Beyond duty

Pastors Guthrie and Jennifer Boyd

Wynsley Wrigley previews the Beyond Duty exhibition honouring 36 diplomats recognised by Israel’s Holocaust museum Yad Vashem as Righteous among the Nations. The official title is awarded on behalf of the State of Israel and the Jewish people to non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust. The exhibition is held at the Gisborne Assembly of God from Monday to Friday . . .

Beyond Duty honours the victims and the heroes of the Holocaust.

But more than 70 years after the end of World War 2, the Beyond Duty exhibition serves as more than a history lesson.

Anti-Semitism ‘‘is once again rearing its ugly head — even in our nation,’’ says Pastor Guthrie Boyd.

“Gisborne Assembly of God is proud to be able to host this exhibition in Tairawhiti,’’ he said.

“It is important that we learn from history and not forget the bravery of men and women who were determined to do their part to stand against barbarism.”

He said the world was shocked in 1945 when the Allies and Soviets encountered the concentration camps where the Nazi regime tried to annihilate an entire race of people — the Jews.

“While the Allied Governments of the day turned their backs on the plight of the Jewish people, there were individuals who risked their lives to help as many Jews as they could.

“Some have become household names like Oscar Schindler and Raoul Wallenberg.

“This exhibition gives us a snapshot into the lives of 36 diplomats who were courageous in the face of great evil.

“It is a great reminder to us all that evil needs to be challenged and stood up against.”

Honouring those who risked their lives to save Jews More than 70 countries encompassing 20 different languages.

That is the international schedule of Beyond Duty, a Holocaust exhibit honouring Diplomats Recognised as Righteous Among the Nations.

Now is Gisborne’s turn as the Israeli Embassy brings the exhibition to Gisborne from Monday at the Assembly of God in Grey Street.

Beyond Duty honours 36 diplomats who risked their own lives to save numerous Jews during the Holocaust.

The exhibition was originally launched in Jerusalem on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, January 27, last year.

Pastor Guthrie Boyd said the Assembly of God was delighted to honour the memory of the righteous diplomats ‘‘who sacrificed everything for the value of human life’’.

“We look forward to taking part in this important memorial as it makes its way through New Zealand.”

The diplomats featuring in Beyond Duty are named below with the years in which they were named by Yad Vashem, (the

Israeli museum dedicated to preserving the memory of Holocaust victims, Jews who fought against the Nazis and Gentiles who helped them) as Diplomats Recognised as Righteous Among the Nations.

The diplomats:

Chiune Sugihara (Japan) 1984

Francis Foley (Britain) 1999

Aristides de Sousa Mendes (Portugal) 1966

Luiz Martins de Souza Dantas (Brazil) 2003

Aracy de Carvalho (Brazil) 1982

Samuel del Campo (Chile) 2016

Ho Feng Shan (China) 2000

Manuel Antonio Munoz Borrero (Ecuador) 2011

Jose Arturo Castellanos (El Salvador) 2010

Albert Emile Routier (France) 2016

Giorgio Perlasca (Italy) 1988

Jan Zwartendijk (Netherlands) 1997

Carlos Sampaio Garrido (Portugal) 2010

Constantin Karadja (Romania) 2005

Florian Manoliu (Romania) 2001

Jan Spisiak (Slovakia) 2006

Eduardo Propper de Callejon (Spain) 2007

Jose Ruiz Santaella (Spain) 1988

Carmen Waltraut Santaella (Germany) 1988

Angel Sanz-Briz (Spain) 1966

Carl Ivan Danielsson (Sweden) 1982

Per Anger (Sweden) 1981

Valdemar and Nina Langlet (Sweden) 1965

Lars Berg (Sweden) 1982

Elow Kihlgren (Sweden) 2001

Harald Feller (Switzerland) 1999

Carl Lutz (Switzerand )1964

Ernest Prodolliet (Switzerland) 1982

Monsignor Angelo Rotta (Holy See) 1997

Raoul Wallenburg (Sweden) 1963

Vladimir Vochoc (Czechoslovakia) No date

Selahattin Ulkumen (Turkey) 1989

Sebastian de Romero Radigales (Turkey) 2014

Jose Maria Barreto (Turkey) 2014

Georg Ferdinand Duckwitz (Germany) 1971

Raoul Wallenberg

OF the above diplomats, Raoul Wallenberg, who only went missing after the Soviets replaced the Nazis in Budapest in 1944, is without doubt the most famous. His fate in Soviet captivity remains unknown.

It had only been in March 1944 that Nazi Germany occupied ally Hungary. Within 56 days German and Hungarian forces had deported 437,000 Jews from the country to Auschwitz. By the end of July, the only Jewish community left in Hungary was in the capital Budapest.

Before long the Swedish legation in Budapest reported they were under enormous pressure from Jews seeking protection. They requested a special envoy whose principal task would be to deal with passports and visas. The Swedish Government decided to work with the newly-created American War Refugee Board and appointed Wallenberg, giving him full diplomat privileges.

He arrived in Budapest on July 9, 1944 with a list of Jews whom he was to help. Wallenberg had 650 protective passports for Jews who had some connection with Sweden. But he soon widened the scope of his work and issued thousands of protective letters. He also placed buildings housing Jews under the Swedish flag.

Jewish youngsters joined these rescue efforts and distributed the protective papers.

When the fascist Arrow Cross movement seized power in October 1944 and installed a reign of terror in Budapest, Wallenberg and some of his colleagues abandoned all diplomatic routines and set out to save Jews from execution and death marches. They followed the columns of Jews who were marched to the Austrian border and freed them by claiming they were under Swedish protection. When Soviet soldiers entered Budapest, Wallenberg was taken away and never seen again.

Survivor’s tale of Wallenberg

“FEARING members of the Arrow Cross, we hid in an attic, crowding together in the cold. One morning, my parents took me to the Swedish legation. There we met an elegant young man whom mother addressed as Mr Wallenberg. He listened to what she had to say and replied:‘Don’t worry, soon we will give you protective passes.’ ’’

— Holocaust survivor Esther Ofiri

Rebuilding, but not forgetting

MOST of the Jews of Europe were dead when the Nazis were defeated in 1945. The survivors gathered the remnants of their existence and returned to building new lives, new families and new communities. Some survivors initially made their way back to what had once been their homes.

But many houses, if still remaining, had been taken by others and the streets were full of ghosts, so they left. They dispersed throughout the globe with many going to Israel.

Survivors were the first to perpetuate the memory of the Holocaust and played a significant role in the establishment of Yad Vashem and the recognition of the Righteous Among the Nations. They never forgot their benefactors.

The Righteous Among the Nations is a unique endeavour in which the victims of an unprecedented crime commemorate not only those murdered, but also those who protected them from death and deportation.

“FEARING members of the Arrow Cross, we hid in an attic, crowding together in the cold. One morning, my parents took me to the Swedish legation. There we met an elegant young man whom mother addressed as Mr Wallenberg. He listened to what she had to say and replied:‘Don’t worry, soon we will give you protective passes.’ ’’

— Holocaust survivor Esther Ofiri

Rebuilding, but not forgetting

MOST of the Jews of Europe were dead when the Nazis were defeated in 1945. The survivors gathered the remnants of theirexistence and returned to building new lives, new families and new communities. Some survivors initially made their way back to what had once been their homes.

But many houses, if still remaining, had been taken by others and the streets were full of ghosts, so they left. They dispersed throughout the globe with many going to Israel.

Survivors were the first to perpetuate the memory of the Holocaust and played a significant role in the establishment of Yad

Vashem and the recognition of the Righteous Among the Nations. They never forgot their benefactors.

The Righteous Among the Nations is a unique endeavour in which the victims of an unprecedented crime commemorate not only those murdered, but also those who protected them from death and deportation.