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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A must read about the Holocaust, January 3, 2002
The biography, Rescue: The Story of How Gentiles Saved Jews in the Holocaust by Milton Meltzer, reflects on the people and events that are not usually thought of with the topic of the Holocaust. In the book, the Gentiles prove to be convincing heroes because they go out of their way and risk their lives to help others, which they are taught to hate. This book is a worthwhile read because the heroic deeds of the Gentiles are well explained, and the author sparks the interest of the reader to learn more about each Gentile's story. The Gentiles are heroes because they go above and beyond what is expected in everyday life. They protected the Jews because they believe it is the right thing to do, regardless of what they are taught by the anti-Semitists. For example, a student, Marion Pritchard, witnesses the brutality by the Germans to Jewish children, while she is riding her bike down the road. This disturbing incident shocks her into wanting to do as much as she could to help them and stop this cruelty. "Crying with rage, she just sat there on her bicycle and at that moment decided she would do anything she could to stop such atrocities." (p.140). By choosing to do this, she puts herself in danger and alters the course of her life. The author says that the Gentiles even help strangers; this is not an unusual characteristic of heroes since they tend to be selfless, and do not distinguish between the people they help. In Poland, a woman, Elizabeth Przewlocka, grabs a Jewish boy before he is about to be deported. She hid him until she could find an orphanage for him. "Elizabeth Przewlocka, snatched a Jewish child she didn't know while the Nazi guard wasn't looking." (p.32). The author gives several examples of this throughout the book. Milton Meltzer successfully paints a vivid picture of the activities taking place. This makes the reader feel like they are physically seeing the story unfold. The author, Milton Meltzer, writes the story of the Gentiles in an intriguing way. He gives the reader informative stories about many different Gentiles who assisted the Jews during the Holocaust. He also makes connections between different places and periods of time when the Holocaust was taking place. For example, Adolf Eichman, a German Nazi bureaucrat, is described in a few places throughout the book. First, his background is explained, and then later in the book, some of the horrible things he planned for the Jews. These include in Budapest with his goals of destroying every Jew possible, and the deportation of families in Holland, like Anne Frank's. "Adolf Eichmann prepared a plan to round up the Jews in Budapest, the capital." (p.106), "Anne was sent to Auschwitz in the last deportation of Dutch Jews organized by Eichmann." (p. 134). Also, the book and its events are connected, even from chapter to chapter, so that all the stories flow smoothly. For example, chapter six is about Le Chambon and Andre Trocme, "That `dangerous, difficult Trocme,' as he had been called by his national church, had made goodness happen in Le Chambon." (p.87), and leads into the next chapter, which is about Denmark and Sweden, "In the village of Le Chambon all the people came together to save the lives of thousands of Jews. In the country of Denmark another spectacular act of human solidarity took place." (p.89). This makes the book easy to follow and understand. To get an even fuller understanding of where each of the rescues is taken place, there are maps at the beginning of each chapter. There is also an index in the back of the book to find specific events or people, which are mentioned throughout the biography. Milton Meltzer leaves readers with questions to think about, "Would I, could I, we wonder, stand up for the persecuted and the helpless? Would I risk so much? Would I care that much?". (p.156). This book is a must read because it gives a different view of the Holocaust, from the heroic people who help rather than the ruthless ones who kill. The book is particularly suitable for people with little knowledge of the Holocaust. It is written for people with interest in the Holocaust, but without emphasize on the gruesome details. This biography shows that there are many ways in which people show their heroism.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
HEROES OF THE HOLOCAUST, January 4, 2002
When you think of the word "Holocaust", a horrific image of Hitlers Nazis persecuting Jews for their faith comes to mind. This, of course, was the case in Nazi-controlled Europe during the forties, however, Milton Meltzers Rescue: The Story of How Gentiles Saved the Jews in the Holocaust offers a new light to such a dark topic. The Nazi attempt to "eliminate", or murder, all of Europes "impure" citizens killed six million Jews. While, yes, many groups worked to eliminate those of the Jewish faith, others found this destruction morally wrong and put their efforts towards saving the persecuted. These wonderful humans, many of them unknown, sacrificed their comfort, safety, and even their own lives to rescue those stricken by the Nazi hand. The book takes you on a journey through Europe, showing the rescue efforts of Poland, Germany, Italy, Holland, France, Denmark, Russia, and other nations gentiles. Excellently written yet understandable this book is, for the most part, interesting. This touching book is a wonderful reading experience for everyone. From risky and daring rescues to merely sharing a piece of bread, the heroes of the Holocaust got the Jews through the tragic time. Meltzers down-to-earth and comprehensive story-telling technique makes the many tales featured in this book engrossing and very realistic. The stories give a rescue perspective for nations throughout Europe. In Poland, aiding the Jews was an extremely difficult and dangerous endeavor. As the book points out, "in scarcely three weeks.the Nazis had Poland in an iron grip". In addition, the Jews really stuck out from the Christians, were different from them in many aspects. These harsh circumstances didnt keep some Polish Christians from sheltering and hiding Jews, taking them in as their own. The "sin" of hiding a Jew was punishable by torture and death, and not just for the offender, but for the heros entire community. Even in Germany itself, all was not lost for the Jews. One of the German saviors, Oskar Schindler, saved many Jews by concealing them in a factory he pretended to run. He even saved Jews already located in Auschwitz, one of the worst death camps. Danish gentiles managed to rescue Jews from execution by guiding them on a dangerous sea voyage to neutral Sweden. If you Want to hear of more heroic acts from these and other nations, read the book! The stories in Meltzers book not only penetrate the brain with factual information, they also reach the reader on a deep emotional level. The tales include one of two lovers of different religions sacrificing a safe and comfortable life to conceal themselves and their baby, a young girl brought up to despise Jews who risked her life to safe a Jewish woman tangled in wires and then moved her family around the country to conceal the woman, and catholic priests and nuns who hid dozens of Jews in their churches. Most of the gentile heroes who saved the Jews went without fame and fortune, they were true heroes who did their deeds purely out of the goodness of their hearts. They were able to put aside the differences they had with the Jews and recognize only the fact that the Jewish were human being who were suffering and needed a rescue. To tell the true Holocaust story, Meltzer spares none of the tragic details of this horrific time, so if you are looking for a fun, light read, this is not the book for you. However, this book is an excellent learning tool for people of any age to truly understand both the pain and the heroics of the Holocaust. When the book is closed, the reader is left with a strong sense of pride for the heroes of our world and a hopeful message that there is always light in the darkness, and human goodness will always survive.
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11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Heros of the Holocaust, January 4, 2002
A gentile is defined as one who helped many innocent Jewish people during the time period when Nazi power took over during the Holocaust. Rescue the novel written by Milton Meltzer is a touching story of how many brave gentiles tried to save the lives of those who were looked down apon, such as the Jews during the Holocaust. Many of the gentiles took the Jews into their homes, at risk they may too be caught. These gentiles spent much money and time on hiding these Jews. These gentiles exceeded the meaning of a hero. Through the book I got a personal understanding of how heroic these people were, and at how much they put themselves at risk. The book was extraordinary and helped the reader understand much of what was going on in the lives of the people who weren't Jewish, and how much they really did try to do to help their Jewish friends and neighbors. I feel this book was worth while reading, and I really enjoyed this piece of literature. The theme of a hero is seen throughout the novel in various ways. The story takes its position at the beginning of the book explaining to the reader the start of the Holocaust and how it came to be. As the reader reads further on the author starts to discuss the significance of the many people who helped save lives during this harrowing time. The first hero that is introduced to us in the book is Maria von Maltzen. Maria took in Hans Hirschel. Hirschel was a forty year old Jew who went into hiding in 1942. Hans called Maria, Marushka. Marushka was a countess whom loved Germany but despised the Nazis. Soon to prove she greatly opposed what the Nazi's were doing she met up with Hans and took him into her flat. Marushka and Hans suffered many times through out the book, but Marushka kept her head high during all the tragic events. This act of courage demonstrated that these gentiles were indeed heroes and that they put themselves at risk. Another section in the story that an act of courage is demonstrated is in the story of Carola Sapetowa, a Christian villager. Carola worked for a Jewish family by the name of the Hochheiser's. When the Nazi's invaded Poland Mr. Hochheiser was shot, his wife and children were placed in a ghetto. When the day came and that ghetto was being emptied and its prisoners were being taken to the concentration camps, Carola waited outside of the ghetto gate and took the two Jewish children, whom she had earlier on worked for home with her. There she fed them and gave them a place to stay. This act of courage once again portrays the kindness of these gentiles and the heart they had to move on in life and help those around them. One of the most successful families of all was the Dane family. The Danes all in all transferred 8,000 Jews across to Sweden to safety. The Dane's successfully accomplished this by out smarting the Nazi's at their expense. If a gentile were ever caught he would be killed in the public or just shot right when the Gestapo men had found Jews in hiding. The Dane family put much at risk to save these Jew's but never once lost hope. They were determined they could over come the evil and help save innocent people. This act will forever be remembered. The tragedy that this novel showed to us must never happen again and these many gentiles were here to prove that they didn't accept what was going on, and that they would do anything to stop it. I feel that this novel was very persuasive. It used many literary techniques to help the reader comprehend what was going on. The novel gave back round information and used first hand documents to describe one of the worlds most unforgettable time periods. This book adequately prepared the reader in the beginning about what this book was going to be about and didn't allow the reader to enter the book blindly. This book was excellent I recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a touching story. The book is open to all audiences and the language is used in an appropriate manner to express its point. The book was marvelous and really got one to understand the true meaning of the gentiles.
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