170
the much-honored boatmen who
took the Danish Jews away to safety
in Sweden demanded cash first, and a
lot of it too, before they dipped an
oar. Jews who could not afford the
passage, had they not been subsidized
by other escaping Jews, would have
been left behind for the ovens. And
looking over recent lists ofJews hid–
den by Gentiles, one is struck by a
curious pattern; marriage and money.
Is it an act of purest altruism to save
one's Jewish husband, or one's Jewish
sister-in-law? Is it an act of uncom–
promising compassion to sell life?
Numbers of so-called rescuers were,
like the Danish boatmen, responding
not so much to pity as to pay. There
is also the astonishing instance of the
German countess who hid Jews on
her parents' estate, apparently to spite
her mother, whom she despised.
Moreover, the psychology of spite
continues into the present - offered a
rescuer's medal by Jerusalem, the
countess angrily spurns it, ''I'm furi–
ous with Israel ... I don't see that
Israel has anything to do with my
ideals." As an exemplar of sympathy
with Jews, not to mention minimal
esteem, the countess - even as rescuer
- is, in attitude, not far behind her
countrymen.
So Dr. Nir's general skepticism
is unquestionably justified: no one
has ever claimed that multitudes of
Gentiles were clamoring to save Jews
by reason of human decency alone,
and undoubtedly the W olfgangs,
thriving and conniving, outnumbered
the rare quiet altruists.
In our telephone conversation,
Dr. Nir commented (and without a
PARTISAN REVIEW
written record I will try to be
scrupulous, eschewing quotation
marks) that to his knowledge not a
single Gentile was ever executed as a
punishment for hiding a Jew. In
other words, according to Dr. Nir
(and using his measure), among the
millions and millions of European
Christians who were sentient beings
from 1940 to 1945, there is not one
who merits Jewish gratitude.
I will certainly not deny the
Christian and/or humanist failure of
all of Europe during those lethal
years. Yes, I agree that Europe in the
Nazi period made Sodom and
Gomorrah look good. But an equal
truth is this: no matter how propor–
tionately few rescuers there were in
relation to bystanders (and they were
profoundly few), they are worthy of
honor and homage. The fewer they
were, the more worthy. And jfin the
whole of Europe, there were only as
many honest saviors as you could
count on your fingers, that handful
would still be numbered among the
righteous. I remind Dr. Nir that the
cities of the plain were deservedly
condemned because God, like Dr.
Nir in Europe, could not find even
ten righteous people there. The dif–
ference between God and Dr. Nir,
however, is that God was at least
willing to look.
