5 Christian Holocaust Heroes

Stand for Israel  |  January 13, 2020

“As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him.” (Psalm 103:13)

The Holocaust certainly saw its share of Christians who not only stood with their Jewish brothers and sisters in the Jewish people’s greatest time of need, but who saved Jewish lives through their selflessness and bravery. This month, we are looking at different groups of Christians who were heroes during this horrific era.

Certainly, these five Christian heroes who saved children have a special place in our hearts, and in God’s.

Compassion on his children.

Like a Mother

Ludviga Pukas worked as the housekeeper for a Jewish schoolteacher in Ukraine. When the Nazis murdered Ms. Frima Sternik, Ludviga sheltered and raised the woman’s two young children, who for the rest of their lives considered her their mother.

She Called Them Mommy and Daddy

When more than sixty members of little Yelena’s family were murdered by the Nazis, a Christian couple took the two-year-old in and raised her as their own until her real mother miraculously reappeared.

‘Aren’t You Ashamed to Make War on Jewish Children?’

This Belgian schoolteacher was so shocked that her Jewish pupils were forced by the Nazis to wear the Star of David that she had her entire class — Jews and Gentiles alike — wear aprons to cover up those with the yellow stars.

‘We Don’t Do This Sort of Thing’

This Dutch Christian woman in the Salvation Army fought to save countless Jewish children — pulling the yellow stars from their clothes, sheltering them in her own apartment, and moving her charges when wartime bombs destroyed her home — until she was betrayed and nabbed by the Gestapo.

A Christian Woman’s Duty and Responsibility

Another among these Christian heroes was a nurse in war-ravaged Germany who had already lost both her husband and her home, Johanna Eck still risked all she had left to protect a young Jewish girl from the Nazis.