Rescuers see themselves as “ordinary” people and yet they all did extraordinary things. How might this be explained? Why do you think some people became rescuers doing the Holocaust while most remained bystanders? What moral choices were made by rescuers during the Holocaust? (Echoes and Reflections)
I think that rescuers think of themselves as “ordinary” people because maybe they just grew up being taught to stand up for what they believe in. Or they might have been taught to do the right thing when things were going bad or just to be nice to other people who need help. I think that some of the people who became Holocaust rescuers did it because maybe they knew that what the Nazis were doing to the Jews was bad and they felt like they needed to stand up for them and not be a bystander. Many rescuers risked their lives everyday by the way that they rescued Jews. An example is Raoul Wallenberg, who would make fake passports for Jews in March 1944. Raoul created a document called Schutzpass (protective passport) which said that whoever was put on that list was protected by Swedish government and couldn’t be deported. In October 1944 Raoul gave thousands of Jews passports to protect from the Arrow Cross party. In November 1944 70,000 Jews were forced to march to the Austrian border by foot. Many Jews were shot on the way. Raoul saved many Jews by following them in his car and would release the Jews by hundreds and would put them into trucks and take them to Budapest. On January 17, 1945 he went to east Budapest to bring back food and medicine for 100,000 surviving Jews that he saved, but sadly he was never seen again. In all, Raoul rescued tens of thousands of Jews. In conclusion I think that people who helped Jews survive think that they are “ordinary” people because they were taught growing up that if you don’t think that what other people are doing is good then you should help out the victims.
Information about Raoul’s story from the reading “Moral Leadership: Raoul Wallenberg” (JFR)
You did a nice job adding a link to your statement.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you because I think that people thought of themselves as ordinary because that's the way they raised by their parents. Also I think it helps you by adding a link. Good job.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with what you mentioned about being raised to make the right choice. I believe that some rescuers only saw themselves as ordinary because they thought they had to save a lot of people to be extraordinary. They could have also believed that they did not deserve praise for making what they thought was the correct decision. Rescuers may have thought that everyone would make the decision to help the Jews and it was just the naturally right thing to do. They may not have been able to do a lot like speak their opinion to the government but they were making a statement through rescuing people. I think some people may have been bystanders because they knew that by rescuing someone, they were putting their own life in danger. Also, they may not have know the severity of what was happening to these people. A moral choice rescuers might have had to make was rescuing someone and doing what they believe is the right choice or protecting themselves. All in all, I believe that all rescuers should consider themselves extraordinary not matter how many people they managed to rescue. Those people who were rescued are very grateful to their helpers.
ReplyDelete-Jenny Lorenzana
I agree with you. I also think that some people were bystanders because they were scared of what was going to happen to them and their families. But I also think that the rescuers did what they did was because it was in their own human nature. So helping others was just an everyday thing for them and maybe sometimes they didn't even think that they were changing somebody's life and their future, they were just helping them survive through all of the things that were going on. So, yes I do agree with you. Thank you for commenting.
Delete