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Ruthie Bowen
Mr. Hawkins
World History-P, Period 4
8 April 2016
Rescue Stories of Jews
During The Holocaust many different ethnic groups were persecuted for their race. Some
of the different victims were Jehovah Witnesses, Roma Gypsies, disabled people, homosexuals,
and many more. The race that was discriminated and received the worst punishment was the
Jews. The treatment was inhumane, horrific, and depressing for the victims. Jews were forced to
reside in Ghettos, poor areas of a city with barbed wire or walls surrounding them. Many Jews
died because of the malnourishment, famine, and over-crowded area. Despite the fact over
eleven million people were killed during this tragic period of time, there were a few special
people that risked their lives for the victims; Oskar Schindler, Irena Sendler, and Raoul
Wallenberg.
Oskar Schindler was a Nazi member, Sudeten German industrialist, and was
accounted for saving over 11,000 Jews during the Holocaust (Website 1). Now it may sound
strange that he was a Nazi saving jews, but he did it out of compassion and what he saw was
happening. He protected over a thousand Jewish workers employed there from deportation
to the Auschwitz concentration camp and the deportation of more than 11,000 Jews from
Bulgarian-occupied Thrace, Macedonia, and Pirot to Treblinka in March 1943 by the
Bulgarian military and police authorities shocked and shamed key political, intellectual,
and religious figures in Bulgaria into an open protest against any deportations from
Bulgaria proper (Website 1). Majority of people didnt want anyone to save or the help the

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jews in any way. Only a select amount of people did and Schindler was a huge contributor.
Schindler along with many people risked their lives to save others which is remarkable and
astonishing. Then, the protest action, which included members of the government's own
ruling party, induced the Bulgarian King, Boris III, to reverse the decision of his
government to comply with the German request to deport the Jews of Bulgaria (Website
1). After this, Jews were still treated horribly and some were saved because of the decision the
King made. Schindler took over an enamelware factory located outside the Krakow ghetto
in German-occupied Poland and protected over a thousand Jewish workers employed
there from deportation to the Auschwitz concentration camp (Website 1). At first, he was
all about making money and slaving the Jews. Then he came to a realization of what was actually
occurring in the big picture, many Jews were persecuted, beaten, and burnt to death. His
gratitude and compassionate character saved many generations. Since rescuing and saving the
Jews was very difficult, Schindler persuaded the SS to convert Emalia into a sub camp of
Plaszow (Website 1). There were approximately 1,000 Jewish forced laborers registered
as factory workers and he permitted 450 Jews working in other nearby factories to live at
Emalia as well, saving them from the systematic brutality and arbitrary murder that was
part of daily life in Plaszow(Website 1). Saving the Jews wasnt easy for Schindler though,
he was arrested three times, while he owned Emalia, but were unable to charge him
(Website 1). Then in October of 1944, after the SS transferred the Emalia Jews to Plaszow,
Schindler sought and obtained authorization to relocate his plant to Brnnlitz (Brnenec) in
Moravia, and reopen it exclusively as an armaments factory (Website 1). His accountant,
Itzhak Stern, drew several versions of a list of up to 1,200 Jewish prisoners needed to work
in the new factory (Website 1). Then these lists came to be known collectively as

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Schindler's List and Schindler met the specifications required by the SS to classify
Brnnlitz as a subcamp of Gross-Rosen concentration camp and thereby facilitated the
survival of around 800 Jewish men whom the SS deported from Plaszow via Gross-Rosen
to Brnnlitz and between 300 and 400 Jewish women from Plaszow via
Auschwitz(Website 1). Schindler was a great man who went through many obstacles to save
the Jews from the horrors and brutality of conventional camp life (Website 1). Without his
great leadership and benevolence, many people wouldnt be here today. Not only did Schindler
contribute to the rescue of Jews, but Irena Sendler did too.
Irena Sendler was a social worker who was employed by the Welfare Department of
the Warsaw municipality (Website 2). She took advantage of her job in order to help the
Jews, however this became practically impossible once the ghetto was sealed off in
November 1940 (Website 2). Once the ghetto was sealed off, the Jews couldnt leave, but more
could enter. As mentioned earlier, the ghettos were horrific and depressing. They were sealed off
with guards surrounding them and making sure no one left. Most died or suffered greatly because
of the poor hygienic conditions in the crowded ghetto, the lack of food and medical
supplies resulted in epidemics and high death rates (Website 2). Sendler refused to let the
Jews suffer and managed to obtain a permit from the municipality that enabled her to
enter the ghetto to inspect the sanitary conditions (Website 2). After she got into the ghetto,
she established contact with activists of the Jewish welfare organization and began to help
them by smuggling Jews out of the ghetto to the Aryan side and helped set up hiding
places for them (Website 2).Then the Council for Aid to Jews (Zegota) was established
and she became one of its main activists (Website 2). Once this council was made in fall of
the year 1942, after 280,000 Jews were deported from Warsaw to Treblinka it then began

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to function towards the end of the year, most of the Jews of Warsaw had been killed
(Website 2). This special organization helped thousands of Jews in many ways from medically to
a place to stay. Once the Warsaw ghetto was gone and destroyed, Sendler was appointed
director of Zegotas Department for the Care of Jewish Children (Website 2). Her
underground name was Jolanta and she exploited her contacts with orphanages and
institutes for abandoned children, to send Jewish children there (Website 2). There were
many children, the number is unknown, that were sent to the Rodzina Marii (Family of
Mary) Orphanage in Warsaw, and to religious institutions run by nuns in nearby
Chotomw, and in Turkowice, near Lublin (Website 2). Just like Schindler, saving the Jews
wasnt easy for her either. She was arrested, yet still managed to stash away incriminating
evidence such as the coded addresses of children in the care of Zegota and large sums of
money to pay to those who helped Jews (Website 2). Then she was sentenced to death and
sent to the infamous Pawiak prison but, underground activists managed to bribe officials
to release her (Website 2). Despite the obstacles she went through, once she was out of prison
she still continued her underground activities but because of the danger she had to go
into hiding(Website 2). Sendler was a remarkable women who fought and protected the Jews.
She risked her life and even when she got out of prison, she still fought for them. Irena Sendler
was a very compassionate and caring women who was an essential component in rescuing Jews
during the Holocaust. Sendler was recognized for rescuing the Jews along with Raoul
Wallenberg.
Raoul Wallenberg was Swedish humanitarian, businessman, and architect. He was known
for launching a rescue operation to save Jews from being deported to the death camps
(Website 3). During this time, the Swedish legation in Budapest reported that they were

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under enormous pressure of Jews seeking protection in the form of passports or visas
(Website 3). Then Wallenberg was selected to be a secretary in the Swedish Embassy in
Budapest with full diplomatic privileges (Website 3). The businessman that he was, in the
early 1940s he made several business trips to Nazi occupied countries, including Hungary
which made him become a witness to Nazi Germanys policies (Website 3). He saw what
the Nazis were doing to the Jews and didnt like it. He saw a problem he needed to fix after
watching how the Nazis treated the Jews. As a solution to the problem he saw that was
occurring, he arrived in the Hungarian capital on 9 July 1944 with a list of Jews whom he
was to help and 650 protective passports for Jews who had some connection with
Sweden(Website 3). Then he expanded his work and began to issue thousands of protective
letters and to purchase houses which he put under the Swedish flag thus making them exterritorial, and where he housed Jews for extra protection (Website 3). The letters
authorized its holder to travel to Sweden or to any of the other country Sweden
represented and about 4,500 Jews had these papers, which protected them from forced
labor and exempted them from wearing the yellow star (Website 3). Unfortunately, the
situation in Budapest took a turn for the worse and although the Red Army was already
approaching, the fascist Arrow Cross seized power and established a reign of terror
(Website 3). Jews were still prosecuted, starving, burned, and mistreated. Wallenberg was very
smart and efficient with his idea of the protective papers because the number of them greatly
increased. He used unconventional methods, including bribery and blackmail, in order to
finance and run his huge rescue operation and soon employed approximately 340 people
in his office (Website 3). He helped many Jews in fact, he began to issue protective papers
without distinction, and had 32 buildings protected by Sweden, with 2 hospitals, and a soup

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kitchen (Website 3). His drive to help the Jews was astonishing and remarkable. When the
death marches were going on, Wallenberg and other representatives followed the marchers in
their vehicles, and distributed food, clothing and medications (Website 3). Even when was
threatened with guns by Arrow Cross guards, he still continued his service in aiding the Jews. He
never thought of stopping or ending his efforts on helping the Jews even when he felt he was in
danger. Wallenberg went missing after as taken away by Russian soldiers supposedly to meet
with the top Soviet general Malinovsky (Website 3). With all his dedication and efforts on
helping the disliked Jews, he was awarded honorary Israeli citizenship and honorary
American citizenship by the United States Congress (Website 3). Wallenberg was a very
special person to the rescue of the Jews during the Holocaust because he continuously helped the
Jews no matter the circumstance. Raoul Wallenberg was a great contributor to the rescue of the
Jews and will always be remembered for his great accomplishments.
The Holocaust was a very horrific and gruesome period of time when the Jews were
mistreated and killed. There was a significant amount of people that attempted and tried to save
them, but not enough. Three main people that did a remarkable and impressive outreach to save
the Jews were: Oskar Schindler, Irena Sendler, and Raoul Wallenberg. Without them, many
people would have suffered from the inhumane and awful treatment. It just takes one person to
be brave and compassionate to save one person. These special people went out of their way and
even to prison to save the Jews. After prison they still continued to help save them. Now if this
doesnt show their humble and selfless demeanor, then Im not sure what does. This period of
time is a depressing part of history and these special rescuers did their best to save as many
people as they could. They all will remembered for their service of aiding in the Jews during The
Holocaust.

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