The Righteous

The story of the many gentiles who saved Jews from the Holocaust - the Righteous of the title - was not one that commanded priority in the decades following the Second World War. Historians were understandably more concerned with the suffering and destruction of six million, and, to a lesser extent, with the story of Jewish revolt and resistance. Yet amid the horror and the bloodshed, there were many thousands, of all religious persuasions - Roman Catholic, Baptist, Lutheran, Muslim, Greek and Russian Orthodox - who took in Jews, hid and helped them, and in so doing risked almost certain execution. They were priests and nuns, nurses and nannies, teachers and fellow-pupils, neighbours and friends, employees and colleagues. The degree of risk they took varied from a single act or remark to the ultimate sacrifice - death. Martin Gilbert has collated the testimonies of the survivors and written what amounts to a litany of all the righteous gentiles, a 400-page tribute to their bravery and selflessness, though he is of course at great pains to remind us that these were isolated acts, committed while the majority of the population either stood by or actively assisted the Nazis. There is, for those seeking a semblance of narrative, little or no sense of development - either linear or thematic - in this account. Gilbert simply catalogues these extraordinary acts of courage and kindness country by country, beginning in Poland and the Baltic States, and ending in the camps themselves. Some may already be known to us - such as Captain Frank Foley, British Passport Control Officer in Berlin, whose efforts above and beyond the call of duty ensured the safe passage of several thousand refugees - while others have until now remained unsung or even maligned. An indispensable work. (Kirkus UK)