Among the special events scheduled at the United Nations in
New York:"Whoever Saves a Single Life … Rescuers of Jews During the
Holocaust"
This exhibit showcases some of those rare but exceedingly
important instances where people fought to safeguard their Jewish fellow
citizens during the Holocaust. In a time of overwhelming death and destruction,
rescuers did not stand by silently. Their bravery shows us that people are able
to make choices and act on them, even in the face of powerful constraints,
offering us a lesson on the universal value of the preservation of human life,
human dignity, and human rights.
The exhibit has been produced by The Jewish Foundation for the
Righteous and will be on view until 18 February 2013.
Film Screening and Panel Discussion of "The Rescuers"
This documentary film by Emmy award-winning
filmmaker Michael King chronicles the heroic efforts of a dozen diplomats who
used the powers and privileges tied to their postings throughout Europe to save
the lives of tens of thousands of Jews during the Second World War. These 12
individuals - from a Muslim Turk stationed in Greece to a Japanese envoy posted
in Kaunas, Lithuania - took enormous personal risks to their lives and
livelihoods to help others in dire circumstances.
"The Rescuers" is told through the eyes of Stephanie Nyombayire, an activist
who lost members of her family in the 1994 Rwanda genocide, and pre-eminent
historian Sir Martin Gilbert, who lost family members in the Holocaust. As they
travel across 15 countries and three continents interviewing survivors and
descendants of the rescuers, they explore the mystery of goodness in the face of
danger.
Among those featured in the film are German diplomat and Nazi party member
Georg F. Duckwitz in Copenhagen; Varian Fry and Hiram Bingham from the United
States in Marseilles; Japanese Consul Chiune Sugihara; the Dutchman Jan
Zwartendijk in Kaunas; Turkish Consul Selahattin Ülkümen in Rhodes; British
Captain Frank Foley in Berlin; Polish diplomat Henryk Slawik in Budapest;
Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, who helped coordinate the rescue efforts in
Budapest in 1944 with Archbishop Angelo Rotta, representative of the Vatican;
Consul Carl Lutz of Switzerland; and Aristides de Sousa Mendes, the Portuguese
Consul stationed in Bordeaux, who issued visas in defiance of his Government's
orders, allowing the safe passage of Jews to Portugal. Princess Alice,
grandmother of the Prince of Wales, is also recognized for hiding a Jewish
family in her Athens palace.
The screening is organized by the United Nations Holocaust Programme in partnership with the
United States Mission to the United Nations and the Sousa Mendes
Foundation.