"JEWISH TRAITS"

A wide variety of groups comprise world Jewry, each with physical traits ranging from blond-hair to black skin. Despite this diversity, there were unique characteristics that frequently betrayed a person of Jewish origin, particularly in Eastern Europe where the Jews were less assimilated than in Western Europe.

Rescuers found it dangerous to help Jews "pass" as Christians if the Jews possessed stereotypical "Jewish looks." For example, red hair was a telltale sign of Jewish ancestry. And few Hasidic Jews, with their long beards and earlocks, survived.

Little habits, almost unnoticeable, gave the Jews away. In Poland, where the majority of Jews spoke Yiddish as their first language, the wrong Polish accent, or a typical Yiddish phrase translated into Polish, was enough to betray a person as Jewish. Drinking vodka was a Polish habit, but not a Jewish one. If a "passing" Jew did not accept a drink, he might arouse suspicion. Jews appeared to have a facility with language which Poles lacked. The ability to pick up the German language quickly was perceived as a Jewish trait, often leading to dire consequences.

It was frequently difficult for "passing" Jews to hide their sadness. Their world had been uprooted, their families destroyed. Even though Poles also suffered, a mournful expression was seen as particularly Jewish. Eyes betrayed the inner sadness. The "passing" Jew had to avoid what became known as "Jewish eyes."

Miriam Peleg-Marianska, a Jewish woman who had blue eyes and blond hair, often travelled by train in her work for Zegota. Her typically "Aryan" features gave her a sense of confidence and security, but the Jewish tragedy took its toil. "My ability to hide my despair," she wrote, "was failing me. I noticed that people were looking at me with interest on tram journeys and it made me nervous: This was dangerous."

The practice of circumcision was largely restricted to Jews prior to World War II, consequently making it easy for Nazis to identify Jewish men. As Miriam Peleg-Marianska has said, "Men carried their death sentence with them, ready for inspection."

"ARYAN PAPERS"

Essential for a Jew "passing" as a Christian was a complete set of documents, including a birth certificate, a ration card, a work card, a residence card, a travel permit, etc. All of these documents had to forged by an expert in the field, but if a Jew had "Jewish features," the best documents were of little value. These conditions made it hazardous for rescuers to conceal the identity of Jews they might take into their homes.

One of Zegota's tasks was supplying illegal documents to Jews. By the time Zegota began its operations, however, the majority of Polish Jewry was already dead.

THE ALTRUISTICALLY INCLINED:
SCHOLARLY INTERPRETATIONS

"The Jews were abandoned by governments, by church hierarchies, by existing societal structures. But they were not abandoned by all of humanity . . . There were thousands upon thousands of people in Europe who risked their life for the Jews. They were priests, nuns, workers, peasants, enlightened ones, simpletons, from all walks of life. They were good people, very simply. We have more good people than probably we think we have in humanity."

--Jan Karski, a Righteous Gentile

This section draws on the writings of two scholars who have studied the Righteous Gentiles for insight into the behavior of the altruistically inclined. Who were the rescuers? What was their background?

Tadeusz Pankiewicz, the Polish pharmacist in the Krakow ghetto, said, "Not everybody is born a genius, not everybody is a hero."

The section should be read with Oskar Schindler in mind. What applies to him? What does not?

NECHAMA TEC

Nechama Tec, born in Lublin, Poland, in 1931, survived the Second World War "passing" as a Christian girl with the help of those she describes as "decent" Poles. Their "main motivation," she writes, "was money; only with time did bonds of affection develop between us."

Today, Tec is professor of sociology at Connecticut University and author of several books about the Holocaust, including her autobiographical account of surviving the Nazis in Poland, Dry Tears: The Story of a Lost Childhood, and her study of Righteous Gentiles, When Light Pierced the Darkness: Christian Rescue of Jews in Nazi-Occupied Poland.

Tec's conclusions are based upon her study of Righteous Gentiles in Nazi-occupied Poland. In this land, for almost a thousand years, Poles and Jews had lived side by side one another, but at a distance; they had been neighbors, but they never viewed each other as countrymen; they inhabited separate, insular worlds, and, for the most part, each group preferred it that way. They were immensely familiar to one another, but immensely alien.

The actions of Christian Poles during the Holocaust have been bitterly debated in recent years. Many scholars, and the majority of Jews, argue that the Poles were indifferent to the annihillation of the Jews. In turn, Poles point to the dangers of aiding Jews, and to their own suffering at the hands of the Nazis: Three million Polish Christians perished during the war.

The Jewish woman Miriam Peleg-Marianska has written, "Only by comparison with the terminal tragedy of the Jews does the fate of the Polish people appear tolerable. By any other standards their sacrifices, their suffering, and their losses during the war mark them out as the great victims of their history, and geography."

Both Poles and Jews suffered grievously under the Nazis, but with an important distinction. As Holocaust survivor and Nobel Prize winner Elie Wiesel has noted: "Not all victims were Jews, but all Jews were victims."

At the end of the war, the "biological substance" of the Polish people remained. The same could not be said of Polish Jewry. Over 99% of Polish Jewish children had been annihilated.

There were Poles who defied the Nazi terror, and their own culture, to rescue Jews. Nechama Tec describes these Righteous Gentiles as "dormant heroes, often indistinguishable from those around them." Numbering about 4,000, Poles represent the greatest number of people honored by Yad Vashem as Righteous Gentiles.

"We live in a shaky and uncertain world," Tec writes, "a world that offers little help in choosing life values. In such a setting, knowledge and awareness about noble and self-sacrificing behaviors may help restore some shattered illusions. Indeed, mere awareness that in the midst of ultimate human degradation some people were willing to risk their lives for others denies the inevitable supremacy of evil. With this denial comes hope."

TEC'S CONCLUSIONS:

1. INDIVIDUALISTS

The rescuers were all "individualists." They displayed striking self-reliance in pursuing personal values (versus cultural values) in their rescue efforts.

2. DEVOUT CATHOLICS

Among the rescuers were devout Catholics. Tec argues that Catholic teaching served paradoxical ends: On one hand, the church said that the Jews were responsible for the death of Christ and, presumably, should be punished; on the other hand, the church instructed the faithful, "Love thy neighbor."

In this argument, Tec draws on a broader theory of the conflict between ethnic hatred and Christian precepts of love, compassion, charity, and forgiveness. Humanistic Christian teachings can undermine bigotry sanctioned by religion. Moral values are a nation's conscience.

Many priests and nuns took the teachings of compassion to heart and assisted in rescue activities. But the Catholic church's hierarchy in Poland remained silent on the subject, giving no instructions one way or the other.

3. UNPLANNED RESCUE

Often the rescuers did not previously know the Jews they saved. In this type of situation, the Gentile frequently acted "spontaneously" and even "impulsively" to help a Jew. The first assistance rendered was often "unplanned" and "gradual."

4. UNIVERSALISTIC PERCEPTIONS

The rescuers had "universalistic perceptions of the needy that overshadowed all other attributes except their dependence on aid." They viewed Jews not as dehumanized symbols--with the resultant negative stereotypes--but simply as human beings in need. "To these righteous Poles it mattered little who the victims were. Anyone in need qualified for help." One Righteous Gentile told Tec she would even have helped a Nazi.

5. A MOST UNASSUMING LOT

The Righteous Gentiles were, generally speaking, a most unassuming lot. Extreme modesty was a foremost characteristic. They had to be prodded to discuss their wartime actions and were extremely reluctant to speak about themselves in a "heroic" light. "Saving the one whose life is in jeopardy is a simple human duty," said one. Typically, they managed to push their fears in the background. "None denied it (fear) existed, but they refused to focus on punishment."

The rescuers responded to a moral obligation, not to a desire for reward or recognition. They had a "matter of fact views about rescue, which come together with the insistence that there was nothing heroic or extraordinary in their protection or of aiding Jews . . . to provide help for them [the Jews] was taken for granted, and they found it hard to explain."

6. A LONG-LASTING COMMITMENT

The Righteous Gentiles often had "a long lasting commitment to aid the needy, a commitment that began before the war and that in the past infrequently involved Jews. They accepted and took for granted standing up for the poor and downtrodden . . . Protection was the result of an already established pattern of helping the needy."

"Risking lives for Jews fit into a system of values and behaviors that included helping the weak and the dependent . . . Only during the war was there a convergence between historical events demanding ultimate selfishness and the already established predisposition to help."

Zegota, the Polish organization devoted to Jewish rescue, was initially comprised of a handful of women who had worked in the prewar Social Welfare Department in Warsaw. Long before the Holocaust, these women had been devoted to the cause of poor and orphaned children.

7. ABSENT FRIENDS

In one of her more startling conclusions, Tec writes that Gentile friends of Jews typically did not help their Jewish friends. "Helping Jews did not qualify as behavior required from friends. The rescuer of Jews had to be propelled by other forces, forces that went beyond the usual expectations of personal friendship."

8. ON THE PERIPHERY

In what she describes as "a new theory of rescue and rescuers," Tec concludes that the majority of Righteous Gentiles lived on the "periphery" of their prewar communities. "The Poles on the periphery of their communities were more likely to save Jews than those who were well integrated into their social surroundings." Why? "Being on the periphery of a community means being less affected by the existing social controls."

In other words, the Poles given to rescue were not controlled by the values of the community (i.e. by its anti-Semitism). They were not fully integrated and thus were less likely to be constrained by societal prejudices and dictates such as: The Jew is "different;" the Jew is "the other;" what happens to the Jew is of no concern to "us."

In an interview, Tec said, "It is those who are exceptional, those that are different, that have the ability to enter into somebody, to identify with the suffering. The outsiders in a sense. If you are not so fully integrated into an environment, if you perceive yourself as different, then perhaps you are much more objective, you have an independent view of what is happening, and if you have a much more objective view of what is happening, you are much less likely to approve of what you see. Most of us go along with what is. We don't have the strength, most humans, to object and to fight and to oppose."

We could extend Tec's theory to argue that for the rescuers, as peer pressure and societal codes of conduct weakened, latent values of love and compassion were allowed to surface.

9. DORMANT HEROES

Tec describes the Righteous Gentiles as "dormant heroes" who led unremarkable lives both before and after the war. Plainly, the characteristics that led them to rescue Jews were not characteristics that assured them of leadership roles and financial success in the postwar years.

EVA FOGELMAN

Eva Fogelman, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, is a founding director of the "Foundation for Christian Rescuers," an organization whose stated purpose is "recognition of goodness." Pursuant to that, the organization locates Christian rescuers, provides them with financial support (when necessary), and, not least, acknowledges their "moral courage during an immoral time." To date, the "Foundation for Christian Rescuers" has provided aid to more than one thousand-two hundred rescuers, many of whom were in dire straits.

In addition, Fogelman is author of Conscience and Courage: Rescuers of Jews during the Holocaust. The book, in Fogelman's words, "traces the psychological making of a rescuer." A great deal of emphasis is given to the upbringing of the person who would become a rescuer. What sort of parents did the rescuer have? What values did the parents instill? And, most important, can moral behavior be taught?

In contrast to the rescuers Nechama Tec interviewed, who were Polish, Fogelman's conclusions appear to be based mainly upon interviews with rescuers in Germany and in western Europe.

FOGELMAN'S CONCLUSIONS:

1. JEWS AS HUMAN BEINGS

"It is the capacity to act lovingly toward people whom one does not even know," Fogelman argues, "that is essential for development of social conscience."

"They (the rescuers) saw people who were different from them and responded, not to these differences, but to their similarities. While most saw Jews as pariahs, rescuers saw them as human beings . . . Compassion for others rests on the recognition that the one asking for help differs little from the one offering it."

"In talking with rescuers from all kinds of different homes, I found that one quality above all others was emphasized time and again: A familial acceptance of people who were different. This value was the centerpiece of the childhood of rescuers and became the core from which their rescuer self evolved. From the earliest ages, rescuers were taught by their parents that people are inextricably linked to one another. No one person or group was better than any other."

2. DIFFUSION OF RESPONSIBILITY

The act of intervention on behalf of the abused is a complicated procedure. The bystander must first recognize that a person needs help. In western Europe, the Nazis made this recognition difficult by concealing their murderous intentions behind a cloak of euphemisms. There was no talk of murder. The Jews were to be "resettled" in the east.

Once recognizing that a person was in danger, the bystander had to assume the responsibility to offer help and have the necessary confidence and ingenuity to come up with a plan to effect the rescue. The bystander had to believe that he or she could make a difference. Frequently, the decision to rescue was a decision that had to made very quickly. There was little time for physical or psychological preparation. The preparation had to be in place.

Fogelman asserts that a bystander is much less likely to intervene on behalf of the abused if the bystander is in a crowd. It appears to be a human proclivity to assume that someone else, the person beside you in a crowd, will be the one to intervene. It is not my responsibility, a bystander explains. Someone else will take care of it. Thus, by way of a "diffusion of responsibility," a bystander's conscience is assuaged, permitting the bystander to carry on his or her way.

Fogelman writes: "Like a horse shielded from sights to the left or the right, most bystanders were equipped with blinders . . . They kept their vision narrow to protect themselves and allow themselves to focus on surviving in this new terror filled Nazi world. Mistreatment of the Jews became background noise."

Describing the rescuer Irene Gut Opdyke, Fogelman says that she "had a keen, empathic nature that gave her a will to see what others ignored."

Of interest is Fogelman's observation that "sights, smells, and sounds of that moment of critical realization are etched forever in the rescuer's memory.

3. NARCISSISM

In what would seem a paradox, Fogelman writes that many rescuers said that the terrifying Nazi-occupation was in fact one of the most satisfying periods of their lives. In essence, the rescuers not only saved a life (or lives), but derived immense fulfillment from their rescue efforts. They felt better about themselves.

These rescuers may have been motivated by narcissism, that is, by love of self. In other words, the selfless act was based upon a selfish instinct.

Anna Freud, the late psychoanalyst, believed that an altruistic motivation does not exist. Those who help others receive personal gratification from their selfless behavior.

Summarizing the argument typical of psychoanalysts, Fogelman writes:

"Rescuers' acts derive from self-centered unconscious motivations. For example, for certain civilians the act of rescue enabled them to express their rage against the Third Reich. Saving lives of Jews provided them with narcissistic gratification of outwitting their oppressors and the pleasure of having a person or persons totally dependent on them. Most analysts would argue that self-gratification rather than altruism underlay rescuers' deeds."

4. CHILDHOOD

Fogelman was particularly interested in the rescuers' family backgrounds, hoping to find here the clues to the altruistic behavior that followed. She contends that conscience or morality is the result of the "original nurturing situation" between children and their primary guardian.

"It was not a whim that led these people to risk their lives and those of their families," Fogelman writes, "but a response, almost a reflexive reaction in some cases, that came from core values developed and instilled in them in childhood."

When interviewing rescuers, Fogelman says that she would wait in anticipation of the "familiar passages," that is, the rescuer's recollections of the characteristic childhood experiences and influences that Fogelman believes molded the character of the child.

"I began after a while to wait for the recital of one or more of those well known passages: a nurturing, loving home: an altruistic parent or beloved caretaker who served as a role model for altruistic behavior; a tolerance for people who were different; a childhood illness or personal loss that tested their resilience and exposed them to special care; and an upbringing that emphasized independence, discipline, with explanations, rather than physical punishment or withdrawal of love, and caring."

Furthermore, Fogelman concluded that "the moral integrity" that led to the act of rescue was a characteristic that repeated itself throughout the life of the rescuer, both before the Nazi-occupation and afterwards.

CHILD PSYCHOLOGY AND ALTRUISTIC BEHAVIOR

In her book, Conscience and Courage, Fogelman refers to the pertinent conclusions of several leading psychologists and others regarding altruistic behavior:

1. "From four to eight years old, children have heteronomous morality. Their behavior is subject to another person's law. A child's respect for authority guides his concept of what is right and wrong."

--Jean Piaget, child development expert

2. "Parents who explained rules and used inductive reasoning instead of harsh punishment tend to have children who care for and about others. Parents who voluntarily relinquish the use of force in favor of reasoning send their children a message about how the powerful should treat the weak."

--Eva Fogelman, summarizing a conclusion by Martin Hoffman, New York University social psychologist

3. "Rescuers experienced a loving and trusting relationship with an affectionate mother, had a communicative and non-authoritarian father, and were often an only or a favored child."

-- Frances Grossman, New York psychologist

4. "Altruism best and most effectively communicated in homes where parents exerted firm control over their children. Parents tended to explain to them the consequences of hurting other children and to do so with an admonition such as `I don't like to be with you when you act like that.' They reasoned rather than threatened."

-- Carolyn Zahn-Waxler, developmental psychologist

5. "Rules laid down without discussion or justification. "Children raised in this type of environment "have trouble making independent judgments. Where there is little or no explanation, all directives seem from the child's perspective, arbitrary and irrational. So they give up and do what they are told."

-- Alice Miller, Swiss author

6. "Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing."

-- Albert Schweitzer

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