second describes the motivation of Poles who risked their lives to save Jews in wartime Poland.[1]             

            Poland contained the largest community of Jews in Europe prior to World War II; however, the Polish Jews were the least assimilated.  Tec explained that they “looked,” dressed and behaved differently from Polish Christians.  Therefore, it was not difficult for a Pole to determine whether an individual was Jewish or not.  Prior to the Nazi invasion of Poland, anti-Semitism was ingrained in the Poles.  For example, the word “Jew” (Zyd) in the Polish language became interpreted as a derogatory term for many Poles.  Furthermore, in 1937 the Poland government showed interest in the Nazi Madagascar plan, which recommended the idea of moving all Jews to the island of Madagascar, located off of the south eastern coast of Africa.  Only when Germany attacked Poland in 1939 did common danger create a feeling of unity between Poles and Jews. 

            By 1941, practically all Polish Jews lived in separate communities known as ghettos.  At this point many Jews still believed the worse had already come and things would eventually get better.  Furthermore, the Nazi officials established a decree that demanded the death penalty for Jews who left their residences in the ghetto without permission.  Because of this, very few Jews gave serious thought to survival outside of the ghetto.  Nevertheless, as the pace of Jewish extermination increased, so did the desire and need to pass for and gain access to the Christian world.[2]  Jews who wished to escape would often try to obtain false documents that classified them as non-Jewish.  These documents were often purchased in the black market for a cost or were offered free of charge by underground organizations.  For those who did not have false documentation, survival depended on finding assistance in hiding.  For many Jews, hiding was the only option since a lot of them were unable to attain the proper documents or they had obvious cultural distinctions that would make it impossible for them to pass in the Christian world.  For example, many Jews could not speak Polish very well and those that did had strong accents. 

            Passing as a non-Jew in the Christian world was a very difficult task Jews.  Along with the difficulties of hiding cultural differences, Jews also had to fear the Polish people themselves.  Many Poles did not hesitate to turn in Jews to the Nazi’s.  Tec outlined several reasons why Poles volunteered to denounce and even help find Jews for the Nazis.  First of all, the Nazis offered money and rewards for anyone who denounced a Jew.  Secondly, turning in Jews became an imposed law in Poland after the Nazi occupation and finally, as mentioned earlier, many Poles were anti-Semitic and were thrilled to denounce Jews.  These difficulties faced by Jews made the assistance of Christian rescuers a vital component for their survival. 

            During the Nazi occupation of Poland, Poles had to put their lives at risk in order to help Jews.  Poland was the only country with an automatic death sentence for the slightest assistance to Jews and many Poles would lose their lives in their quest to aid Jews.  An estimated 1-2 million Poles were killed during the Nazi occupation.  By helping Jews, Poles had the overcome the Nazi law of prohibiting the assistance of Jews and also the pervasive anti-Semitism which made the act of rescue/help shunned upon by many Poles. 

            What was the motivation of these Poles who risked their lives and everything they had to rescue Jews?  In this book, Mrs. Tec examines personal interviews, published accounts and unpublished testimonies in order to provide a new understanding of the heroism of Poles who risked everything to save Jews who were in dire need of help/assistance/rescue.  One common motivation mentioned by Mrs. Tec was money.  Many Poles saved Jews solely for financial gain.  These motivations often led to poor treatment of Jews, which led to starvation, robbery and demands for more money.  Some of these Poles went as far as murdering the Jews they were hiding because they feared the repercussions from the Nazis.  Therefore, Mrs. Tec dismissed paid help from classification of rescue and states that, “paid help was undeniably and consistently different from rescue.” 

            Disregarding paid help, the author examines the motivation of rescuers who saved the lives of Jews without external motivations.  She first looked at the influence class and politics had on Jewish rescue and concluded that intellectuals were more apt to rescue Jews versus the middle class and peasants, but overall, class still seemed to be a weak predictor of rescue.  Mrs. Tec also examines motivations including friendship and religion but found that they still did not fully explain the motivations and reasoning of why courageous Poles would risk their lives to save Jews. 

            In the last two chapters Mrs. Tec provides a new theory of rescue and rescuers.  She sees altruism and more specifically, autonomous altruism as a factor why Poles rescued Jews.  Autonomous altruism refers to selfless help, which is neither reinforced nor rewarded by society, while normative altruism refers to helping behavior demanded, supported, and rewarded by society.

The author goes onto describe some key characteristics of the autonomous altruistic rescuers.  First, they were individualistic; they did not blend in with the environment and were at best only loosely integrated into their communities, which allowed them to follow their own moral imperatives.  Second, the rescuers had a high level of independence and self-reliance that allowed individuals to pursue personal goals.  Third, they had an enduring, strong commitment to help the needy.  Many of the rescuers that were interviewed had helped people in need prior to and after the Holocaust.  The rescuers also saw rescue as a duty, which explains why many of them did not see their protection of Jews as heroic or extraordinary.  Last of all, the rescuers had an unplanned beginning to rescue efforts and a universalistic perception of the needy. 

            According to Tec, these characteristics are ones that she found in most of the rescuers that risked their lives to save Jews without pay.  She stated that helping behavior was a part of the courageous rescuers’ lives.  For Jews, failure to locate helpful Poles effectively eliminated their chances of survival, while for the Poles, refusal to shield Jews would have removed a serious threat to their lives.  Therefore, the actions of Poles who rescued Jews during the Holocaust are important to recognize.  The Yad Vashem, which pays tribute to Christians who saved Jews without the motivation of money, has honored 5,742 rescuers. 

For the Educator

This would be a great book to use in a classroom because it provides historical content about the Holocaust, along with detailed accounts of how individuals stepped outside the boundaries of society during a time of cruelty and barbarism to help their fellow country men and women.  The introduction and the first chapter provide a good historical background of Jews in Poland prior to World War II.  For example: Prior to the war,   

Poland had the highest concentration of Jews.  They made up 10 percent of the country’s population.  As the largest community of Jews in Europe, Polish Jews were also the least assimilated.  They looked, dressed, and behaved differently from Polish Christians…because Jews were barred from ownership of land, most of them had to become merchants, artisans and professionals…The rising class of Christian merchants objected to their Jewish competition…and with time religious and economic anti-Semitism found an ally in political anti-Semitism (12-13).   

A rather disturbing part of the book is when Tec describes how many Poles would willingly turn Jews in to the Nazis.  Even though it is disturbing, it is still worth examining to show students the horrendous things that can take place when prejudice, bigotry, and hatred remain unchecked.  For example, a prominent Polish doctor explained:    

In general towards the Jews there exists some wild animal-like response.  A certain psychosis took hold of the Polish people, who by following the example of the Germans do not see a human being in the Jews.  Instead, they perceive the Jews as dangerous and threatening animals; creatures which ought to be exterminated in any way possible just like one needs to exterminate rats with pesticide (41). 

Along with describing the horrible acts performed by the Polish people, it is crucial to tell the stories of people who risked their lives to save Jews.  This can help students to learn how people with courage can overcome prejudice, bigotry, and hatred in any situation.  The following are several accounts of what motivated some of the Christian rescuers to save lives of Jews.

I have to be at peace with myself, what others think about me is not important.  It is my own conscience that I must please and not the opinion of others…Public opinion is fickle, it depends on the way the wind blows…at one point during the war I had to decide whether to follow my conscience or save myself.  One day, Adas, the Jewish man who stayed with me, left and did not return…he was taken to the police station…I was advised to run away but I could not follow the advise of the others.  Instead, I went to the police station.  They wanted a large sum of money which I managed to get…When I got Adas from the clutches of the police, I felt so light it was as if I had wings.  I felt so gratified; I knew I acted correctly and that I had no reason to be ashamed of myself (162).

By saving the Jewish girl I simply did my duty.  What I did was everybody’s duty.  Saving the one whose life is in jeopardy is a simple human duty.  One has to help another regardless of who this human being is as long as he is in need, that is all that counts (165). 

There are also several valuable primary sources in the text.  Pages 16 and 17 provide several propaganda leaflets that were used to spread anti-Semitism in Poland prior to World War II.  The intent of both leaflets was to denounce Poles who purchased goods from Jews.  There are also valuable primary source materials on page 110-111.  This document is a protest released by the Font for the Rebirth of Poland.  It describes the atrocities taking place behind the wall of the ghettos and also calls on the conscience of Christians to take action against the Nazis. 

            This would be a great text to use in a classroom, particularly in a classroom that is examining the Holocaust and/or moral obligations of humanity.  According to the Fry readability analysis, the text reads at an 11^th to 12^th grade reading level.