The Righteous Gentiles of the Holocaust

Examines the phenomenon of the Righteous Gentiles, based on accounts by rescued Jews and their helpers, studying the nature of the behavior of non-Jews toward Jews during the Holocaust. Only a small fraction of non-Jews helped Jews. What they did was done despite the Nazis' incitement to antisemitism and tensions between Jews and non-Jews in some countries prior to the war. Discusses the motivation of Righteous Gentiles, and dwells on the religious Christian motives of rescuers. The Church was ambivalent toward the Jews: it sent signals of love and compassion toward them, but also signals of hatred; this fact may account for the reluctance of many Christians to name their faith as the main source of their decision to help Jews. The majority of Christians, although feeling some compassion toward Jews, abstained from helping them for various reasons. States that the Holocaust is an ethical challenge for the Church, which must educate people to be prepared to rescue others as a moral obligation.