Thursday, May 2, 2013

Help or Rescue?


Think about the terms “help” and rescue.”  What is the difference between these two terms?  In the context of the Holocaust, how do you understand the difference between these two terms?  Can you think of a specific time when help was needed rather than rescue, and of times when Jews needed to be rescued?  Would you characterize those individuals who helped Jews as heroes?  Why or why not?

When you help people, you just give them something they need. For example, the Jews needed water, food, and proper clothing to survive in the camps. In the ghettos people would help by hiding them in their homes or they would sneak food for them. I think people that knew what was going on with the Jews didn’t try to rescue them due to fear from the Nazis. All they would do was help anyway they could by trying to keep them healthy for as long as possible.  When you rescue people, you gave them life. Jews always needed to be rescued, more so in the concentration camps and death camps than the ghettos. I read an article about a girl from Warsaw, Poland. Her name was Irena Sendler. She rescued more than 2,500 children in the ghettos. When the Gestapo agents found out about her rescuing some Jewish children, she went to to Pawiak Prison. In the article it says, “Irena was tortured brutally, but she refused to give any information about Zegota or about the children she had placed in hiding. She was sentenced to death.” That takes a lot of bravery and she should never be forgotten. She’s a true hero. She would rather save all these Jewish children then save her own life. Luckily, she escaped the day she was going to be executed. She had to hide until the war was over but still managed to continue on hiding the children. Helping and rescuing someone both is still very good but rescuing can make a bigger change than just helping.

4 comments:

  1. I think that the difference between helping and rescuing is that with "helping" you can empower others to partially help themselves; whereas "rescuing" involves saving someone who is in a state of helplessness. Raoul Wallenberg was a Swedish man who rescued tens of thousands of Jews in Hungary by issuing protective passports and sheltering Jews during the later stages of WWII. I would consider his work a "rescue" because he was saving Jews in a way that they could not have done themselves; instead of guiding them to find their own way to safety ("helping them") he protected them outright with documents of his own creation and he took them under his wing at a level they could not have achieved with mere assistance and in a way that ensured their lives were spared.

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    1. You bring up a good point. I like how you said, when helping someone, the person you're helping is still doing work. People that saved lots of Jews lives were the rescuers. People that rescued people were more brave than the people that just helped out with providing them food or a simple blanket. Thanks for commenting.

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  2. It takes a very brave person to hide the jews and give them food and shelter, but at the same time i wont disagree with the people that didn't bring them in because of fear of the jews. I would categorize those who rescued the jews from heroes because it takes a lot of courage to rescue jews, especially during that time when if nazis or german soldiers caught you rescuing jews, you may also go to prison. In this case with Irena she should truly be considered a hero because she save 2,500 young kids lifes. She basically sacrificed her life when she didn't give up any information while being tortured.

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  3. I agree with both of them. I think that helping someone out or saving their life is a huge thing. Plus, doing that you know you have a big heart for people because you know what can happen to you if you ever got caught. Even though I think there really isn't many people like that in the world, who put others lives first than theirs. Although there might have not been an actual reason why she helped all those Jews, maybe because she knew someone it was all a good deed. Also, just because she was caught and sentenced to death or beaten, it shouldn't stop others from doing it. Unless their selfish or against the Jews. But either way, those who've helped deserve recognition or respect not more punishment. I think people have the right to believe what they want and do what they want. Jusst how she wanted to hide the people and save their lives, she had all the right to it.

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