The Path of the Righteous: Gentile Rescuers of Jews During the Holocaust

by Mordecai Paldiel, Harold M. Schulweis (Foreword), Abraham H. Foxman (Afterword)

The Path of The Righteous by Mordecai Paldiel recounts the inspiring stories of several hundred "Righteous Among the Nations" - heroic gentile men and women, in virtually all the countries of Nazi-occupied Europe, who put themselves and their families at risk in order to save the lives of Jews fleeing the Nazi terror. Drawn from the files of Yad Vashem Memorial in Israel, these stories are a badly needed corrective to the pessimistic view of human nature which has become all too common in the Holocaust's aftermath. They prove that decency, morality, and altruism can survive even under the most horrendous of circumstances, and that some people will always be willing to act selflessly. It also serves to disprove the cruel lie being promulgated by some that the Holocaust never took place, or did not take place as described in eye witness accounts.
The courageous individuals whose tales are recounted in this book are monuments to the nobility of the human spirit. They did what they did not for the sake of reward or prestige, but because they believed it was right. Some of them were pious Christians motivated by religion. Others were energized by feelings of intense compassion. Neither the threat of punishment nor ostracism by relatives and neighbors deterred them. Love for their fellow human beings was a higher value.
The book contains a foreword by Rabbi Harold Schulweis, founding chairman of the Jewish Foundation for Christian Rescuers/ADL, and an afterword by Abraham H. Foxman, National Director of the Anti-Defamation League and a Holocaust survivor who was saved by his Polish nursemaid, poignantly express their recognition of and gratitude to the untold numbers of righteous gentiles, many of whom will never be known by us.

401 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1993

Reviews

[Susan Lindsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-written and extensively researched. Numerous compelling accounts of Holocaust rescuers.

[Erin Virginia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the stories of the rescuer's. They made me cry and felt a sense of empowerment. The introduction made interesting points as to the characteristcs of humanity (IE ethics of carring vs ethics of equality) which I thought was interesting way to look at the inforamtion. I liked how in each chapter talks about the country's background before the Nazi invasion and why some of them made the stories so impressionable. My favorite stories were the peole from Eastern Europe, where places that were not anti-semitic became anti-semitic and how peole got together to help the remaining Jewish population of their town or city. I also see what is amazing that they do not think themselves as hero's and to quote Victor Kulger in the story, how he was just trying to save his friends.