45) Oskar Schindler You’ve Probably Heard of his Story From the Film Schindler’s List Born: 28 April 1908, Svitavy, Austria-Hungary (Present-day Czech Republic) Died: 9 October 1974, Hildesheim, West Germany (Present-day Hildesheim, Germany) He was an industrialist and Nazi Party Member who is arguably the most famous of the Righteous Gentiles who helped saved lives…
40) Eugene Lazowski Sometimes I Really Love Science Born: 1913, Częstochowa, Russian Controlled Poland (Present-day Częstochowa, Poland) Died: 16 December 2006, Eugene, Oregon, United States of America Dr. Lazowski has also been called the Polish Schindler. He saved thousands of Jewish lives in his native Poland by creating a fake epidemic. Apparently, the Nazis didn’t…
28) Miep Gies Without Her, We Likely Would Have Never Read the Words Written Down in the World’s Most Famous Diary. Born: 15 February 1909, Vienna, Austro-Hungarian Empire (Present-day Vienna, Austria) Died: 11 January 2010, Hoorn, Netherlands Original Name: Hermine Gies Miep was one of the few who helped the Frank Family and the others…
27) Jan Żabiński More Than a Zookeeper Born: 8 April 1897, Warsaw, Russian Controlled Poland (Present-day Warsaw, Poland) Died: 26 July 1974, Warsaw, Soviet Controlled Poland (Present-day Warsaw, Poland) He was the director of the Warsaw Zoo, which was one of the largest and finest zoological facilities in Europe by the 1930’s. However, at the…
26) Robert Jan Van Pelt Don’t Mess With Historians Y’all Born: 15 August 1955, Haarlem, Netherlands Robert is one of the world’s leading experts on Auschwitz. I was introduced to his work in the amazing film Denial starring Rachel Weisz, and my respect for him grew after reading the book by fellow historian Deborah E….
24) Albert Goring Here’s Definitive Proof Evil Doesn’t Necessarily Run in Families Born: 9 March 1895, Berlin, Imperial Germany (Present-day Berlin, Germany) Died: 20 December 1966 He has been called “The Good Brother”. Unlike his older brother (you can guess by the last name–I won’t type it here), Albert was a decent person who saw…
23) Elie Wiesel Shoah Survivor and Inspiration to Many Born: 30 September 1928, Sighet, present day Romania Died: 2 July 2016, Manhattan, New York, United States of America Most known for surviving World War II and the Shoah, after the war he went on to be a journalist, writer, professor, and activist for remembrance and…
7) Raoul Wallenberg He is credited with saving somewhere in the ballpark of 100,000 Hungarian Jews in six months. Born: 4 August 1912, Lidingö, Sweden Died: Possibly, 17 July 1947, Moscow, Soviet Union (Present-day Moscow, Russia) During the second half of World War II Raoul was working as a diplomat for his native Sweden in…
6) August Landmesser If Only We Could All be This Brave Born: 24 May 1910, Moorrege, German Empire (Present-day Moorrege, Germany) Died: 14 October 1944, Yugoslavia (Present-day Croatia) August was a man married to a Jewish woman–in Nazi Germany. Today he is most remembered for the powerful photograph in which he refused to perform the…