Everyday Heroics

The daughter of a wealthy plant owner helps a Jewish acquaintance of her father escape across the Swiss frontier and is denounced by a milkman. A woman whose own husband was killed by the Gestapo doesn’t hesitate to hide a Jewish mother and her daughter in her Frankfurt apartment. A widow in Berlin makes contact with a gentleman near the Swiss border, and both help 28 Jews escape to safety. The widow and her gentleman helper are later caught by the Gestapo. These are just a few of the stories of simple heroism reported by Die Netzeitung in its series “Der Andere Widerstand” (The Other Resistance). In contrast to the well-known resistance stories wuch as the July 20 Plot to assassinate Hitler, these are fogotten stories of everyday people who perform unbelievable acts of courage to save others – often perfect stangers.

We like to think that we would behave in the same heroic manner as these brave individuals, but they were definitely the exception in that they were prepared to risk their own lives. Often, everyday resistances in the Third Reich meant subtle acts of defiance. I just finished reading Der Junge mit den blutigen Schuhen by Dieter Forte which describes everyday life in Düsseldorf during the era. Forte also writes with great power about surviving the firebombing of the city – somthing he actually experienced as a young boy.