Language:
English
Year of publication:
1999
Titel der Quelle:
Yad Vashem Studies
Angaben zur Quelle:
27 (1999) 235-285
Keywords:
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Rescue
;
Church history 20th century
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
Abstract:
Among Catholic institutions, it was mainly the convents that engaged in education and welfare that participated in rescuing Jews in Poland. Examining testimonies and memoirs by both rescuers and rescued, discusses the problems involved in the rescue of Jewish children by the convents. The Jewish public awakened to this possibility only when the genocide was under way; even then, many Jews were against placing Jewish children in these bastions of Christianity. The path to the convents for Jews was difficult; the conditions of life in them were hard. Besides, the convents in Poland were not protected against Gestapo raids. The nuns involved in rescue were in a difficult situation; they did not want to pressure the children to convert, but the convents were missionary institutions and the participation of a non-baptized Jew in Catholic rites could be a sacrilege in their eyes. Many hidden children converted; examines the complicated factors that made them do so. It is difficult to estimate the number of Jewish children rescued by the convents in Poland; most probably, more than 1,000.
Note:
Appeared also in Hebrew.
URL:
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