Rating: 
Summary: So much to write, so little space
Review: After attending a seminar on teaching the Holocaust, I needed a little inspiration, so I purchased this book, which recounts the stories of hundreds of Jews who were rescued by non-Jews during the course of the Holocaust. Each chapter addresses a different part of Europe and the rescues that took place within that region, mostly through first-person accounts. The stories are very compelling and show quite clearly how much people were willing to risk in order to do the right thing when so few were willing to do so. The downside to the book is that each story is probably worth a chapter on its own and not just a paragraph or two; however, since this is one of the few books I've seen that puts all of the stories together in one place, so it's a worthwhile trade. On the whole, a very good book--though it is depressing to think how few were ultimately willing to help out their neighbors and do what what right and decent.
Rating:
Summary: Very dry, but vital reading concerning the Holocaust
Review: I've never read anything of Gilbert's before. Apparently he is a major documentarian of the Holocaust, and this book is very much needed for reasons I will explain later. The format of this book is basically a chapter concerning each country invaded by the Nazis and the efforts of the few (compared to the many who turned their heads and ignored the fate) who attempted to rescue their friends, their neighbors, and the strangers who came to them who were of Jewish backgrounds. Each chapter names those whose names are known, who are honored in Israel in the Vad Yeshem Righteous Among the Nations. It also tells the stories of some of these rescues, and though given the fact that little is known concerning these rescue attempts (as many involved are dead)...the book could have been written in a better way than a mere listing of those involved.What is interesting about this book, is the surprising number of those who were complete strangers who took Jews in. Also, information concerning those who were anti-Semitic but totally disagreed with Hitler's Solution who risked their lives and the lives of their families in order to save individuals and family groups. It becomes evident that more children and women were saved, then men. Many ministers, and Catholic monks and Sisters also saved many Jews on their own initiation, with disregard for their own safety. Even though this book is dry reading, it is necessary reading. Why? Because in this day and age, when inroads are being made on individual rights across the world, it becomes necessary to ask ourselves, 'what would I choose to do in this situation?' I would hope that I would show the courage of the many Gentiles demonstrated in this book, regardless of the fact that my religions and beliefs differ from anyone involved in a move towards genocide regarding one group or one people. In the U.S. we have had this happen (regardless of those who would ignore our history) with the Underground Railroad...but these persons were not threated with immediate death for protecting those of color. As so many of these righteous gentiles said "Do it, because it is the right thing to do. ...
Rating:
Summary: One of a kind, presented sloppily
Review: Martin Gilbert has written extensively on Jewish issues. His main contributions are this work, a 'History of Israel' and 'The Holocaust'. His other books are far superior to this one and I was disappionted by the seemingly sloppy writing style and jampacked but shabbily constructed book. This is a ONE OF A KIND affair. This book details those that saved the lives of the Jews during the holocaust. it details gentiles and Jews who went out of their way, risking their lives, to save even one person, but int he case of Schindler or the Bielski brothers thousands. The book is arranged by country and region and details the number of Jews living in the area in 1939 and the number killed in the holocaust and then explains the number saved and by what means. In countries like Italy Gilbert shows how the people did not have the anti-semetic vigor of other places and so many of the Jews survived. The author shows difinitevly that the French collaborated with the nazis and were quick to volunteer to help round up the Jews, this is because France is a profoundly anti-semetic country and the stain of the holocaust must be broguht to bear on its present nazilike actions. Gilbert shows the many competing politics of Poland that also fueled the hate and destruction of the Jews in that country. Gilbert does not show, however, the importance of the Danish King who did so much to save the Jews. This is a lost chapter that deserved more work. The book is one of a kind and deserves to be read. Gilbert obtained his list of the 'Righteous' from Yad Vashem and he has been loyal to the Israeli official list of those that helped the Jews. It to bad that with such a long list of people that saved even one person the book ends up sometimes feeling like a long list of names and short descriptions of deeds. Their might have been a better way to present it and still uphold the message Gilbert was trying to make. Gilbert also shows how it has taken so long for people to be recognized for their deeds, a tragedy unto itself. These people that risked their lives to save just one person, are so important because they show to us what can be done in the face of evil. This book will help you understand how if you save one life you save the world.
Rating:
Summary: One of a kind, presented sloppily
Review: Martin Gilbert has written extensively on Jewish issues. His main contributions are this work, a 'History of Israel' and 'The Holocaust'. His other books are far superior to this one and I was disappionted by the seemingly sloppy writing style and jampacked but shabbily constructed book. This is a ONE OF A KIND affair. This book details those that saved the lives of the Jews during the holocaust. it details gentiles and Jews who went out of their way, risking their lives, to save even one person, but int he case of Schindler or the Bielski brothers thousands. The book is arranged by country and region and details the number of Jews living in the area in 1939 and the number killed in the holocaust and then explains the number saved and by what means. In countries like Italy Gilbert shows how the people did not have the anti-semetic vigor of other places and so many of the Jews survived. The author shows difinitevly that the French collaborated with the nazis and were quick to volunteer to help round up the Jews, this is because France is a profoundly anti-semetic country and the stain of the holocaust must be broguht to bear on its present nazilike actions. Gilbert shows the many competing politics of Poland that also fueled the hate and destruction of the Jews in that country. Gilbert does not show, however, the importance of the Danish King who did so much to save the Jews. This is a lost chapter that deserved more work. The book is one of a kind and deserves to be read. Gilbert obtained his list of the 'Righteous' from Yad Vashem and he has been loyal to the Israeli official list of those that helped the Jews. It to bad that with such a long list of people that saved even one person the book ends up sometimes feeling like a long list of names and short descriptions of deeds. Their might have been a better way to present it and still uphold the message Gilbert was trying to make. Gilbert also shows how it has taken so long for people to be recognized for their deeds, a tragedy unto itself. These people that risked their lives to save just one person, are so important because they show to us what can be done in the face of evil. This book will help you understand how if you save one life you save the world.
Rating: 
Summary: One of Gilbert's best
Review: Martin Gilbert has written more on the Holocaust than, perhaps, anyone else. This, his latest work, is deserving of special praise. Gilbert looks at the many non-Jews who played personal roles in saving small and large numbers of Jews during WWII. He spends time discussing the better known saviors such as Schindler and Wallenberg, but he also looks to the lesser known people who risked their lives to save one or two at a time. He examines the many married couples who took in Jewish children and protected them as their own, and he looks at the many religious officials who hid children in convents and churches. Gilbert's examination of these relative unknowns is very good reading, and his detailed and painstaking research into so many people is obvious. This book is wonderful for so many reasons. It is an excellent history -- a history of a subject all too forgotten -- and it is a refreshing portrait of an otherwise horrible time in the history of mankind. These individual saviors stand out against a black background, and Gilbert's writing serves them justice and gives them the recognition they deserve.
Rating:
Summary: One of Gilbert's best
Review: Martin Gilbert has written more on the Holocaust than, perhaps, anyone else. This, his latest work, is deserving of special praise. Gilbert looks at the many non-Jews who played personal roles in saving small and large numbers of Jews during WWII. He spends time discussing the better known saviors such as Schindler and Wallenberg, but he also looks to the lesser known people who risked their lives to save one or two at a time. He examines the many married couples who took in Jewish children and protected them as their own, and he looks at the many religious officials who hid children in convents and churches. Gilbert's examination of these relative unknowns is very good reading, and his detailed and painstaking research into so many people is obvious. This book is wonderful for so many reasons. It is an excellent history -- a history of a subject all too forgotten -- and it is a refreshing portrait of an otherwise horrible time in the history of mankind. These individual saviors stand out against a black background, and Gilbert's writing serves them justice and gives them the recognition they deserve.
Rating:
Summary: Righteous Indignation
Review: My reaction to this book was that it showed two different themes. One was the theme mentioned in the title, the unsung heroes of the holocaust. The other was its opposite, the villains of the holocaust. As we read about this or that Christian who risked all to help a stranger, we also read about the Nazi collaborators, the anti-semitic actions taken, the villains of the period. This book makes you angry, with a cold hatred. It makes you hope there is a Hell, a suitable punishment for acts of cruelty committed during this life on Earth. How many times do we read about helpless sweet children below the age of six being hunted down by grown men, insane men, stupid men, sadistic men, Germans and their collaborators. In one of the reports, we read about a little 5 or 6 year old girl who is asked her name. She answers with the Christian alias she was given, and then she cheerfully adds that her real name is something else, a Jewish name. Why must this little child be careful? What kind of world was she living in, that forced insane, unnatural caution on an adorable child? Perhaps my "favorite" report in this book is when the Germans were tipped off by an informer that a little 5 year old Jewish girl was being cared for by a Christian family. These grown German men tracked the little girl down. They had already decided to kill her, but that was not enough for them. First they had to make her final hour one of panic and pain. They whipped the child. When they were done with their sadistic fun they killed her. Then they killed the Christian family of eight that had cared for the little girl. It is amazing that this sick German culture actually believed that they were in some way "superior" to the Jews. Not for nothing, but these Germans were morally inferior to a pack of wolves, certainly sub-human. The book is infuriating. If it does not infuriate you, there's something missing in you. But there are positive things in here too. I am not referring to the acts of individual heroism, which, by the way, seem to be carried out more often by women than men. I'm referring to the nations in which there was no anti-semitism. Denmark, Albania and Bulgaria are described that way in this book. I knew that Denmark wasn't viciously anti-semitic but I learned from this book just how beautiful a people the Danes were. And I had absolutely no idea that the Albanians and Bulgarians were so kind. I'm impressed. Belgium also came across very well. I was disappointed to learn that Holland was not as gentle and civilized as I had thought. This book tells us that Holland had its share of anti-semites and informers. It seems to be about equal to France in the fact that while the majority wished to protect the Jews, a sizeable minority were quite happy to slit Jewish throats. This book tells us just how bad the Polish people were in general, most of them perfectly happy about the holocaust. After all, the Jews killed Christ, so they were only getting what they deserved. Amazing that people think that way. Some people seem to have descended (as opposed to ascended) from the ape. There were also many Polish heroes in the book, all the more impressive given the general attitude prevailing in the country, with its added risk of informants. But of course the inside track to Hell is owned by the German people. Even their allies the Italians considered anti-semitism the German disease, and refused to cooperate with the murders. Italy, and the Pope, were portrayed very positively in this book. I was told elsewhere that the Pope was a Nazi collaborator, but he didn't appear so in this book. The Pope, here, was a strong supporter of the Jews, and saw to it that all of Italy was too, except for those Italians who milked Jews for every penny they could extort. I understand why other reviewers would object to the writing style of this book. It is a series of anecdotes. They are just piled one on top of the last. But it is a reasonable way to approach the subject, if your aim is to recognize the unsung heroes of the holocaust. Okay, here's this hero, here's the next, and this is what they did. It's not a novel. The organization and the writing style are what they are. I expected to read more about the Croat attempt to exterminate both the Jews and Serbs during this period in history. The Croats were cruel, which prompted the reprisal by the Serbs as soon as Marshall Tito died. We think of the Serbs as the villains of Yugoslavia, but during World War Two the Eastern Orthodox Serbs and the Jews were victims of the Catholic Croats in an extermination that was truly German in its cruelty. I mention the religion of the Serbs and Croats only because that is the only way to tell them apart, since they are one and the same people racially, differentiated only by religion, according to another book that you can buy on Amazon, whose name I have forgotten. The next time some racist idiot says there was no holocaust, hand it this book.
Rating:
Summary: Righteous Indignation
Review: My reaction to this book was that it showed two different themes. One was the theme mentioned in the title, the unsung heroes of the holocaust. The other was its opposite, the villains of the holocaust. As we read about this or that Christian who risked all to help a stranger, we also read about the Nazi collaborators, the anti-semitic actions taken, the villains of the period. This book makes you angry, with a cold hatred. It makes you hope there is a Hell, a suitable punishment for acts of cruelty committed during this life on Earth. How many times do we read about helpless sweet children below the age of six being hunted down by grown men, insane men, stupid men, sadistic men, Germans and their collaborators. In one of the reports, we read about a little 5 or 6 year old girl who is asked her name. She answers with the Christian alias she was given, and then she cheerfully adds that her real name is something else, a Jewish name. Why must this little child be careful? What kind of world was she living in, that forced insane, unnatural caution on an adorable child? Perhaps my "favorite" report in this book is when the Germans were tipped off by an informer that a little 5 year old Jewish girl was being cared for by a Christian family. These grown German men tracked the little girl down. They had already decided to kill her, but that was not enough for them. First they had to make her final hour one of panic and pain. They whipped the child. When they were done with their sadistic fun they killed her. Then they killed the Christian family of eight that had cared for the little girl. It is amazing that this sick German culture actually believed that they were in some way "superior" to the Jews. Not for nothing, but these Germans were morally inferior to a pack of wolves, certainly sub-human. The book is infuriating. If it does not infuriate you, there's something missing in you. But there are positive things in here too. I am not referring to the acts of individual heroism, which, by the way, seem to be carried out more often by women than men. I'm referring to the nations in which there was no anti-semitism. Denmark, Albania and Bulgaria are described that way in this book. I knew that Denmark wasn't viciously anti-semitic but I learned from this book just how beautiful a people the Danes were. And I had absolutely no idea that the Albanians and Bulgarians were so kind. I'm impressed. Belgium also came across very well. I was disappointed to learn that Holland was not as gentle and civilized as I had thought. This book tells us that Holland had its share of anti-semites and informers. It seems to be about equal to France in the fact that while the majority wished to protect the Jews, a sizeable minority were quite happy to slit Jewish throats. This book tells us just how bad the Polish people were in general, most of them perfectly happy about the holocaust. After all, the Jews killed Christ, so they were only getting what they deserved. Amazing that people think that way. Some people seem to have descended (as opposed to ascended) from the ape. There were also many Polish heroes in the book, all the more impressive given the general attitude prevailing in the country, with its added risk of informants. But of course the inside track to Hell is owned by the German people. Even their allies the Italians considered anti-semitism the German disease, and refused to cooperate with the murders. Italy, and the Pope, were portrayed very positively in this book. I was told elsewhere that the Pope was a Nazi collaborator, but he didn't appear so in this book. The Pope, here, was a strong supporter of the Jews, and saw to it that all of Italy was too, except for those Italians who milked Jews for every penny they could extort. I understand why other reviewers would object to the writing style of this book. It is a series of anecdotes. They are just piled one on top of the last. But it is a reasonable way to approach the subject, if your aim is to recognize the unsung heroes of the holocaust. Okay, here's this hero, here's the next, and this is what they did. It's not a novel. The organization and the writing style are what they are. I expected to read more about the Croat attempt to exterminate both the Jews and Serbs during this period in history. The Croats were cruel, which prompted the reprisal by the Serbs as soon as Marshall Tito died. We think of the Serbs as the villains of Yugoslavia, but during World War Two the Eastern Orthodox Serbs and the Jews were victims of the Catholic Croats in an extermination that was truly German in its cruelty. I mention the religion of the Serbs and Croats only because that is the only way to tell them apart, since they are one and the same people racially, differentiated only by religion, according to another book that you can buy on Amazon, whose name I have forgotten. The next time some racist idiot says there was no holocaust, hand it this book.
Rating:
Summary: The historian who keeps alive the memory of noble deeds
Review: One element of Martin Gilbert's writing has been the telling of individual stories which normally would have not had a part in most works of history. He has written of the Shoah( Holocaust) in a way which gives the name and story of many ' ordinary' individuals a place they would not ordinarily have.
His collecting the accounts of righteous Gentiles is the same kind of holy work.
There is another important point about the moral value of this work. Even among the most cruel and evil peoples involved in the Holocaust there were exceptions, human beings who give hope that there is a ' saving spark' in all peoples.
Rating:
Summary: A story of people who stayed human in a world of monsters
Review: There are no words to do justice to this book or the people whose stories are featured in it. It should be required reading for all those who insist this horror didn't happen.
| 
