Who Helped to Hide Jews?
Historian Marion Kaplan of Queens College and City University in New York, states that between 10-12,000 Jews went “underground” as the deportations began in Germany; only 25% survived. These “submerged Jews” frequently shuttled from one safe house to another while others tried to blend into society. Kaplan’s study emphasizes the lives of Jews in Berlin. Kaplan, writing about German Jews, comments that, “The Germans who hid them showed compassion and daring, revealing the possibility of resistance to genocide.” Ordinary citizens knew the potential costs of hiding Jews. In most cases, this meant death for the entire family. Sharing meager food supplies, especially as the war progressed, added to the strain. These hidden refugees had no documentation cards, living in a “no-mans-land” ripe for detection and arrest. Families were often split. Hiding places changed weekly. And the monotony of total exile from social interaction took a toll on their mental well-being. In Holland over 40,000
