The Courage to Care

By Sondra Myers and Carol Rittner

Book Overview

The extraordinary story of a few non-Jews who risked their lives to rescue and protect Jews from Nazi persecution in Europe during World War II is told in The Courage to Care. It features the first person accounts of rescuers and of survivors whose stories address the basic issue of individual responsibility: the notion that one person can act--and that those actions can make a difference. These rescuers are true heroes, but modest ones. They did a thousand ordinary things--opening doors, hiding and feeding strangers, keeping secrets--in an extraordinary time. For this, they are known as "Righteous Among the Nations of the World."
The rescuers and survivors are from many countries in Europe--Italy, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, France, Bulgaria, Poland, Germany--and they tell their stories with simplicity and dignity. Each story is interwoven with old snapshots of rescuers and survivors, their homes, their hiding places, and the communities in which they lived.
Noted author, teacher, and human rights activist, Elie Wiesel, helps us to ask: "what made these people different?" He points out how those who helped Jews during the Holocaust "changed history" by their actions. The Courage to Care reminds readers of the power of individual action.
This compelling book is the companion volume to the award-winning film, The Courage to Care, and includes the personal narratives of the same persons in the film and many others.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0814774067
• ISBN13: 9780814774069
• Release Date: February 1989
• Publisher: New York University Press
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 8.0" x 11.3"

Customer Reviews

From a Biased Point Of View

Anyone wondering whether he or she would have the courage to do the right thing, namely, to defy a tyranical regime, risking his or her life, needs to read this book, written in brief chapters, providing his/her heart doesn't beat too fast and tears don't blur his/her vision.Brave, or 'Righteous' people, whether in Holland, Bulgaria, France, Germany and anywhere else in Europe, helped Jews survive. Servants, concierges, ministers, social workers, guards, all unobtrusively went to work to save Jews. Nothing fully explains that kind of courage.The minister of Le Chambon Sur Lignon who organized his unarmed village to hide and save hundreds of Jews was my father's cousin. His younger brother was the teacher who chose to go with the arrested children into deportation and death, when the Nazis offered him his freedom. It is easy for me still to bring to mind these dread-filled years. But for those afraid to forget, and for those who wonder what life was like for Jews in Europe then, there is no better book, bringing to life those who helped beat the odds, so that survival, instead of being a crazy hope, could become a reality.Reading about them is to honor them.

The Courage to Care; Rescuers of Jews During the Holocaust

An excellent opportunity to learn about real heros who lived in Nazi occupied countries during the Holocaust. Can we learn from their examples to take a stand against evil in our everyday, ordinary lives?