Rescuers helped save people from persecution during the Holocaust. These were the people who risked their lives to help their neighbors, while a vast majority of people under German control did nothing, or even profited by their misfortune. Some rescuers hid people in their homes, often for the duration of the war. Others provided false documents that identified Jews as Christians, or participated in operations to smuggle them to neutral countries.
Raoul Wallenberg, one of the most famous rescuers, saved thousands of Jews in Budapest, Hungary during deportations from that city. Oskar Schindler, another rescuer, saved hundreds of Jews by putting them to work in his factory and refusing to allow their deportation by the Nazi authorities. Some government agents also risked their lives and careers to help victims of the Nazis. The Japanese Consul to Lithuania, Sempo Sugihara, issued thousands of visas to Polish Jews despite his government’s orders to the contrary. Aristides de Sousa Mendes, the Portuguese consul to France, similarly allowed more than 10,000 stranded Jews into neutral Portugal despite the wishes of his government — an act which cost him his career and ultimately his life.
While the actions of many rescuers such as these have been widely celebrated, countless other acts of this type of resistance are known only to those who were involved.
