Heroes of the Holocaust: Ordinary Britons Who Risked Their Lives to Make a Difference

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The moving stories of 27 ordinary people who were awarded the Heroes of the Holocaust medal for their actions protecting Jews from Nazi persecutionIn March 2010, 27 Britons who took matters into their own hands to protect Jews from the Nazis during one of the darkest times in human history were formally recognized as Heroes of the Holocaust by the British Government. The silver medal, inscribed with the words "In the Service of Humanity," was created to acknowledge those "whose selfless actions preserved life in the face of persecution." Some of the recipients, like 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. Others, like the 10 POWs who hid and cared for Hannah Sarah Rigler as she escaped from a death march, showed great humanity in the face of horrendous cruelty and suffering. All the recipients of the award were ordinary people, acting on no one's authority but their own, who found they could not stand idly by in the face of this great evil. Collected here for the first time are the remarkable stories of the medal's recipients, a moving testament to the bravery of those whose inspiring actions stand out in stark relief at a time of such horror.

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Lyn Smith was involved in the creation of the Holocaust sound archive at the Imperial War Museum from its inception and has worked for the archive as a freelance interviewer for 30 years. She is the author of Forgotten Voices of the Holocaust.