Part 1, Rescuers

There are many stories and photographs in the book Rescuers, by Gay Block and Malka Drucker. The stories are centered around those who helped rescue people in the Holocaust. There are many different stories as each person has their own perspective. These stories tell of troubled times and victories for those they were protecting. The lives of these rescuers are fascinating, many saying they would do it all over again even with such sever risk.

A story that stood out to me is Johannes DeVries. He and his wife decided to help a Jewish child They changed him name to protect him and did not try to convert him. They soon discovered this boy had autism and still decided to help him. He and his wife were at first a bit skeptical but knew that it was the right thing to do. The Johannes decided to take in the younger boys sister as the family she was with had a difficult time with her. Even with all of this trouble and risk they decided to take these two children and treat them as their own. I found this really courageous considering the young boy was autistic. I appreciate their willingness to help these children and commend them for not giving the boy up even after finding out he was autistic. It was hard to keep children at this time, therefore having a special needs child must have been extremely difficult.