Maria Schauer was an Austrian recognized by Yad Vashem as a Righteous Among the Nations, after rescuing three Jews from deportation and possible death after Nazi occupation of Austria during World War II. [1]
Maria Schauer was an Austrian recognized by Yad Vashem as a Righteous Among the Nations, after rescuing three Jews from deportation and possible death after Nazi occupation of Austria during World War II. [1]
Schauer was living in Vienna when Nazi Germany took control of the city in 1938 and began persecuting Jews there. [2]
Max Arnold who was a Jewish tailor living in the Pressbaum district, outside Vienna, Austria, received a message in 1942 from the Nazi authorities saying that he was required to move to Vienna and register at the offices of the Jewish community. Max did move to Vienna but chose not to register as required. While in Vienna, Arnold married his partner, Johanna. [1] [3] When the city-wide order was given to deport the Jews from Vienna, the couple chose instead to hide in the city along with Max's sister, Leopoldine Stern. They turned to Luci Pollreis (also spelled Lucia Pollreiss [4] ), a seamstress and businesswoman, who agreed to hire Max Arnold as a tailor, and help the three find a safe sanctuary. The three Jews moved between hiding places in Vienna from 1942 until the end of the war in 1945. [1] [4]
From September to April of each year, the three Jews hid successfully in Maria Schauer's home, but it was impossible for them to stay there during the summer months because of the presence of Schauer's regular house guest, who was a prominent Nazi. So, in the summertime, the refugees stayed with Pollreiss, who not only gave them a place to stay, but also supported them financially. Pollreiss’ husband, who served in the German army and only lived at home on vacations, demanded that she stop helping the Jews, but, despite his arguments, Pollreiss continued. [4]
One day while the Jews were hiding in Schauer’s home, the authorities arrived at the door, and asked if anyone else lived in the house with Schauer. She "answered in the negative, and her denial, spoken with confidence, convinced them not to check." [1]
Pollreiss and Schauer endangered themselves by hiding Jews, a crime that could have led to deportation to a concentration camp, and eventually to death. [5] Neither woman received compensation for their activities, "on the contrary, they shared their own food and clothing with the Jews, during a period of scarcity." [1] Schauer and the Arnold family all survived the war. [1]
On 8 July 1982, Yad Vashem recognized both Schauer and Pollreiss as Righteous Among the Nations, which is recognition given to "non-Jews who took great risks to save Jews during the Holocaust." [4] [5] [6]
During World War II, some individuals and groups helped Jews and others escape the Holocaust conducted by Nazi Germany.
Dorothea Neff was a Vienna stage actress during the 1930s. Neff helped hide her Jewish friend Lilli Wolff, after she received resettlement orders from the Nazis to leave Vienna. To confuse the Gestapo, Neff wrote a suicide note and signed it 'Lilli' and left it in her apartment. Neff allowed Lilli to live with her for a short time and later Lilli moved in with Mati Driessen and Meta Schmidt. Driessen and Schmidt were honored in Yad Vashem in Israel as Righteous Among the Nations. She later moved from the stage to the cinema, acting up until her death in 1986.
Ona Šimaitė was a Lithuanian librarian at Vilnius University who used her position to aid and rescue Jews in the Vilna Ghetto during World War II. She is recognized as a Righteous Among the Nations.
The Sosnowiec Ghetto was a World War II ghetto set up by Nazi German authorities for Polish Jews in the Środula district of Sosnowiec in the Province of Upper Silesia. During the Holocaust in occupied Poland, most inmates, estimated at over 35,000 Jewish men, women and children were deported to Auschwitz death camp aboard Holocaust trains following roundups lasting from June until August 1943. The ghetto was liquidated during an uprising, a final act of defiance of its Underground Jewish Combat Organization (ŻOB) made up of youth. Most of the Jewish fighters perished.
Oswald Bosko was an Austrian policeman from Vienna later stationed at the Jewish ghetto of Kraków from 1942 to 1944. He supported Julius Madritsch in rescuing Jews during World War II. Bosko was posthumously honored by the State of Israel as a Righteous Among the Nations, an award for a non-Jew who risked their life during the Holocaust to save Jews from extermination by the Nazis.
Ludwig Knapp and his wife Maria Knapp are both Austrian Righteous Among the Nations.
Anna-Maria Haas, was an Austrian woman, who on May 3, 1982, was distinguished by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations for protecting Jews during World War II.
Johann Pscheidt was an Austrian building contractor, who stood up for Jews during the time of the National Socialism. In 1963, he achieved the title Righteous among the Nations.
Hermine Riss was an Austrian Righteous among the Nations.
Christa Beran, originally Christa Denner (1922–1992), was an Austrian Christian who was awarded the title “Righteous Among The Nations” for helping a Jewish woman survive the Holocaust.
Maria Böhm was an Austrian who helped hide a Jew from the Gestapo for years, and was awarded the title Righteous Among the Nations.
Luci Pollreis was an Austrian woman who was recognized as Righteous among the Nations for saving three Jews hiding from the Gestapo in Vienna during World War II.
During the Holocaust, the Catholic Church played a role in the rescue of hundreds of thousands of Jews from being murdered by the Nazis. Members of the Church, through lobbying of Axis officials, provision of false documents, and the hiding of people in monasteries, convents, schools, among families and the institutions of the Vatican itself, saved hundreds of thousands of Jews. The Israeli diplomat and historian Pinchas Lapide estimated the figure at between 700,000 and 860,000, although the figure is contested.
Gerritdina Benders-Letteboer (1909–1980) was a member of the Dutch Resistance, who actively protected multiple Dutch Jewish citizens from Nazi persecution and deportation during World War II. Posthumously declared with her husband, Johan Benders (1907–1943), to be Righteous Among the Nations on 27 March 1997 by Yad Vashem, she and her husband were also honored by The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation, which placed their names on their “List of Dutch Saviors.”
Frieda Impekoven was a Swiss or German woman who protected Jews during the Holocaust.
Henryk Rolirad was a Polish food–systems engineer who was recognized as a Righteous among the Nations for saving Jews during World War II.
The Holocaust in Austria was the systematic persecution, plunder and extermination of Jews by German and Austrian Nazis from 1938 to 1945. An estimated 65,000 Jews were murdered and 125,000 forced to flee Austria as refugees.
Karolina Juszczykowska was a Polish worker in the kitchen division of Organisation Todt who was executed for hiding two Jews during The Holocaust. She was posthumously recognized as Righteous Among the Nations in 2011.
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