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Once thrown into an environment of uncertainty like the Holocaust, the brain reverts back to its survival instincts. Most people feared for their lives too much and saved only themselves. On the other hand, there were people like Miep Gies, who generously risked her life to save others. Rescuers of the Holocaust put their lives on the line everyday to save even one Jewish person. They gave up food, shelter, and safety to save others. Some even lost something more important than material objects. They lost their will to forgive others, their emotions, and their ability to feel safe. Holocaust rescuers, some members of the Resistance and others working independently, were able to save numerous Jewish people from certain death, but could not save themselves from the emotional trauma that would ensue caused by years of constant danger.
When you are a teenager you feel boiling hatred towards your parents when they ground you. The same feelings erupt when an anti-Nazi rescuer makes a sly comment against an officer. They know it is dangerous and could cost them their lives but can not seem to stop themselves. Most young adult and teenage rescuers were too naïve to realize that they were not indestructible. This allowed them to take on riskier missions than adults. It also allowed them a unique way of dealing with the Holocaust. All of their fear and pain transformed into anger and a sense of purpose. Youth is not something to waste and the young rescuers took full advantage of their ‘immortality’. Louisa Steenstra, a young woman, was not afraid to throw a sarcastic remark in a Nazi officer’s face, even though she was fully aware of the consequences. Louisa hated the Nazis with a passion that she was not afraid to show: “‘ I am not going to work for the Germans. I will kill myself first.’” (p.119)
Louisa Steenstra has had the experience of helping Jews by being around rescuers all her life. Albert, her husband, was already involved with the Underground when they wed. Louisa’s town was highly populated by Jews. Many of her friends and neighbors were Jewish. Therefore her siblings and parents had to hide Jews in their houses. On May 10, 1940, the Nazis dropped a bomb killing 30,000 people in the nearby town of Rotterdam. Louisa could not understand why the Nazis would do such a horrendous act. She could feel the hatred swelling inside of herself: “‘When you hear that, how can you feel? I hated them. I couldn’t stand the Germans. I couldn’t stand it,’” (p.11 cool . Louisa had a little girl which she named Beatrice Irene, after the Dutch queen who had been recently exiled. When Beatrice was shown to a Nazi father whose baby was just born, the father stiffened. Louisa felt a sense of pride when she rubbed the Nazis the wrong way. At the end of the war Louisa had saved five Jews and fed numerous runaways. Louisa knew that if she would die, she would die on her own terms, not the Nazis. The older rescuers were hit with the realization of how the young adult and teenage rescuers were ‘indestructible’. Recruiting this boldness to smuggle Jews out of their respective countries to safety, networks were born. The most successful rescuer network was the Danish Underground, saving ninety nine percent of the Jewish population in Denmark.
April 9, 1940 is when the Germans occupied Denmark, with the hope of exterminating even more Jewish people. After word got out that the Germans were taking the Jews to concentration camps, the good people of Denmark took action. In only one night an underground network was created with the sole purpose of saving Jews. 700 non-Jewish people and 7,200 Jewish people in Denmark were saved. The main location for the transported Jews was Sweden. Rescuers collected boats and fishing ships to transport the Jews through the Kattegat Sea which connects Denmark to Sweden. [A very fancy quote, from a book I forgot to bring from school]. The Danish Underground worked so well due to the fact that there were so many people working for a common goal. A number of rescuers decided that sharing their feelings with others would jeopardize their lives and the lives of the Jews they were hiding. Eventually some of the rescuers found it easier to deal with the day to day issues without emotions.