Maria Andzelm was a Catholic teenager whose family took in two Jewish men in Nazi-occupied Poland and hid them under their barn floor. She brought them food and books, but they were caught and paid a terrible price. Maria's stirring story is one of five featured in this important book of young people putting their lives on the line for others.

This inspiring book examines the often incredible and nearly always tragic examples of Jewish resistance in ghettos and concentration camps during the Nazis ‘Final Solution. It shows that the Warsaw Uprising in Poland during April to May 1944 was not the only occasion of defiant opposition. Throughout the Nazis extermination programme Jews and other prisoners fought back against their murderers, often with stunning results. The Germans were nearly always taken by surprise by the sudden emergence of armed Jewish resistance and often paid dearly. This happened in ghettos and concentration campos (including Treblinka, Auschwitz, Syrels and Sobibor) throughout Poland and the Ukraine. Some Jews tried to stop the machinery of the Holocaust by rising up and destroying the gas chambers while others bravely tried to take over an extermination camp and escape en masse. In virtually every case the brave men and women who volunteered to fight back paid with their lives. Importantly these men and women are not just portrayed as victims but also as brave and resourceful fighters and resisters against their tragic fate. These are stories that are uplifting, inspiring and often profoundly moving.

"...of undeniable importance, movingly described." -Elie Wiesel, Nobel LaureateA book of scope and power, Heroes of the Holocaust tells of ordinary people who confronted the brutality of the holocaust with acts of unselfish courage. Among these are: a Jewish family saved by personal intervention by a German general; a ship's captain who dumped his cargo to make room for 600 Jews; and a father, grieving over the sudden death of his only son, who gave his child's name and identity papers to a Jewish boy in order to save the child's life. These moving stories reveal points of light amidst the horror of the Holocaust, to offer tales of inspiration and hope.

Sets the scene with a brief history of anti-Semitism prior to Hitler, and documents the horrors of the Holocaust from 1933 onward, in an incisive, interpretive account of the genocide of World War II.

Deals with those embassy and consular workers throughout German-occupied Europe who, through granting visas to Jews or obtaining consular protection for them, rescued thousands of lives. Most of these diplomats acted contrary to their governments' policies of non-admission of Jews and infringed on instructions given to them or at least the spirit of these instructions, thereby risking their careers and sometimes their lives. Arranged according to the countries where these diplomats were accredited: Germany, Austria, Lithuania, France, Denmark, Hungary, and others. Ch. 7 (pp. 111-200), "Budapest: The Apocalypse", deals with events in Budapest in 1944, when diplomats of various countries, by concerted efforts, granted visas and consular protection to ca. 25,000 Jews. Dwells especially on the activities of Frank Foley, Jan Zwartendijk, Sempo Sugihara, Luiz Martins de Souza Dantas, Aristides de Sousa Mendes, Georg Ferdinand Duckwitz, Carl Lutz, Raoul Wallenberg, Giorgio Perlasca, and Angelo Rotta.

German leader Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime killed more than 6 million Jews during World War II. Many of those who survived had courageous gentiles and Jews to thank. Heroes of the Holocaust tells the stories of those who defied and resisted the Nazis. Some helped one person or family, some saved dozens, and others organized efforts that helped thousands. Their combined courage helped stop Hitler from wiping out the entire European Jewish population.

Collected here for the first time are the remarkable and moving stories of the 27 British recipients of the ‘Hero of the Holocaust’ award. During one of the darkest times in human history they refused to stand by and do nothing; risking their lives to save Jewish friends, or complete strangers. And yet many of their stories have been forgotten. Frank Foley, a British spy whose cover was working at the British embassy in Berlin, took huge risks issuing forged visas to enable around 10,000 Jews to escape Germany before the outbreak of war. Jane Haining refused to come back to Scotland and leave the Jewish orphans in her care in Hungary. When they were sent to Auschwitz she was transported with them. Louise and Ida Cook were sisters from suburban London. They used their love of opera as a cover to take daring trips to help Jews escape Nazi Germany and Austria right up until the outbreak of war. Ten British POWs hid and cared for young Hannah Sarah Rigler when she escaped from a death march, having been forced to leave her mother behind. All those whose stories are collected here were ordinary people, acting on no one's authority but their own, who found they could not stand idly by in the face of such great evil. Written by acclaimed Holocaust historian Lyn Smith, Heroes of the Holocaust is a moving testament to the bravery of those whose inspiring actions stand out in stark relief at a time of such horror.