Raoul Wallenberg
Raoul Wallenberg was a Swedish Diplomat. He used his diplomatic status to issue "protecive passports" to thousands of Jews to identify them as Swedish citizens. He also rented over 30 buildings to house over 10,000 Jewish refugees. He put fake signs of the buildings that said "The Swedish Research Institute" to avoid detection. Our group feels as if he did a very brave and righteous thing for all jews. http://www.shalomshow.com/holocaust_heroes.htm
Aristides De Sousa Mendes
\Aristides de Sousa Mendes was a Portuguese Diplomat who ignored and defied the orders of his own government for the safety of war refugees fleeing from invading German military forces in the early years of World War II.
Between June 16 and June 23, de Sousa Mendes began frantically issuing visas, along with his friend, the Rabbi Chaim Kruger, to refugees waiting in line.
Along the way he issued Portuguese passports to refugees now trapped in occupied France, saving them by preventing their deportation to concentration camps. After the war, de Sousa Mendes lived in destitute poverty, dying in 1954.http://listverse.com/2008/11/06/10-people-who-saved-jews-during-world-war-two/
Between June 16 and June 23, de Sousa Mendes began frantically issuing visas, along with his friend, the Rabbi Chaim Kruger, to refugees waiting in line.
Along the way he issued Portuguese passports to refugees now trapped in occupied France, saving them by preventing their deportation to concentration camps. After the war, de Sousa Mendes lived in destitute poverty, dying in 1954.http://listverse.com/2008/11/06/10-people-who-saved-jews-during-world-war-two/
Dimitar Peshev
Dimitar Peshev was the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of Bulgaria and Minister of Justice during World War II. He rebelled against the pro-Nazi cabinet and prevented the deportation of Bulgaria’s 48,000 Jews. Bulgaria was a strong supporter of the Holocaust, rounding up thousands of Jews in occupied Thrace and Macedonia to be deported to death camps. the decision by the government to deport Bulgaria’s 48,000 Jews on March 8 1943 was too much for Peshev. he went to see Interior Minister Petur Gabrovski insisting that he cancel the deportations. After much persuasion, Gabrovski finally called the governor of Kyustendil and instructed him to stop preparations for the Jewish deportations. By 5:30 p.m. on March 9, the order had been cancelled. After the war, Peshev was charged with anti-Semitism and anti-Communism by the Soviet courts, and sentenced to death. However, after outcry from the Jewish community, his sentence was commuted to 15 years imprisonment, though released after just one year. His deeds went unrecognised after the war, as he lived in poverty in Bulgaria.
Giorgio Perlasca
Giorgio Perlasca was an Italian who helped save thousands of Hungarian Jews from the Holocaust by issuing them fake passports to travel to neutral countries. It is estimated he saved over 5,000 Jews from the Holocaust. He then escaped from Italy to the Spanish embassy in Budapest in 1944. While there he became a Spanish citizen, and began to work with Spanish diplomat Angel Sanz Briz in creating fake passports to smuggle Jewish people out of the country. When Sanz Briz was removed from his post, Perlasca pretended to be his substitute so that he could continue printing false passports. Even greater than just smuggling Jewish people passports he also personally hid hundreds of Jewish people while they waited for their passport so they could escape. After the war he returned to Italy quietly letting his story die until a group of Hungarian women he saved contacted him and made the story very public. Giorgio Perlasca was a very good man, and he did a very good thing for Jewish people.